May the Sith be with you

My husband and my friend Maria in Santa Monica are Star Warsians, or whatever you call them. I’ve gone to all the movies and survived many marathons with my husband in our living room. I’ve listened to all the radio show CDs many times. Unlike my dear husband, I wasn’t a little boy when the movies came out. Unlike my friend Maria, I was never blessed with a son. So, I never identified with Luke Skywalker, I found him a whiney young man, who was not so much selfish, as he was a typical teenager. The hero Han Solo was one of those love ’em and leave ’em, kinda guys… too cocky for me, heartbreak was not a goal on my bucket-list, I assumed correctly that life would be eager to give me this experience, if I gave it a chance. Princess Lea was too irritating for me and her bear-claw braids too silly. The robots were cute and Yoda was adorable for a hero, but for potential steaminess, not so much. Darth Vader seemed like a mysterious interesting character but he was too 2-dimensional, pure evil with barley a hint of humanity is boring. Wookies had potential –if only they shifted into sexy werewolf hunks like on True Blood…

There was one exception that emerged in a later movie and it distressed my dear husband… When I first saw the Sith Lord with his red and black tattooed face, I blurted out: “Holy shit, he’s hot!” Was it the hoodie? The classic misunderstood bad boy? or maybe the bad boy, who can be saved by the right woman?… whatever, I was so sad when he got cut in half and tossed iton a big hole in the starship… but, maybe that dark force could stitch him back together? I reminded myself again, Lucas wasn’t making chic-flicks and maybe there should be an equally dismissive name for movies made for boys like dick-flicks? No, that’s too rude but I’ll keep referring to them in my head this way. Maybe, Brats in Space? Space Balls, yeah that’s it! I thoroughly enjoyed and still enjoy that movie.

Perhaps we need more women writing screenplays to get more of those dark heroic characters. Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, and so many more classic books featured that tortured archetype, the really, bad boy heroes. The guys your Mother warned you about. I am sure Mom’s everywhere in the  Galactic Republic told their daughters to stay away from those bad boys in red –find a nice boy with a future, like Luke.  I am just as sure there were galactic teens and women everywhere ignoring that advice, who were positively convinced they could make that tattooed face smile and heal his tortured soul… make little tattooed babies…

So today on May Sith, I plan on going back into my WIP and making my hero a little more bad and a little more Sith… because unlike real life, in a book that bad boy can be saved by a goodish woman who sees the heart in the misunderstood hero! Of course, it helps that my hero is Loki. My fellow Mimosa Morning Writer, Penny will tell you that Loki is just totally misunderstood… and unlike Hollywood, the real Loki of Norwegian Sagas (not British revisionism) is not so bad a god and way more interesting than big, strong and handsome Thor!

Who is your favorite bad boy?