“Area Loner To Dwell On Past.” A sharp-witted, humorously melancholic observation on human folly? To be sure. But that deadpan Onion headline from 1996 also makes a dandy caption for a picture of the brooding Jedi-knight-turned-hermetic-loony Obi-Wan Kenobi, portrayed so reluctantly by Sir Alec Guinness in 1977’s Star Wars. In fact, it turns out that numerous gags from The A.V. Club’s sister site pair up nicely with images from George Lucas’ sprawling, multi-film space opera, a point proven repeatedly by a fan named Lindsey (or, as she would have it, Skygawker), proprietor of the humorous Star Wars-themed Tumblr A Certain Point Of View. (That name, by the way, references some prime Luke/ghost Obi-Wan dialogue from Return Of The Jedi.) Over the course of several postings, Lindsey has used vintage Onion headlines to expose the pathetic and/or tragicomic nature of various Star Wars characters, particularly the “serious” ones, whose own stubborn humorlessness makes them inviting comedic foils, much funnier in their own way than the series’ designated comic relief figures, such as Jar Jar Binks, Watto, or the Ewoks.
The mind, of course, immediately goes to Hayden Christensen as the petulant, sniveling, young Anakin Skywalker in the already much-mocked prequel trilogy. Rest assured that Mr. Christensen’s histrionic, angelically coiffed work has not been ignored by Skygawker. Observe:
Or this:
Or, uh, this:
As tempting as it might be to make a project like this a nonstop parade of Christensen abuse, which it easily could have been, Lindsey has democratically extended her satiric reach to Mark Hamill, Ewan McGregor, and poor, poor Jake Lloyd. There’s even an entire assortment of Onion-captioned screenshots from the little-loved Clone Wars animated television series for those who are into that sort of thing. Here, too, Anakin proves all too inviting a target for faux-journalistic mockery.
[via Uproxx]