Posted on 12/20/2015 5:34:31 AM PST by Kaslin
America is obsessed with Star Wars. I'm not making a value judgment, just a statement of fact. It's everywhere, even in car commercials on radio. What the movie franchise has to do with cars is a mystery, but it's probably working because why else would they do it?
It certainly worked on me. I watched "The Force Awakens" Thursday at 11 p.m., Friday at 9:40 a.m. and Saturday at 7 a.m. Like I said, it's not a value judgment because I'd be judging myself.
No value judgment is being made, but there are judgments to be made in regards to Star Wars. Plenty, in fact. Not only in the quality of the films, but the message.
What makes Star Wars so appealing is it hits on such universal themes of right and wrong, good and evil, that it can be anything to whoever is watching it.
Kids simply see good vs. evil, the bad guys and the good guys. It's a basic and pure view of the world. Add in some spaceship chases and laser fights, and they're hooked. For those of us who fell in love with the movies as kids, this is what hooked us.
On first glance it is not exactly deep, but it can get there. No matter how deep you delve into that galaxy far, far away, this is the door you most likely walked through first to get there.
Examining the politics of Star Wars is a dangerous path that can lead only to the Dark Side. But, like most everything in life, if you're looking for affirmation of existing beliefs in anything, particularly art, you'll find it somewhere.
The creator of the Star Wars universe is George Lucas, and George Lucas is a rabid liberal. So if you're looking at the politics of Star Wars, you know how they were at least intended to be. That doesn't mean conservatives can't find themselves as the good guys.
First, the liberals.
The "evil empire" is, obviously, evil. And everyone knows conservatives are evil. That's just good science.
In episode 3, "Revenge of the Sith," Lucas lays his take bare. As the Old Republic crumbles and the Empire rises, Darth Vader tells Obi-Wan "If you're not with me, then you're my enemy."
The only way Lucas could've been more "on the nose" in exposing his politics is if he'd cut to President George W. Bush saying, "Either you're with us, or you are with the terrorists."
The intent of movies is one thing, but art is in the eye of the beholder, not the artist.
When I watch the movies as a conservative, I see a dysfunctional, feckless central government unable to address the most basic problems. In "The Phantom Menace," universally panned as the worst in the series, the Senate is unable to make a move without the formation of a committee to study whether one member planet had invaded another.
Both governments, the Old Republic and the Empire, were the real problem. The Old Republic had become so bloated it even taxed trade routes, because bloated government always needs "more."
The Empire at least decentralized government some, restoring a modicum of local control. In episode 4, "A New Hope," Grand Moff Tarkin announced the bloated Senate had been dissolved, "The regional governors now have direct control over their territories."
Although not ideal, considering he went on to say fear of the Death Star would keep everyone in line, it was an acknowledgement of the problems of centralized power, even in a dictatorship.
But the Empire could not have come into being, a dictatorship could not have seized control, had it not been for the big government bloat. Emperor Palpatine was voted into power and granted exceptional powers, something that couldn't have come to pass were it not for a government big enough and powerful enough to make it happen in the first place.
Neither government was ideal, and both were tyrannical in their own way. The Old Republic had the Jedi, a group of supernatural enforcers able to use their powers for the Force to impose their will on others. The Empire had Darth Vader and a string of space stations capable of destroying planets.
Both spent lavishly. The Old Republic maintained a capital city of extravagance with opulent events and feasts as residents of member planets lived modest lives.
The Empire spent unimaginable fortunes building two Death Stars, one larger than the other, in such quick succession that they had to have been built simultaneously, with a devastating effect on the economy.
Without giving any spoilers away, in "The Force Awakens" this economic recklessness is embraced yet again by "The New Order," the latest incarnation of big government crushing the liberty of the galaxy's inhabitants.
The real lesson of the Star Wars movies is big government leads to a loss of freedom, whether the government was voted for by the people or seized power through manipulation.
It's the natural order: Government grows and eventually consumes everything.
Thankfully, for the residents of that world, there are always a group of rugged individualists who, wishing nothing more than to be left alone by their government, rise and fight back. And, eventually, win.
You see where I'm going with this, so there's no reason to state the obvious. But it's not really obvious to our liberal friends, who see just the opposite. And people who are too busy living their lives to read political meaning into adventure movies, or simply don't care, see only a fun story and an escape for two hours.
That's the beauty of Star Wars; it's whatever you want it to be. And at this point in time with terrorism spreading, the economy floundering, the election raging and a feckless president acting well beyond his Constitutionally limited powers we can use all the fun distractions we can get.
Why do you see it all over even in car commercials? Simple...
http://www.businessinsider.com/these-6-corporations-control-90-of-the-media-in-america-2012-6
I don’t have TV and don’t listen to the radio much. I only hear about star wars when I log into Freerepublic.
I saw the first one 28 time in the theater. I was mesmerized. I got over it. :-)
It’s just another movie series and, to be frank, that Jedi/Force thing is kinda silly, truth be told.
I also just finished watching, on my computer, a mini series based on a book I read about 40 years ago. It was like a bad story in Omni. The whole thing was like watching a kids play and it took its FICTIONAL STORY way too seriously. I twas called Childhood’s End.
I’m getting to where I really need relationships in my stories more than ridiculous fiction. Maybe I’m outgrowing science fiction. I dunno. I really liked Galaxy Quest. :-D
A western with lasers.
Interesting points. I never connected Darth Vader’s statement You’re either with me or against me, with George Bush. You forget about the current political world when you watch Star Wars. I wish Harrison Ford had kept his mouth shut about global warming because I’ll think about that now when I see the film. BTW, I like The Phantom Menace because of the Liam Neeson character Qui-Gon Jin, and the Darth Maul and Obi-Wan Kenobi characters.
Think about the empire when you hear about leftists trying to disarm citizens and students at Yale university signing petitions to give up their right to free speech. these are tyrants in the making. The left likes to think that they represent the good side/rebels and conservatives represent the dark side/alliance. That might have been true in the sixties but it is not the truth today. Conservatives are the last true defenders of the old Republic. The leftists destroy unborn children, encourage submission to dark influences, and renounce the leaders and the ways of the old republic. We are the rebels.
So...the black guy in the movie; he’s sort of a Magical Negro, like Bagger Vance or Brother Same, but in space, right?
Or is he an NBA star who gets his white woman trophy wife? What does Hollywood have against black women?
But it took you 28 times to get over the first one. It is very seldom that I watch a movie more than once and it has to be really good. I don’t know how many times my daughter watched “Titanic”, she was really hooked on it.
Yeah. I was young and the first one truly was ground breaking. I would go to a Saturday matinee and stay there the rest of the day. And even then I saw it as a western in space. I was a big fan of 2001 before that.
It’s weird the stuff I got into before I was a Christian. I’m just into different stuff now. Have been for a long time. I still catch the SW movies if just to follow the story. It’s a bit like exercising a vestigial organ.
It.s
A
Movie
That is ALL it is. And it’s a very good one. A friend got me a ticket opening night. I thoroughly enjoyed it. Very touching as well.
Incorrect. Star Wars was not “just a movie.” You have to put it into the context of the time.
Star Wars came out before there was cable TV, the internet, and even VCRs in every household. There was broadcast TV, books, and the movies.
At that time, Star Wars brought groundbreaking special effects to the big screen. It made suspension of disbelief that much more easy for a science fiction movie. For adults, they were like, “Wow!” For a kid my age (6)... it was like meeting Santa Claus in person. Santa was real!
I figured this out when my six year old fell asleep in The Force Awakens. How could he?!?! Then it occurred to me: he’s seen it all before! He’s surrounded by the magic - all he has to do is go on the internet, pop in a DVD, or watch Netflix.
It reminds me of that urban legend involving the Lumiere’s train movie where people screamed as the train approached because they had never seen something so realistic. Star Wars had the same impact on a generation, just moreso because the film was more readily accessible.
I'm watching the first 6 (saw 3 last night) before going to see the latest. Some seriousness with comical interludes makes the whole deal a bit of fun.
-—— Some seriousness with comical interludes——
thanks for introducing the thought
I have been trying to come up with the term all week. it finally surfaced from the depths yesterday “comic relief “ . As I recall it is Shakespearean technique to lessen the dramatic tension.
Trump is master of the method. When he introduces the comic relief, the presstitutes can’t understand the relief and consider it as seriousness gone bad. Calling Cruz a maniac was comic relief. Cruz Trumped Trump by using the Maniac video
the duo in turn relieved the dramatic tension and turned the issue inward on the flabbergasted presstitutes
the voters however not only get it but love it and want more.
dry cod wonkishness is killing Jeb who just can’t seem to lighten up
Does seeing the same movie 28 times make it a series?
Yep - one of the reasons I enjoy Star Wars is also true of how Trump conducts business - very effective.
Between the time of “Episode 6” ending, and the beginning of “Episode 1”, you could go to any book retailer of girth, and find at least 200 paperbacks written within the Star Wars genre, and all approved by Lucas, before publishing.
That inlcudes the storylines of Luke and Mara Jade and their children; Han and Leia and their children; the backstory of Yoda and the planet Dehgoba; and the backstory of Darth Vader and the Emperor, and the list goes on.
So all this ‘the force awakens’ to me, is nothing more than the feeling folks got when they had read, and remembered Herman melville’s ‘moby dick’ and seeing captain ahab played by gregory peck for the first time on the big screen.
Cash generator for mass media/retail marketing...
Get your kid the latest and greatest Star Wars action figure/Wookie outfit, or (often not so subtly) implied, you might be mean-spirited...
I’m curious what the average parent would have to lay out in cash for the movie, the follow-on DVDs, action figures, light sabers, outfits, etc...
Mass marketing strategy masquerading as cobbled together half-assed storytelling/art...Pass...
The Force doesn’t awaken among cats
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vop3w2RWWtU
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.