Let’s talk about Disney’s ‘real’ lightsaber
Has Disney found a way to build a real lightsaber? Disney fans blew up the internet with that question this month after Disney Parks, Experiences and Products Chairman Josh D’Amaro mic-dropped an online news conference by firing up a lightsaber and declaring, “It’s real.”
The moment became an instant legend because those of us who were watching had to agree not to record it as a condition of being allowed to watch. And Disney, so far, has refused to release the video so fans could analyze it for themselves. But here is my question: What is a “real” lightsaber, anyway?
I must admit, when D’Amaro raised that hilt, I was prepared to see the same digital lightsaber effect that I have seen countless times before in movies and videos. Yet what rose up from that hilt did not look like a digital effect. To me, it looked a little … fake.
No, the blade did not look like those cheap, telescoping plastic lightsabers that Disney has been selling for years. It rose up, which those plastic sabers cannot do on their own. But it also did not sizzle in exactly the same way as the familiar movie lightsaber blade, either.
In my mind, the digital lightsaber blade is “real.” So anything else called a lightsaber that does not look on-screen exactly like Lucasfilm’s lightsaber animation falls into the uncanny valley of “fake.” Even if it is really — well — real, as D’Amaro said.
I suspect that if D’Amaro had been able to show us this lightsaber in a live event rather than an online one, I would have felt differently. Watching on a screen, I am conditioned to expect a digital lightsaber blade when a Jedi or a Sith presses that button. In real life, I expect a lightsaber blade to be some form of static tube, such as those sold in Disneyland’s Star Wars: Galaxy’s Edge.
I do not expect to see a glowing blade rise from a hilt. What seemed fake to me onscreen just might have blown my mind in person.
It reminds me of the first time I saw a drone show. Looking up, my mind initially processed the dots of light moving across the sky as a neat post-production digital effect. But a split second later, when I remembered that I was looking at the sky and not a screen, my mind froze in amazement. To this day, videos of drone shows still look like cheap digital effects, while seeing them in real life never fails to astound me.
Context shapes our perception of reality. Parents, friends, teachers, clergy and even news sources influence the way we perceive the world around us. Artists — including filmmakers and theme park designers — can do the same, especially when they push us from one context into another, such as when a theme park executive fires up a movie lightsaber in real life.
That’s what I love about theme parks. The great attractions don’t just offer a good time. They challenge your perception of reality, leaving you amazed and even a bit curious. I can’t wait to get another look at that “real” lightsaber again.