A brief discussion on BlueSky made me realize that Star Wars Needs a ‘Ford v Ferrari’ moment. In other words, the franchise needs to reckon with itself, and get out of its own way. More on that in a moment, but first – what can the Ford GT40 tell us about Star Wars?
Don’t take the ‘Ford v Ferrari’ movie as gospel. Hollywood loves to shoehorn history into histrionics, and Ford v Ferrari’s no exception. Caroll Shelby did NOT design the GT40, but never mind that now. One of the subtext story arcs of Ford v. Ferrari is the entire Ford company – led by Henry Ford II – putting their reputation and institutional history on the line to be true innovators. You can see a bit of that playing out in this scene:
“I had no idea,” Ford says “I had no idea I wish my daddy – he were alive to see this, to feel this.” Ford was absolutely right. By the 1960s, Ford was so big that it had culturally lost the spirit of innovation and discovery that brought us the Model T and assembly lines. Good, bad, or indifferent – the movie shows Ford rediscovering himself. That’s what Star Wars needs to do if it wants to survive.
Why am I right? Simple – look at the landscape. Star Wars already knows that it needs to do this – remember The Last Jedi, where Rey and Leia sit together and realize that they have ‘everything they need.’ Hope, an idea, sacrifice. Sadly, the fans and the franchise couldn’t get out of their own way and TLJ suffered for it. This doesn’t have to be the beginning of the end for Star Wars – it can be the end of the beginning.
Perhaps one day Star Wars will have it’s ‘Ford. v Ferrari’ moment. If that happens, I’ll be celebrating along with you. Until Star Wars reaches that moment, my policy is still ‘you can love Star Wars, but Star Wars doesn’t love you.’ Our job is to get out there and imagine new universes to discover. Back to work.
Write on!
