FORA

The Frame Of Reference Argument, or FORA, is a catch-all term for subjects relating to discussions over which Luke is Luke Prime, and is intrinsically tied to the extremely controversial and fringe Smaller Luke Hypothesis. FORA is also frequently used to describe any discussion around which character should be used to determine Bigger Luke.


The Argument

The frame of reference argument is believed to have been first posited by a member of a Star Wars usenet board in the early 1990's. This user proclaimed the alleged arbitrariness of there being a Bigger Luke, citing the alleged lack of a consistent criteria to define which Luke was, in fact, Luke Prime. Not long into the discussion another user then posited that Bigger Luke was in fact Luke Prime, and the contrasting slightly downsized Luke was in fact a Smaller Luke, which remains an extremely controversial theory to this very day.

The generally agreed criteria for defining Luke Prime has always been the first frame of A New Hope which contains both Luke Skywalker and Han Solo in plain view. Whilst both characters appear on screen for the first time together at approximately 47 minutes into the film at the Mos Eisley Cantina, the perspective of the scene is not ideal, and thus the go-to scene has always been at approximately 52 minutes into the film, in the scene in which Han Solo is walking away from the Falcon towards Luke and Obi-Wan whilst talking about the "special modifications" he's made to the aforementioned spacecraft. The first frame in which he achieves a full stop and faces Obi-Wan Kenobi has therefore always been the ideal scene to designate Luke Prime.

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About 47 minutes into the film, the first scene in which Luke Skywalker and Han Solo are seen in the same shot is not ideal for determining whether this is Bigger Luke or Regular Luke.
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52 minutes in. Smaller Luke Theorists would have you believe this proves the existence of Smaller Luke, but as one can determine through close examination, Luke is closer to the camera in this image, giving the illusion he is Bigger Luke when he is, in fact, Luke Prime.

Smaller Luke theorists have alleged that Luke appears to be the commonly purported Bigger Luke in this scene, compared to the most commonly cited examples of Bigger Luke, and therefore is Luke Prime. Critics of this hypothesis state that this is merely caused by perspective, as Luke is closer to the camera than Han in this scene.

Using Obi-Wan

Many theorists who argue FORA hold the view that it is best to use Obi-Wan to designate Luke Prime due to his earlier appearance in the film compared to Han, and as such argue in favor of Obi-Wan being the primary frame-of-reference overall.

Critics have always held the position that this limits the amount of times one can potentially designate Bigger Luke or Regular Luke, as post his untimely demise on the Death Star, Luke is only on screen with Obi-Wan's force ghost a minuscule amount of times, let alone never again in A New Hope. Statements have been made as to whether Obi-Wan's force ghost would even accurately represent his height when he was physically alive. This was deemed a relevant question to ask, at least for Canon Luke Theorists, as there would not be a reason for Bigger Luke to even exist in-universe unless the creators of Star Wars eventually wanted viewers to eventually figure it out, and therefore they must have considered this, and all factors involved in designating Bigger Luke.

Defenders of the use of Obi-Wan to designate Luke Prime argue that Han Solo only appears near Luke any significant amount of times in A New Hope - on the Death Star, primarily - and in the other films not many times at all, so this objection is arbitrary.

Using Owen Lars

Using Uncle Owen to determine the existence of Bigger Luke would seem the obvious choice, and in a way he is, as he is the first character to be seen alongside Luke Skywalker in Star Wars. In fact, the first scene in which Luke appears in the film he can be seen alongside Owen Lars, and therefore Uncle Owen is indeed the logical choice. However, the usage of Owen Lars as a frame of reference has, as of the early 1990's, waned in popularity and has been replaced by Han Solo, primarily due to Han and Luke being seen together in the same shot far more often, as Uncle Owen dies early in A New Hope, and thus one is granted far more opportunities to designate Bigger Luke using Han. A tertiary reason for the wane of Uncle Owen is due to his association with the Smaller Luke Hypothesis, and as such has gained a negative stigma, even mockery, amongst Bigger Luke Theorists. As of the early 90's, the usage of Uncle Owen is viewed as extremely archaic and has mostly become a thing of the past.

Advocates of the Smaller Luke Hypothesis cite the first two shots in which Luke is seen as evidence of Smaller Luke, as Luke appears slightly larger in the first shot, if not much larger, than he does in the second shot, which according to conventions set by the first Bigger Luke Theorists would indeed make Bigger Luke Luke Prime. However, closer examination of the frames would indicate that Luke is standing closer to the camera in the first frame, and therefore his appearance as slightly larger is mainly due to perspective.

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Whilst Luke appears larger in the top frame at 16:49 than he does in the lower frame at 16:51, this is merely due to perspective, as Luke is closer to the camera than Owen is in the top frame.

Perspective of The Hamill Hypothesis

Supporters of the Hamill Hypothesis generally approach the subject of Bigger or Smaller Luke from a different direction, citing Mark Hamill's real life height of 5'9" relative to the allegedly taller (or perhaps smaller) look-alike. This has, to this day, been a fruitless endeavor.


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