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Post by thisguy4000 on Dec 5, 2020 20:22:17 GMT
RedLetterMedia famously argued that TPM has no protagonist, but generally, when people are having this debate, the three choices that seem to pop up are Qui-Gon, Anakin and Padme.
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Post by Archelaus on Dec 5, 2020 21:06:49 GMT
This is a genuine flaw of The Phantom Menace, but I would say Qui-Gon Jinn. Anakin doesn't appear until about forty minutes into the film.
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Post by mstreepsucks on Dec 5, 2020 21:55:10 GMT
It doesn't really have one maybe. It's a good thing they more than took care of that problem in the force awakens though ha ha! There's no mistaking who the main person in that is.
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Post by Waxer-n-boil on Dec 5, 2020 22:39:39 GMT
In my opinion it’s Anakin. Without the side adventure to pick up Anakin the entire plot to retake Naboo fails because the space battle would’ve failed. And without him winning the pod race the others are indefinitely stuck on Tattooine. The problem is that he shows up relatively late in the story. And all of his heroic actions seem like a side quest to the main plot of the movie. And that main plot pushes 3 sub-protagonists into the spotlight: QuiGon, Padme, and ObiWan.
So while I don’t completely agree with RLM that there was no protagonist, it was a fair criticism from them. Because Anakin got buried in that plot dynamic. And it made the whole thing kind of murky as to who the main protagonist is.
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Post by thisguy4000 on Dec 5, 2020 23:00:21 GMT
In my opinion it’s Anakin. Without the side adventure to pick up Anakin the entire plot to retake Naboo fails because the space battle would’ve failed. And without him winning the pod race the others are indefinitely stuck on Tattooine. The problem is that he shows up relatively late in the story. And all of his heroic actions seem like a side quest to the main plot of the movie. And that main plot pushes 3 sub-protagonists into the spotlight: QuiGon, Padme, and ObiWan. So while I don’t completely agree with RLM that there was no protagonist, it was a fair criticism from them. Because Anakin got buried in that plot dynamic. And it made the whole thing kind of murky as to who the main protagonist is. I think Lucas probably at least intended for Anakin to be seen as the protagonist of the film, but it wasn’t executed well.
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Post by moviebuffbrad on Dec 5, 2020 23:23:19 GMT
I guess the fact that there's disagreement here proves them right, but I thought it was plainly Qui-Gon. He's the common denominator to all the other protagonists (mentor to Obi-Wan, protector of Padme, finder of Anakin), has the most screentime, and more or less drives the plot. "We gotta save the queen", "we gotta bet our way off Tatooine", "we gotta train this messiah kid", etc.
I think the broader problem is that the PT as a whole doesn't have a main protagonist. The first film kicks us off with a guy who dies at the end of it. AotC is even murkier: it's kind of an even split between Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme. Then RotS is more just Anakin. All in all, that'd make Anakin the closest, a character so poorly defined he feels like a different person in each.
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Post by Waxer-n-boil on Dec 6, 2020 0:19:04 GMT
I guess the fact that there's disagreement here proves them right, but I thought it was plainly Qui-Gon. He's the common denominator to all the other protagonists (mentor to Obi-Wan, protector of Padme, finder of Anakin), has the most screentime, and more or less drives the plot. "We gotta save the queen", "we gotta bet our way off Tatooine", "we gotta train this messiah kid", etc. I think the broader problem is that the PT as a whole doesn't have a main protagonist. The first film kicks us off with a guy who dies at the end of it. AotC is even murkier: it's kind of an even split between Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme. Then RotS is more just Anakin. All in all, that'd make Anakin the closest, a character so poorly defined he feels like a different person in each. Yeah. I could also see a strong argument for QuiGon and get behind it. |
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Post by ThatGuy on Dec 6, 2020 1:36:28 GMT
I guess the fact that there's disagreement here proves them right, but I thought it was plainly Qui-Gon. He's the common denominator to all the other protagonists (mentor to Obi-Wan, protector of Padme, finder of Anakin), has the most screentime, and more or less drives the plot. "We gotta save the queen", "we gotta bet our way off Tatooine", "we gotta train this messiah kid", etc. I think the broader problem is that the PT as a whole doesn't have a main protagonist. The first film kicks us off with a guy who dies at the end of it. AotC is even murkier: it's kind of an even split between Obi-Wan, Anakin, and Padme. Then RotS is more just Anakin. All in all, that'd make Anakin the closest, a character so poorly defined he feels like a different person in each.I think it's the fault of the serialized structure. Think of all of the movies as part of a long running tv series (Clone Wars?). TPM would be season 1, AotC season 10?, RotS is season 13. It's like picking out episodes of each of those seasons to make an arc for a 2 hour movie. So Anakin wouldn't be the same even if played by the same actor. Padme and Obi Wan aren't the same either.
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Post by politicidal on Dec 6, 2020 4:24:57 GMT
Jar Jar.
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Post by James on Dec 7, 2020 4:18:04 GMT
Qui-Gon is the closest answer.
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Post by ThatGuy on Dec 7, 2020 18:19:29 GMT
Qui-Gon is the closest answer. I think because they just elevated Obi Wan from ANH, they don't see him as the lead. But really, he's the same as Stark.
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Post by lenlenlen1 on Dec 14, 2020 20:39:38 GMT
RedLetterMedia famously argued that TPM has no protagonist, but generally, when people are having this debate, the three choices that seem to pop up are Qui-Gon, Anakin and Padme. Though I think that Redlettermedia got a lot of things right for the most part I didn't agree with everything they said. This is one point. The main character of TPM is actually Qui-Gon. He is the most significant character in the movie, his actions propel the story the most, and he has the most screen time. Plus, he's cast with Liam Neeson. I think its clear that its not Obi Wan. He's a sidekick in TPM. Its not Padme as her character doesn't propel action. And its not Anakin as he doesn't even show up until fully a third of the movie is over. Its all about Qui-Gon. And that's one of the flaws of the movie. We all know Obi Wan, Padme, and particularly Anakin are going to be the main characters, but in this movie (their first sequential appearance!) they're pretty much relegated to sub plots. But then again, I've always said, they should've skipped this movie altogether and started with AOTC as Episode 1 instead.
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Post by FridayOnElmStreet on Jun 3, 2021 5:25:46 GMT
Qui-Gon
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Post by ShadowSouL: Padawan of Yoda on Jul 6, 2021 2:47:54 GMT
In my opinion it’s Anakin. Without the side adventure to pick up Anakin the entire plot to retake Naboo fails because the space battle would’ve failed. And without him winning the pod race the others are indefinitely stuck on Tattooine. The problem is that he shows up relatively late in the story. And all of his heroic actions seem like a side quest to the main plot of the movie. And that main plot pushes 3 sub-protagonists into the spotlight: QuiGon, Padme, and ObiWan. So while I don’t completely agree with RLM that there was no protagonist, it was a fair criticism from them. Because Anakin got buried in that plot dynamic. And it made the whole thing kind of murky as to who the main protagonist is. Anakin winning the pod race was the condition for Anakin to be released from Watto's ownership into the custody of Qui-Gon to be trained as a Jedi, and thus was the determinant of whether or not Anakin was stuck on Tatooine. Qui-Gon and the others had the money/credits to buy parts for Queen Amidala's royal starship. It was Qui-Gon's adamant and persistent stance that Anakin was The Chosen One, for better or worse, that led to Qui-Gon wagering with Watto for Anakin's release and ultimately put Anakin at the center of the key events of the Old Republic and eventually the Galactic Empire.
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Post by lenlenlen1 on Sept 20, 2021 20:34:42 GMT
So lets look at the leads...
I think we can all agree that Obiwan has been relegated to supporting character until we see him in that Disney+ show.
So that leaves Qui-Gon, Anakin and Padme.
Its not Padme. She doesn't do anything significant enough to be lead. She's in strong supporting territory.
We all know Anakin SHOULD be the lead, even as a kid. The movie SHOULD start with him. But he comes in TOO late in the movie and also does not do quite enough to be considered lead.
That leaves us with Qui-Gon, who does do enough to be considered lead (all actions that propel story are taken by him) and he has the requisite screen time, and star power.
Its Qui-Gon. Does it matter that he dies? No. Lots of leads die in their movies.
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Post by dwightmachinehead on Oct 15, 2021 23:37:20 GMT
I'd say Obi Wan.
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Post by dwightmachinehead on Oct 15, 2021 23:45:06 GMT
I thought the Plinkett reviews were too harsh. They've been to film school, they have some idea of a perfect masterpiece in their head about what a Star Wars movie should be and the prequels never stood up.
The prequels are still better than Space Cop. It's funny how critics like RLM,AVGN and the NC have attempted to make films and created utter dreck despite their many criticisms of movies.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 1, 2021 19:31:33 GMT
It’s Qui Gonn until Act Three- then it becomes Anakin. This was certainly one of the oddest choices made for this script. It really should’ve been Obi Wan for all three movies.
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