Posted on 05/27/2005 7:13:32 AM PDT by Ed Hudgins
That's a long way to go while to get to "Yes." I got that from one line in the movie: "The Siths think only of themselves; the Jedi serve others."
Something which has always bothered me:
In Episode I Yoda is reluctant to allow young Anakin to be trained as a Jedi -- too full of fear and anger. Now, why would that be? Perhaps because he's just been wrenched away from his mother? Perhaps because his mother is still a slave on a distant world?
We see the sumptuousness of the Jedi Council, we hear them say that Anakin could be The Chosen One, we hear that the only worry is his fear and anger -- and it never occurs to them to free his mother from slavery????? Have they no feelings? Have they no love? Are these the Good Guys?????
That's why they don't trust him!
I reckon that boy is a sociopath. He's uncontrollable and dangerous. I saw we give that boy a lightsaber and turn him into an unstoppable warrior. What could go wrong?
That is mistaken. The Emperor dissolves the senate in Ep.IV. The Emperor is for a dictatorship. From ANH:
Governor Tarkin: The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.
General Tagge: But that's impossible. How will the Emperor maintain control without the bureaucracy?
Governor Tarkin: The regional governors now have direct control over their territories. Fear will keep the local systems in line. Fear of this battle station.
I thought Chancellor Palpatine was banned?
;-)
"Revenge of the Lisp"
ping!
I forgot my sarcasm tag. It was implied.
He said several times in the ROTS that he was for the empire and democracy.
There's something of a mystery about character motives in all this. We are told (by Mace Windu) that Anikin is "The one who will bring balance to The Force." Now that's a strange statement. If before Anikin, the Jedi Knights brought "peace and justice to the Republic" (Obi-Wan in A New Hope) and they used The Force, exactly what would "bringing balance to The Force" mean? Would it mean that the "Dark Side" is in fact, a necessary evil? And if so, would not the Sith be as necessary as the Jedi? Anikin's transformation into Darth Vader did fulfill the prophesy -- he brought "balance" to The Force by advancing the Sith cause, suppressed for ages by the Jedi.
I agree. Half baked Bhuddism is a fave Hollyweird cult. The notion of giving up attachments to what you love is very much along those lines.
At the beginning, when the Jedi speak of the Chosen One who will bring balance to the Force, they feel that the problem is the return of the Sith and the presence (somewhere) of Darth Sidious. How to restore balance? Why, by wiping out half the equation and making sure that the Dark Side ceases to exist and that the Light Side is the only game in town. This will restore the balance, and, uh ...
I'm a grad student in literature, so I'm used to picking things apart, but even my friends who don't think too deeply about things like Star Wars (much less Shakespeare or Chaucer) talk about the contradiction in restoring balance by destroying one side of the scales. And also how Obi Wan says "Only a Sith deals in absolutes" while he is trying to destroy all opposition.
(Posted in previous Star Wars threads - relevant here)
A couple of thoughts have occurred to me regarding the "liberal analysis" (oxymoron?) of SW:RotS...
Liberals LOVE line by Obi Wan - "Only a Sith deals in absolutes." Liberal rant that Bush is a *Sith* (at least metaphorically) because he deals with things in black and white. Hmmmm... Has it occurred to anyone that this line is akin to saying "All generalizations are false"...? Seriously! The line itself is an absolute!
Speaking of absolutes, it really is Obi Wan and the other Jedi who are the ones dealing in absolutes. To them, Sith=evil and Jedi=good. Period. No discussion. This is true of course, but it is also an absolute. Anakin is the one who starts to deal in grey areas... and wouldn't you know it... that's the path to the Dark Side!
I have asked that over and over. You would think the first thing to be done after the danger was over would be to free Anakin's mother.
"I have asked that over and over. You would think the first thing to be done after the danger was over would be to free Anakin's mother."
Remember - Lucas is a democrat. Historically, democrats haven't supported the freeing of slaves. ;-)
Yes, the silly line about "only Siths deal in absolutes" implies -- what? -- that the Jedi would need to concede that the Siths are not all bad because if they were all bad, that would be an absolute. As I say in my review, Lucas muddies the waters in the opening crawl -- heroes on both sides -- and with Padme -- against the Grand Army of the Republic in Clones -- asking whether they're on the right side. More value relativism!
Something about the Jedi bugs me. If the Jedi go around having rules saying that Anakin cannot marry Padme openly, then how do the Jedi expect to have more little Jedi? I would think the supply of Jedi would run out sooner or later if they cannot reproduce. And never the argument that there are millions of individuals in the galaxy with which to find more recruits. It is a matter of common sense. Or are they afraid of having too many Jedi runnung around diluting their lofty status?
Funny thing that Palpatine was a Sith Lord and the best Jedi among them could not figure it out until Palpatine basically had to put out a big sign saying "The Sith Lord is IN"
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