Posted on 05/28/2002 5:08:42 AM PDT by jtcribbs
Basically, in the Star Wars universe from what Lucas gives us, I think one of the problems is there is no such thing as a "Republican Party". The Jedi are definitely elitist, anarchistic, anti-republican hippies just as evil as what the movies always claim Vader to be.
Lucas is a self-described liberal and I think the movie shows that. He seems to be confusing Republicans with Nazis as so often happens when people do not grasp the difference.
Yea, I guess they should have armed themselves.
Now, that the Evil Empire is gone, many regret losing the sense of order, safety and security the Stalinist regime used to give them. Apparently, so do the idiots at the Weekly Standard.
Whatever the case, the important thing to recognize is that the Empire is not committing random acts of terror. It is engaged in a fight for the survival of its regime against a violent group of rebels who are committed to its destruction.
The mental gyrations required of the author to make THIS supposition put Olga Korbut to shame. One could use similar illogic to make the case that the Nazis weren't such bad guys after all - other than that niggling little matter of the 6 million Jews they slaughtered, they didn't eat their own children, beat their wives, or kick their dogs, did they?
Any geo-(galacto?)political entity that destroys an entire planet (Alderaan) just because one Senator from that planet told a few whoppers is the epitome of evil.
In Star Wars the Empire is no more evil than the subversive elements which were seeking to break apart the republic, as well as the Jedis who cynically sit by and do nothing even though they claim to stand for law and order.
"I couldn't find this on FreeRepublic yet and I'm surprised no one has mentioned it. I think Lucas has made a very subversive film..."
Actually the truth of the matter is that Georgie made a very STUPID film with the driest dialogue and half-ass acting this side of Tatoonie. Give me another director and push Georgie rich boy into the back seat as Exec. Producer, and maybe then I'll give it a second go. Until then, no one can tell Georgie no..its [I]his[/I] money.
He DID make a point however in saying that most Republics turned out to be tyrannies sooner or later.
I understood alot after the SW II. It seems that there is a major failing in the Republic. One point is how the Senators got there in the first place? Did they not go into polotics at a young age in school? They where schooled into polotics!!! That means to me there was a structure of learning polotics. I understand both sides.
What is the most diturbing is that now SW is a farce in teaching us anything in the world of polotics, its a space movie! Both sides have no reason for the battles in 4 5 or 6. Its not good versus evil its evil versus evil. Why did the trade federation try to take over a planet? What gave the Republic the right to mass an army? Its all a sillybunch of movies.
Most movies out of Hollywood nowadays try to protray one side versus the other and fail since they really want both to win.
"Constitutional" limits? Naboo (and presumably other systems) had royalty (queens, kings, princesses, and the like). Maybe their system of government was similar to Great Britain's, where the royals are figureheads.
I don't believe that any collection of worlds the size of the Republic could be ruled successfully by a one-size-fits-all, cookie-cutter approach to government. It was probably pretty much a laissez-faire approach, with the Jedi (presumably) stepping in only when there was systematic departure from governmental norms and/or rampant crime.
In Star Wars the Empire is no more evil than the subversive elements which were seeking to break apart the republic, as well as the Jedis who cynically sit by and do nothing even though they claim to stand for law and order.
You could make a valid case for that. After all, slavery was practiced on at least some of the worlds of the Republic (Tatooine leaps to mind). In this fictional history though, I believe that the Death Star and the destruction of Alderaan were watershed events - the first weapon held by any entity capable of destroying an entire planet. And, in my opinion, the fact that this ultimate weapon was actually used by the Empire firmly places the imprimateur of "bad guy" squarely on the Empire.
And, I agree with most of the author's negative opinions about the Jedi. Pretty much a bunch of elitists if you ask me. I'd like to know a bit more about the Sith (the "anti-Jedi") - did they start out as the American League to the Jedi's National League before they lost their fashion sense and started all that heavy breathing?
And Ronald Reagan was a Jedi.
Already posted and moved to chat
If Lucas is confused about good and evil, there's no way Last is going to make sense of it. In the end, he creates a greater moral confusion. In the end, by saying he'll take the Empire, Last gives turns his back on what is human.
I live in the Managerial Age, in a world of "Admin." The greatest evil is not now done in those sordid "dens of crime" that Dickens loved to paint . . . But it is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voices. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the office of a thoroughly nasty business concern. –C. S. Lewis, The Screwtape Letters
I've certainly seen some impressive text-based fistfights on both topics on FR.
The fact the Empire is in the clutches of ministers of the Dark Side of the Force would be enough reason for me to join the Rebellion. An Empire does have to perform the usual administrative functions, but that doesn't guarentee it is a benign institution. The deception used to wrest control from the Republic (Dooku/Tyranus and Palantine/Sidious) and concentrate military and political power in the hands of a few should be enough to justify an armed rebellion against those evil leaders pushing for the extermination of the last vestiges of the Republic and the limited role of the Jedi. The destruction of Aldaaran was certainly "a random act of terrorism", as would have been the destruction of the moon of Yavin, had the Death Star survived the Rebel's raid. The Death Star was intended to be a weapon of terror and genocide that would have assisted the Governers/Viceroys to keep the local systems in line.
Lucas is stating that Evil, when given the reigns of power, must be fought. He is not making statements about Lincoln, Bush or the Republican Party.
In any case, the Jedis actually fight along with this evil "republic army" at the end and do nothing to protest when the vote was made, so they are just as evil.
As for Lincoln, and American Republican Party parallels, I think they really are there. Why is the "evil" army now called the Grand Army of the Republic?
Who a director labels good and evil in such a popular movie is actually very critical to how the public is influenced into perseiving their own world.
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