issue 14 // volume 44

‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi

> Coming packed with new species

Veronnica MacKillop
Contributor

 

SZ Wars: The Last Jedi is coming
‘o theatres December 15, and the
new episode is bringing some new
species to the Star Wars universe.

The trailer that dropped on October
9 gave us a look at some of these species,
but many fans agree that one creature
stole the spotlight: Porgs. The newly-
beloved creature was seen screaming
beside Chewbacca in the Millennium
Falcon, and they immediately became a
fan favourite. So, what do we know about
the Porgs? According to the Star Wars
Wookieepedia, Porgs are a seabird from
Ahch-To, the planet where Rey found
Luke Skywalker at the end of The Force
Awakens. The Porgs are curious creatures
who can fly and build nests. Baby Porgs
are called Porglets, and a group of Porgs
is called a murder. The Porgs are created
using animatronics, puppetry, and CGI.

Director Rian Johnson explained
that the Porgs are actually inspired by

puffins, after he saw them covering
Skellig Michael Island while scouting
the space for the film. He found the
creatures hilarious and thought we
needed a Star Wars version of this.

Some fans have noticed a shot of
Chewbacca with a feather in his mouth, and
are speculating that it may be a Porg feather.
This seems unlikely since there will also be a
children’s book called Chewie and the Porgs,
but perhaps Chewie attempting to eat a Porg
doesn’t actually result in the Porg being
eaten, and this will be played off as a joke.

The next new species we see
in the trailer is the Crystalline Fox
called the vulptex. They live on Crait,

a mineral planet where members of
the Resistance are hiding out.

The creatures have developed the
crystalline nature due to feeding off the
planet for so long, claims creature effects
creator Neal Scanlan. He also said that
the inspiration from the creatures came
from glass chandeliers, and they put a suit
made of plastic straws on a dog to figure
out how the crystalline fur would move.

According to Entertainment Weekly, the
vulptices can burrow into crevices to hide.
In the trailer, the vulptices are seen
running into some sort of shelter, which fans
assume is the Resistance hideout on Crait.
Since it seems they are running away from
something, many assume that the foxes are
going to be helping the Resistance. Perhaps,
because they are so climatized to Crait, they
are being used by the Resistance to gather
food and supplies, or to be on lookout.
Caretakers are the final new species
seen in the trailer. Johnson described them
to Entertainment Weekly as “these sort of
fish-bird type aliens who live on the island
[of Ahch-To].” He explained that they have
lived there for thousands of years, and
they tend to the structures on the island.
The Caretakers are all female, large,
but with small bird-like feet, they speak in
an alien language that Johnson describes as
“a blubbery sort of Scottish fish talk”, and
they wear nun-like clothing. Johnson said
that he wanted them to seem like a little
nunnery. Luke is able to understand them,
but Johnson said that the Caretakers sort

arts // no. 7

of just tolerate his presence on Ahch-To. He
also said that they are amphibious creatures
who rose up from the sea to take care of the
buildings. Scanlan said that the Caretakers
are an “extrapolation from the Porgs.”

The Caretakers are animatronics,
played by people inside the suits. Since one
of the buildings that they care for is the
first Jedi temple, fans speculate that the
Caretakers most likely worship the Force.

Star Wars News Net found photos
of another creature that may be in the
upcoming film, but rather than releasing
the photos, they had artist Eli Hyder
come up with concept art for another
new creature that may be on Ahch-To:

The sea monster. We know that the
monster will be white and up to nine
feet tall, and that there is a possibility
that Rey will go up against it in the film,
but it may just be in the background.

From Ewoks to Porgs, Star Wars is
always bringing interesting new creatures
for fans to love, and with the December 15
date fast approaching, we'll soon see how
these new species will fit into the universe.

Racism and poverty: A muddy situation

> ‘Mudbound’ film review

Ida Salmany
Contributor

kkk

nother modern period drama
that has earned high reviews at
Sundance has hit the screens, and
it is well worth the two hours!
Based on Hillary Jordan’s
novel of the same name, Mudbound
is a compelling and absorbing
film, with a stunning cast and
a realistic depiction of racism,
sexism, and poverty in the 1940s.
This film is here to make you
feel uncomfortable. Full of suffering,
the movie follows the lives of five
characters in rural Mississippi during
and after World War II. Dee Rees,
the director, gives each character

 

their own narrative voiceover, which
makes the viewers see what they see
and challenges the assumptions that
viewers may have of race and gender.
From the very beginning, the
film sets the stage for tension, as
Laura McAllan (Carey Mulligan)
describes the challenges she faces
being married off to an insensitive
and stubborn husband, Henry
McAllan (Jason Clarke), and how
moving to a large, desolate piece of
muddy land has altered her life. Next,
we are introduced to the Jacksons,
an African-American family that is
leasing parts of the McAllan’s farm
and trying their best to live a good,
happy life. Hap (Rob Morgan) and
Florence (Mary J. Blige) have a constant
struggle with money and dealing
with Henry as their inconsiderate
landlord, and on top of everything

else, the Jacksons worry about their
son Ronsel, who has gone to war.

This leads us to the two characters
in the film presented as the leads:
Two soldiers, Ronsel Jackson (Jason
Mitchell) and Jamie McAllan (Garrett
Hedlund), who is Henry’s younger
brother living with Henry’s family on
the mud-ridden farm. Both are haunted
by different things. Ronsel, who is a
hero at war defending his country,
comes home to Mississippi to see that
even as a hero, he has to sit at the back
of the bus and exit stores through the
back door. He strikes up a friendship
with Jamie, who is haunted by his
experience at war, relying on his drinks
to suppress his memories. Though they
see the colour in each other, they find
comfort in the wounds of one another.
During their first encounter, they both
plunge back into the horrors of war

What makes funk music funky?

> The art of skipping a beat

Katie Czenczek
Staff Writer

 

O all of the various genres that erupted
out of the 1960s African-American
music scene, funk music is the genre to most
likely to get you up and dancing. A blend
of R&B, soul, and jazz, this genre spiked in
popularity during the ’7os when groups like
Sly and The Family Stone, James Brown, and
Funkadelic were at large. Later, as electronic
beats became more popular in the ’8os,
artists such as Michael Jackson, Prince, and
Kool and the Gang all fell into their genre
with their danceable and memorable hits.

In the 21st century, and this year
in particular, there has been a revival of
funk music. Acts such as Mark Ronson
featuring Bruno Mars and the combined
efforts of Childish Gambino and Ludwig
Géransson have brought funk music to
a contemporary audience. Tracks such

as the rightfully-titled “Uptown Funk”
and Gambino’s “Redbone” both have
characteristics of funk music, and sound
almost like odes to the songs that came
before them. Both Mars and Gambino and
G6ransson are up for nominations this year
at the 2017 Grammy Awards, and there's a
good reason for it: You can’t stop the funk.

However, defining what funk exactly
is can prove to be quite the challenge.

The blend of R&B, soul and jazz often
makes it easy to categorize funk songs
as one of those three genres, but such
classification then fails to fully describe the
very special and eclectic mashup of genres
that defines funk. As far as music theory
goes, one of the defining features of funk
music is the use of the syncopated beat.

Syncopated beat is a term that
describes the intentional “disturbance or
interruption of the regular flow of rhythm,”
as described by Wikipedia. In order words,

syncopated beats veer away from the
standard four-count beat, or “one, two,
three, four,” and move onto a “one-and-
two-and-three-and-four” beat, thus causing
disturbances in the rhythm of everyday
pop songs. The reason that pop songs are
so easily stuck in your head is the opposite
reason for why funk beats make you want
to get up and dance. The disturbances in
the flow of rhythm allows for empty gaps to
fill in the space of the song, which triggers
an impulse in your brain to anticipate
the next beat. As you anticipate the beat,
your body fills in the gaps by dancing.

Blair Fisher, the Music Technology
Coordinator at Douglas, said in an
interview with the Other Press that
what separates funk from rock and
blues is the happy medium between
simplicity and complicatedness.

“Bass and drums provide the
foundation, and in my opinion, funk tends

when a car backfires, leading them to
bond because of their nightmares.
The performances in the film
are incredible, with Mulligan raising
her children in terrible conditions;
Mary J. Blige, wonderfully stoic and
powerful as Ronsel’s mother; Jason
Mitchell, proud and defiant as Ronsel;
and the under-appreciated Garrett
Hedlund as Jamie. Cinematographer
Rachel Morrison does a fantastic job
capturing the beauty of colours in this
film and having captivating scenery.
Mudbound has a marvelous
cast and is tremendously acted out,
especially Mitchell and Hedlund,
who are able to make their unlikely
friendship feel so real and meaningful,
making the audience feel their
pain, happiness, and sadness.

to be more complicated and interesting

(both rhythmically and harmonically)

than rock or blues. The other rhythm

instruments will often play sparsely—filling

the gaps left by bass and drums,” Fisher said.
When done right, the way that

funk artists have been doing since the

’6os, the beat is almost unstoppable.

There needs to be a balance between

staying on beat and adding syncopation

to the song, similar to when writers

break traditional writing structure and

format their work in a meaningful way.

In both instances, it takes a nuanced

and advanced grasp of the structure of

music and writing in order to pull it off.
However, it also helps to have some

horns, singing chops, and background

singers to fully fill out the song, said Fisher.
“Add in some horns, a great

singer, some background vocals, and

you have the basic ingredients.”