Trailers are tasked with the job of selling, not an item or product, but a story. They must condense a film into its most marketable parts and sell that experience, with the result that people will go to a movie theater and spend money to get the story they were promised. What a trailer decides to show, and what they choose to exclude, can say a lot about the audience it is made for, as well as what is seen as marketable. In order to further analyze a trailer’s function in the broader media landscape, let’s talk Star Wars.
On November 28, 2014, the first trailer for Star Wars: The Force Awakens dropped, and the internet went wild. It was Disney’s first outing with their newly acquired franchise, and from the very beginning, it was all about the nostalgia. The teaser opens on black, slowly fading into a sea of dunes, while an old, grating voice intones, “There has been an awakening. Have you felt it?” The desert setting is like Tattoine, immediately placing us in a familiar context, while the voiceover gives a sense of importance and mystery. Suddenly, a stormtrooper pops into frame, accompanied by a blast of music. Ah, yes, we know stormtroopers. But this one isn’t wearing his helmet and he is black, something new and progressive for Star Wars. Cut to black. The next clip is of BB-8, a rolling droid, again bringing us a familiar element with a new twist. This is the format the rest of the teaser follows, introducing us to something quintessentially Star Wars, but in a revised sort of way, like grimy stormtroopers, or Rey on a speeder reminiscent of but distinct from Luke’s. There is an X-wing pilot, but the X-wings are flying over water, not in space, and a dark, robed figure, whose red lightsaber has *gasp* crossguards! Each small glimpse of the film is separated by a moment of black, emphasizing the importance of each little tidbit they allow us to see. And then there is the final shot of the teaser trailer, the Millenium Falcon swooping low over the desert, accompanied by the Star Wars fanfare in all its glory.
It’s staggering how effective this is, elevating a film we haven’t seen to mythical heights, while making nerds everywhere cry with happiness. It is impressive too, how economical it is, making sure to give the audience a look at all the new main characters, while cloaking them in nostalgia. Ideologically, there isn’t too much to parse out, which is understandable, since Star Wars is generally pretty neutral territory (or at least it was) and it is only a minute and thirty seconds long. However, the inclusion of a black stormtrooper was and is a big deal, and hints at the more diverse casting choices the new trilogy would make. Disney realized that people were looking for a Star Wars that reflected how society has grown since the original trilogy, but that they also wanted something comforting and familiar. Of course, their desire to please the fans in nostalgic ways could be said to have turned into a weakness, depending on what you think of The Rise of Skywalker, but I would argue that it was used to great effect in their marketing of The Force Awakens.
