After creating their character’s origin story (species, genetic abilities/talents, name, how their parents raised them,373 and their cultural background), this new Star Wars character meets the people, and events, that influence who they will become. Whereas Origins dealt with a mixture of biological and cultural components that contribute to a person’s identity, Influences explores the social relationships that people form and the events that frequently emerge from our exposure to those individuals. The exhibition text for the Influences section states that “as it evolves over time, our identity is subject to the influence of a number of external factors,” including “the education we receive, our social interac- tions, and a lifetime’s worth of significant events.”374 All of these factors “leave, to varying degrees, their marks on us.”375 In both the original and prequel Star Wars trilogies, the main protagonists follow a simi- lar narrative structure to the way this exhibition is organized. Like the fictional characters the visitors create in Identities, Anakin and Luke are introduced towards the beginning of their journey when the majority of life’s influences beyond our origins have yet to enter the story. While there are certainly events and people each character had already encountered who were crucial to their early develop-
373
See Appendix A.1.
374
“Star Wars Identities Exhibition Guide,” 55.
375
ment, they meet new people and experience new events as they get older. The same thing happens in real life. As the visitor continues through the exhibition, their original character’s life also begins to take shape. At the same time, the visitor is able to see how they too are influenced by similar parallel factors.
3.4.1 Interactive Station 7 – Events: Which Experiences Have Marked You?
While we can decide who we interact with in our lives outside of our families (such as friends and mentors),376 there are always events that happen beyond our control that have a lasting impact on our identity. The Exhibition Guide states that these events, “whether they affect us physically or psycho- logically, positively or negatively…create new situations to which we must adapt.”377 Furthermore, “we may embrace these changes or we may struggle to overcome them; either way, it is how we move for- ward that will dictate who we will become.”378 This type of event is something that everyone experienc- es at some point in their life, and it can happen at any time. When designing a character, there is fre- quently a key event that defines them and is used for dramatic and narrative purposes. For Anakin Sky- walker, it was witnessing his mother’s death at the hands of the Sand People and being powerless to stop it. From that moment on, he strove to become as powerful as he possibly could in the hopes of finding a way to stop the people he loved from dying. As was seen in Episode III – The Revenge of the Sith, this turns out to be his undoing. For Luke Skywalker, that moment was having his hand cut off dur- ing a duel with Darth Vader and then discovering that this personification of evil was in fact his father. This realization led to his new quest to help his father find redemption, which served as the driving force for Luke in the remainder of the original trilogy. In both instances, neither character is aware of the sig- nificance of these moments as they occur, but how they end up dealing with them determines their fate.
To emphasize a person’s inability to choose their marking event, Interactive Station 7 uses a randomizer. A small screen shows what appears to be a rotating image reminiscent of potential selec-
376
See Appendices A.2 and A.3.
377
“Star Wars Identities Exhibition Catalogue,” 98.
378
tions in Wheel of Fortune, albeit moving so fast that a person cannot determine what these images de- pict. With their wristband at the ready, the visitor simply places their device against a pad and their character’s key event is chosen. Of the five characters I designed, I was assigned four unique marking events. Not all marking events are negative. For example, my first character “won an entire city in a game of chance” – an event similar to one experienced by Lando Calrissian in the original trilogy. Con- versely, my second character was, like Luke Skywalker in the beginning of Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, “attacked by a wampa and badly injured.” Two of my characters won podraces and gained their freedom from slavery as a result, following a similar path to a young Anakin Skywalker as seen in Episode I: A Phantom Menace. My final character experienced a defining moment similar to what Luke Skywalker encountered in Episode IV: A New Hope, and “took down an enemy command station in a single
shot.”379 While some of these events were positive and others, such as being maimed by a giant snow beast, were negative events, what matters is how the character deals with what fate has handed them. This decision is tied specifically to the role-play component of the exhibition.
After the random event has been assigned, the screen at the station informs the visitor of the results in a way that encourages them to role-play as their fictional character. This is accomplished by referring to the visitor by their character’s chosen name. For example, a Nautolan character I named Zod (after the villain in Superman) receives this message: “Congratulations, Zod! You’ve just won a danger- ous Podrace, and your reward is your freedom from slavery.” The screen then asks the visitor “What do you do?” Clicking on the arrow next to this question reveals three potential options for how this event impacts the character. In this particular instance, Zod’s choices are: “A) You strike out in your X-wing to explore the edges of the universe”; “B) You take a job as a courier pilot with an express cross-town package delivery company”; “C) You return to your former owner and continue your duties on a volun- teer basis.” The visitor is then able to decide which path their character should follow.
379
These quotes were taken from the completed character biographies that were emailed to me at the end of each walk through.
The selection process that a visitor encounters at this station is similar to the choices that play- ers make in contemporary roleplaying computer games like Bioware Studios’ Mass Effect and Dragon Age series – a gameplay component that the company also utilized in the MMO Star Wars: The Old Re- public (SW:TOR). At various points in these games players encounter branching pathways where choices, either through actions or dialogue, have a lasting impact on the game’s narrative. For example, a Sith Warrior character in SW:TOR is given the option to free Vette, a Twi’lek female and their first companion character, from slavery. Vette is implanted with a shock collar and, after completing the Sith Warrior class’ first in-game world, he/she can choose to remove the collar, activate the collar (and shock) Vette for asking, or leave it on and continue the dialogue with the option to shock her later in the conversation if the player chooses. Removing the collar gains “Light Side” points – the positive moral choice the game’s morality system (i.e. tracking “good” and “bad” behavior, which influences how everyone re- sponds to you). In contrast, negative moral choices obtain “Dark Side” points, thereby mirroring the “morality system” established in the films. Removing the collar also gains “Affection” points between the player and Vette, which directly influences how she reacts to the player later in the game. Shocking her immediately or refusing to remove the collar does not result in “Dark Side” points, but it does result in a considerable loss in Affection. If the player chooses to leave the collar on, there are other points in the game where he/she can physically abuse Vette, and later dialogue options where they are again able to remove the collar if they want. The choices that they make impact not only their character’s morality, but also that character’s relationship with the people and world around them.380
Unlike SW:TOR, which is an extended narrative where these relationships are given time to de- velop over the course of the game, Identities has to simplify the character building process. You are giv- en three options that, although somewhat boring, can reveal a lot about your character’s general out-
380
For a compilation video of one potential outcome of the Sith Warrior and Vette’s relationship, see: xLetalis, “Vette’s Shock Collar Compilation: Kept All Conversations” YouTube.com, (April 20, 2013),
look. If you choose option A, your character embraces a life of freedom and exploration – the stark op- posite to their previous life as a slave. Option B indicates that your character is using this opportunity to not only gain their freedom but use their newfound fame to secure a steady (and this time paying) job. The third option is the most disturbing, and almost seems to indicate that your character is suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. Of course, in real life there are countless ways that a person could respond to a similar event, and providing only three potential options severely limits the roleplaying possibilities with these characters. At the same time, limiting the choices allows visitors to see various extremes. Their character can choose to remain virtually the same, they can choose something that is different yet still responsible from economic and livelihood standpoints, or they can choose the complete opposite of what their life up to that point had been. Three choices provide a focused framework where the ways that the character can respond illustrate a controlled cross-section of real-life responses. In the Educa- tor’s Resource Guide, this serves as only the beginning to a deeper exploration of these concepts.
Quest 7: Events That Change our Lives explores the impact that these sorts of events impact our health on a physical and emotional level. This activity asks students to describe a marking event that they personally have experienced such as an illness (personal or family related), accident, achievements, or other events, and how that moment “has impacted their identity and [the] course of their life thus far.381 As many of these events are incredibly personal in nature, this is intended to be a writing assign- ment that is supplemented by a general discussion of what a marking event is and a description of ge- neric examples (both Star Wars and real-world related).382 Marking events can be the most personal moments in our lives, and this therefore might be a more difficult exercise for some students who have suffered traumatic events. Using fictional texts like Star Wars can provide an emotional buffer for these events, allowing the students to face them while simultaneously examining the experiences of charac- ters living in a galaxy far, far away.
381
“Star Wars Identities Educator’s Resource Guide,” 57.
382
Expanding on how marking events fit into a Health curriculum, the Alberta-specific Quest 7 sup- plement features three General Outcomes that explore how marking events can have positive and nega- tive repercussions depending on a variety of factors. In the General Outcome “Understanding and Ex- pressing Feelings,” students are asked to consider how they personally would react to certain events, identify positive and negative feelings that are associated with moments of extreme stress that result in significant change, and determine potential “sources of stress in relationships” while also determining ways of coping with these potentially harmful additions to their lives.383 General Outcome “Interactions” delves into marking events tied specifically to familial changes, such as dealing with the death of a loved one.384 General Outcome “Life Roles and Career Development” is in many ways similar to Zod’s Option B, and focuses on “effective age appropriate strategies to manage change” that relate to significant ca- reer or educational advancement (moving to a new school, finding a job, etc.).385 By using a role-play character as a launching point for these discussions, students can experiment with a fictional being’s future and see how these choices impact that character’s overall story. As a result, when students face a real life marking event, they can hopefully see how their response to said moment will impact their “sto- ry” in the years to come.