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DARK_SIDES

                                              July 07-11, 2006


                                        GHOSTS_OF_THE_SHADOW


Consider a problem with
"The Shadow" of 1994:          Written:  David Koepp
                               Directed: Russell Mulcahy

The plot seemed way too
much like a "Star Wars"
rip-off:

        "Join me Luke,
        and turn to the
        Dark Side".


Why is that example
of gross imitation        Part of the trouble,
an irritation?            no doubt, is the
                          Star Wars parallel          Another decade later,
What could be done        still seemed too fresh.     watching I find it
with that material                                    much less disturbing.
to salvage it?
                                                               My advice to
                                                               young authors:
 At a guess: take the material seriously,                      read widely,
 and add some small, slight notion,                            and let thy
 something missing from the original                           plagiarism
 (or "original") treatment.                                    become harder
                                                               to detect.
     Like what?

     Well... the "Star Wars" bit
     doesn't seem to take very
     seriously the idea that          It might seem silly to
     "the Dark Side" might have       call for a precise
     real tactical advantages,        definition of "the Dark      But what
     at least under some              Side".  By example, we're    is it that
     circumstances.                   shown that it involves       makes the
                                      the embrace of cruelty,      Light side
                                      mass murder, and dark        all that
                                      clothing.                    light?

                                                                   Blowing
                                                                   up a death
                                                                   star is
       Let's think about it:                                       okay,
       The Shadow is a vigilante,                                  right?
       an anarchist: this is a
       fantasy that arose when                              So the rule is
       it seemed that gangsterism                           something like
       was out of control, beyond                           self-defense,
       the reach of government.                             force-in-reaction,
                                                            is justified.
       A typical Shadow fan might
       very well have been a store                      Consider the
       keeper squeezed by a protection                  possibility that
       racket, or a construction worker                 the Death Star
       disgusted by the abuses in the                   was carrying some
       trade, but too scared to say                     innocents, e.g.
       anything about it.                               some prisoners.

           These people might very well              Their deaths
           fantasize about returning                 were then justified
           at night cloaked in black                 by some sort of
           with automatics blazing.                  utilitarian
                                                     expediency, right?
           Any reservations about
           the ultimate long term                Speed is not only of
           repercussions of relying              concern to the lazy.
           on vigilantism to keep                Sometimes speed is
           order can pale in the                 crucial, even for the
           light of that immediate               righteous.
           feeling of powerlessness.


                                          We're getting near
                                          Dershowitz and his
                                          contrived justification
                                          for torture.  You
               One button you could       could play with that:
               press would be to          
               attempt to do what         The Shadow looks for
               was tried with the         an alternative under
               "V for Vendetta"           fire, and hence is the 
               film:                      goodest of good guys.
                                               
               Lean on present fears,          Or gooder than 
               come up with a present          Dershowitz, 
               day analog of the 1930s         anyway.
               fear of organized crime.

               Raise a suggestion
               that the American
               republic has collapsed.

                   Instead of a yellow
                   peril then, the
                   plot should involve
                   tracing the conspiracy
                   up the chain,
                   rooting out the
                   bad guys that have
                   infested the system.

                      My vote would be
                      a scheme for rigging
                      elections.




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