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[Michael Medved]: W Bush-Whacked by 'Star Wars?'
NY Post ^ | 5/15/05 | Richard Johnson

Posted on 05/15/2005 8:24:10 AM PDT by gopwinsin04

'The Force' ins't with President George W. Bush, as least as far as George Lucas is concerned.

The blogosphere has been abuzz for days with reports that Episode III contains several barely concealed digs at the Bush Administration.

In a much cited scene, Ewan McGregors Obi Wan Kenobi decares, 'Only a Sith Lord deals in absolutes,' after Hayden Chirstensen's Ankin Skywalker/Darth Vader character says, 'If you're not with me, you're my enemy,' an obvious reference to President Bush's statements regarding the war on terror.

As the Senate cedes power to Palpatine under the guise of 'intergalatic security,' Natalie Portman's Princess Padme Amidala exclaims bitterly, 'So this is how liberty dies-to thunderous applause.'

No surprisingly, right wing leaning cineaste critic Michael Medved says George Lucas' script shows just how liberal Hollywood political sensibilities can infect a mass market fantasy like 'Revenge of the Sith'.

'What's striking about the Bush digs is not that they are that important to the film, but that they are so unimportant to it.'

None of this stuff is probably worth getting worked up over, but it's just another indication of the obvious and underlying partisanship of the entertainment industry coming out in places where you would least expect it.'

In an interview with the Associated Press last week, Lucas claimed has was less insipred by the current political climate than by the Nixon and Vietnam era, how the French turned their backs on democracy to support Napoleon and how the Romans did the same thing with Caesar.

(Excerpt) Read more at nypost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: New York
KEYWORDS: barbaraboxerdonor; hollywoodleft; liberalgerogelucas; medved; michaelmedved; moviereview; revengeofthesith; starwars; starwarsvirgins; virginforlife
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To: NewRomeTacitus

The other earthly souce is ancient Rome with its Republic changing into an Imperial power with Emperors and a Senate. The reference to his troops as Legions by the Emperor in Return of the Jedi is an obvious example. George Lucas has used many sources from around the world for his saga. There is a heavy Japanese influence in the costuming too. The Hidden Fortress movie from Japan is also used as another source. Old movie westerns and serials with their cliffhangers as well.


121 posted on 05/15/2005 10:17:28 AM PDT by xp38
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To: gopwinsin04

Official: Michael Medved is a moonbat


122 posted on 05/15/2005 10:17:31 AM PDT by Oztrich Boy (Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity - MLK)
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To: gopwinsin04

.

We turned our backs on Freedom for Vietnam =

Pictures of a vietnamese Re-Education Camp

http://www.Freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1308949/posts

.


123 posted on 05/15/2005 10:21:06 AM PDT by ALOHA RONNIE ("ALOHA RONNIE" Guyer/Veteran-"WE WERE SOLDIERS" Battle of IA DRANG-1965 http://www.lzxray.com)
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To: Oztrich Boy
Official: Michael Medved is a moonbat

Happily, I doubt Oztrich Boy has the authority to make that really official.

124 posted on 05/15/2005 10:23:09 AM PDT by yarddog
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To: yarddog

125 posted on 05/15/2005 10:31:59 AM PDT by Oztrich Boy (Nothing in all the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity - MLK)
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To: OldFashionedAmerican

"I nearly threw up my popcorn when I watched Luke back away from the light saber..."

Since the 1970s (Hollywood post-Straw Dogs) the hero cannot do everything in his power to stop evil. He cannot kill the villain. Too many films now have the villain falling to his death, becoming impailed, etc. rather than the hero shooting him when the opportunity is there.

Remember in retro-continuity, Greedo shot first.

Quentin Tarantino has spoken out against this. Saying that the director asks us to the dance and then pussyfoots around.


126 posted on 05/15/2005 10:37:16 AM PDT by weegee (WE FOUGHT ZOGBYISM November 2, 2004 - 60 Million Voters versus 60 Minutes - BUSH WINS!!!)
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To: gopwinsin04
Lucas said that the Ewoks defeating the Empire in ROTJ was like the VietCong "beating" the United States.

The Nute Gunray/Newt Gingrinch/Ronald Reagan reference.

And in the noveliztion of ROTS, Palpatine after he declares himself Emperor says that "It's Morning in the Republic." An obvious dig at Reagan.

127 posted on 05/15/2005 10:38:47 AM PDT by LdSentinal
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To: burzum

No, I`m saying if George Lucas is trying to answer Bush by saying "only an evil person deals in absolutes" then let`s look at it another way; Who is evil here, the person who sides with justice or the one who doesn`t? Liberals seem to live in this insane fantasy world that siding with criminals is "good" while those who oppose them are evil.

To this day I`m still waiting for Bin Laden or Saddam to get 1/100000th of the hell liberals have given Bush and the US. Before the Iraq invasion they had that huge protest in Europe against the US yet nothing bad was ever said about Al-Qaeda or Saddam.

If anyone deals in absolutes it`s liberals. They absolutely will not confront evil. They won`t even try to "talk to evil" as a way for peace like they keep claiming Bush should do. Thrity years of mass murder in Iraq, 35 years or global terrorism and not one peep from liberals, yet the second someone trys to put and end to it they scream bloody hell. Why? Because they absolutely side with evil.


128 posted on 05/15/2005 10:39:36 AM PDT by EdHallick
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To: gopwinsin04
I think it's a pretty good stretch to think this is aimed at W. It is not like these same quotes or something like them have never been used before. Give me a break! More like it is nothing more than the typical Hollywierd mindset. Nothing more.
 
Paranoia anyone?

129 posted on 05/15/2005 10:40:57 AM PDT by Allosaurs_r_us (for a fee........I'm happy to be........Your BACKDOOR MAN!....Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap!)
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To: xp38

The fourth (now first; not the first-now-fourth) film was all about "winning the race to save the farm/er-freedom". Such an old cliche from the 1930s, whether we are talking racing cars or horse races.

I'm really surprised that Lucas got away with that one.


130 posted on 05/15/2005 10:41:24 AM PDT by weegee (WE FOUGHT ZOGBYISM November 2, 2004 - 60 Million Voters versus 60 Minutes - BUSH WINS!!!)
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To: Oztrich Boy

I take it you are the most dangerous "thing" in the world.


131 posted on 05/15/2005 10:44:11 AM PDT by yarddog
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To: weegee
Remember in retro-continuity, Greedo shot first.

You Got it! More weak revisionist history from the left, even when they are the ones who wrote it in the first place!

My motto is: Shoot the bad guys first; go home and hug your kids!

132 posted on 05/15/2005 10:49:19 AM PDT by OldFashionedAmerican
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To: gopwinsin04

She used to hang red coat hangers all around Marin county near election posters of her opposition. You decide!


133 posted on 05/15/2005 10:49:42 AM PDT by tertiary01 (Help.....I'm feeling like Davy Crockett more and more each day.)
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To: LdSentinal
The Nute Gunray/Newt Gingrinch/Ronald Reagan reference.

He also named a character "Lott Dodd." Perhaps Lucas just likes to make fun of politicians in general.

Lucas strikes me as fairly conservative for a Hollywood type. Just look at American Graffiti, a celebration of small-town America at the beginning of the 1960s.
134 posted on 05/15/2005 10:52:05 AM PDT by UncleDick
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To: UncleDick
Lucas is a John Walker Lindh type of Democrat.

Lucas hates Reagan with a passion.

135 posted on 05/15/2005 10:53:48 AM PDT by LdSentinal
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To: OldFashionedAmerican

Seems to me that anyone who subscribes to the belief that is is only justified to return fire draws the world and all events in "black and white". There "is no justification" for acting on instinct.

Better to let a planet be destroyed by an evil leader than to take him out without "proper" justification. And when he is "taken out", you can't kill him. You must put him on trial.


136 posted on 05/15/2005 10:54:28 AM PDT by weegee (WE FOUGHT ZOGBYISM November 2, 2004 - 60 Million Voters versus 60 Minutes - BUSH WINS!!!)
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To: OldFashionedAmerican
I saw the Return of the Jedi movie when I was 14, and was completely horrified by the Wik Wiks or whatever those sick-making little muppets were. Such a let down from Empire, which, in my book, is an incredible film--so dark and epic.

But the third one felt about the same as any low-budget television movie, with the little flea-infested muppets and the dinner-theater performances from Carrie "coke is it!" Fisher and Harrison Ford. All special effects and nothing else.

The unmasking of Darth Vader was so disappointing, too. For two movies, he's built up as this great, big, evil romantic, mythic figure--and when the mask comes off, he's a bald, pasty Ray Milland. Yech.

Yeah, and Luke refusing to "lower himself" by killing the emperor was completely ridiculous, and totally inconsistent with his previous actions of mass murder re: the destruction of the death star in the first movie. Self defense is fine in THAT instance? But it's immoral in the next? Don't get it.

137 posted on 05/15/2005 10:55:14 AM PDT by RepoGirl (You can ban my rottweiler when you can pry her from my cold dead hands...)
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To: bill1952
Am I the newest Sith lord?

Not yet my young apprentice, but you are beginning to see the path of wisdom.
138 posted on 05/15/2005 10:57:25 AM PDT by Dr.Zoidberg (Children's classic songs updated for Islam "If you're happy and you know it, Go Kaboom!")
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To: weegee
This is another reason why I like the original Captain Kirk so much... If you came after his crew, there was hell to pay!

Oh, yeah, I'll probably watch this Star Wars movie, but anyone who thinks that these perceived digs at Bush and the Right are just paranoid delusions, they are just kidding themselves. If they think that 'Nute Gunray' isn't a dig a Gingrich and Ronnie, then I've got some wet-land in Florida just for you!

139 posted on 05/15/2005 10:58:27 AM PDT by OldFashionedAmerican
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To: EdHallick
So beneath it all, Star Wars is just a plug saying that OBL is a hero? Give me a break.

You obviously have liberals and OBL on your mind. How this relates to Star Wars is questionable. Your big argument is that conservatives deal in absolutes and are therefore the absolute "good". Liberals don't and are therefore the absolute "evil". In order to follow your argument, you first have to agree to your assumption that absolutes exist.

How do you know that the quotes weren't referring to Hitler, Stalin, or OBL? All of them followed absolutes as well. But it has to be Bush because the liberal filmmakers made the movie and he's the only one they hate.

Have you considered that perhaps the reason that liberals argue that Bush is evil is because not everyone believes it. Why else would they argue? No one needs to argue that OBL is evil. Who needs to be convinced?
140 posted on 05/15/2005 10:58:28 AM PDT by burzum
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