After viewing Star Wars: A New Hope for the first time last week, my wife turned to me and said, “It’s nothing like what I imagined.”
Only then did I realize how much of Star Wars has emanated throughout the pop culture universe… and how much of it hasn’t. She knew that the movies would be great. But, she didn’t expect them to be so funny.
In many ways, Star Wars is a comedy. It’s true that epic lines like “Do or do not: there is no try” dominate cultural references. But, those moments are set in high relief by Yoda’s silliness, R2-D2’s physical comedy, and C-3PO’s Shakespearean knack for making cheap shots at R2 sound clever (“Don’t you call me a mindless philosopher, you overweight glob of grease!”).
The Mandalorian throws audiences’ expectations out the window. Shedding the baggage of the big screen, the Jedi, and any pretense of grandeur, the show somehow feels more like classic Star Wars than any other attempt has since 1983.
And yet it is so different. At times an homage to Sergio Leone, The Mandalorian is more of a Space Western than any of the Star Wars movies could claim to be. Even the music is a huge departure from John Williams’ brand of sweeping orchestral soundscapes. Composer Ludwig Göransson’s soundtrack is percussive, electric, tense, alluding to the groundbreaking scores of Spaghetti Western master Ennio Morricone. One recurring theme, which sounds like an overblown flute dithering between two notes, was actually performed on a bass recorder. The music was then distorted to bear a passing resemblance to the iconic wailing melody from The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly. And, music is far from the only likeness they share.
Clint Eastwood plays the “The Man with No Name” (Tuco calls him “Blondie”) in that 1966 classic from Sergio Leone. Jon Favreau, creator of The Mandalorian, takes a page from Leone’s book by withholding Mando’s true appellation (“Mando” is obviously an assigned nickname). Combined with the Mandalorians’ code of concealment, the protagonist’s anonymity results in an air of cool aloofness… which makes the relationship with his adorable foil, the also unnamed “Baby Yoda” (so-called by the internet), that much more amusing.
Although The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly is dramatic, Leone ingeniously spoofs his own melodrama. With the infamous Mexican standoff at the end of the movie, he escalates the tension way, way too far — there are approximately 7 minutes of wordless, heated eye contact — until it becomes truly laughable.
The Mandalorian builds upon the common ground between Star Wars and Leone’s Spaghetti Westerns. It’s all about contrast, in both character and tone. Loftiness balances silliness; moments of gravity are set in high relief by humor or, in the case of The Mandalorian, just plain cuteness.
As with the Force, The Mandalorian must balance the dark with the light. So far, the Force is strong with this one.
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