The Star Wars Trilogy & The American Civil War (Is George Lucas Johnny Reb?)

www.jdedman.com ^ | May 20, 2002 | David Rogers

[Grig]

I was inspired to think some more about Episode 2: Attack of the Clones by "The Case for the Empire," which makes the case that the Empire, not the Rebels, are really the good guys in the Star Wars saga.

While not making any judgment on that premise, after a second viewing (yes I am a TOTAL geek -- I saw AOTC TWICE on its opening weekend), I have decided that I was wrong in claiming that that the Republic is the Weimar Republic (though the bit about the Chancellor assuming dictatorial powers was a strong hint).

Instead, I believe that the Republic is the American Republic, circa 1860.

Emperor Palpatine is Abraham Lincoln. The Secessionist Rebels are.. well, secessionist rebels.

Shocking, isn't it?

It's a world where Senators and Representatives grant "emergency power" to the executive branch, which the executive branch promises to return to the Senators and Representatives as soon as the current crisis is over. (But, of course, the executive never does return that power.)

And the executive, with his newly granted emergency powers, creates a "Grand Army of the Republic" -- precisely the same title Lincoln gave his army.

It is a world in which the new executive pushes aside the old because he has been "ineffective in dealing with the secessionist crisis" -- precisely the same complaint Lincoln made about his predecessor, Buchanan.

The Jedi, like the American graduates of West Point, are split. Some push the rebellion and secession (whose members suggest that their secession might be construed as treason), and others push the Republican Union.

Anakin Skywalker engages in a brutal massacre of Tuskan Raiders and Jawas ("Sand People" who nomadic lives and teepee-like dwellings suggest American Indians, particularly of the Southwest), whom he describes, in language reminiscent of George Armstrong Custer, as "animals." And like Custer, Anakin slaughters not only the men, but also the women and children.

But is Anakin Custer? Or is he Grant to Palpatine's Lincoln -- the utterly ruthless right-hand man whose brutality makes him essential to any attempt to put down the rebellion? And does that make his mentor, Obi-Wan, who we know will oppose Palpatine and Anakin -- Robert E. Lee?

And is it any accident that the Clone Wars are precipitated at the beginning by trade disputes like those that tore apart the industrial North and the serene, agricultural (Naboo-like) South? Is Senator Amidala really Senator John C. Calhoun of South Carolina, who protests the depredations of the Trade Federation only to be ignored by the Senate, and whose daughter is the ultimate leader of the Rebellion?

If so, and if we are meant to take seriously Lucas' portrayal of the rebels as the good guys, and the Imperialist Republic as the bad guys -- does that make George Lucas Johnny Reb?

And what is the "dark side" of The Force? Is it the desire for centralization and mechanization -- the "force" that turns Skywalker into Vader, and turns the peaceful Republic into the violent Empire?

And is it coincidence that Count Dooku -- the man who gave Jengo Fett his orders -- is known also as "Tyrannus" -- the same name Booth gave to Lincoln after he fatally shot the president, by shouting form the stage of the Ford theater "Sic Semper Tyrannus?"

Oh, and then there is the issue of slavery. The Jedi representatives of the Republic seemingly have no interest in ending it -- but it is the catalyst that drives Anakin Skywalker -- and ultimately, it will be he whose anger (over his mother's slavery, among other things) propels the Republic -- the Empire -- to victory over the secessionist rebels at the close of the Clone Wars.

By the time of Episode 4 slavery is (mostly) gone. The Republic, which is seemingly responsible for this change of events, has been swept aside by the corrupt Empire.

Is Lucas saying that that good was incidental as the primary actors -- Palpatine and his cronies -- acted only for selfish aggrandizement and greed for power and in the interests of commercial disputes?

And is the evil battled against in Episodes 4-6 the evil of a Leviathan (modern) state?

Is Vader evil? Is Palpatine? Or are they merely corrupted by absolute power?

Is Luke Skywalker, the man from the desert, descended from the avatars of Lincoln and Grant, Ronald Reagan, from the desert of Los Angeles? Is Luke's struggle against a too-large, unresponsive government with oppressive taxation Reagan's struggle?

And what does this mean?
Yoda ---> Dooku / Tyrannus
Dooku ---> Qui-Gon Jinn
Qui-Gon ---> Obi-Wan
Obi-Wan ---> Anakin/ Darth
Obi-Wan ---> Luke
Yoda ---> Luke

Is Yoda Jefferson? Is Obi-Wan Robert E. Lee? Are they teaching a lesson of state's rights which is ignored by their immediate successors, but is embraced by Luke Reagan?

And, if Palpatine is both Lincoln and the embodiment of the Dark Side, and NOT a Jedi, but someone who decisively rejects the Jedi/Jefferson tradition and who teaches something entirely new and mechanical in place of the spiritualism of the Yoda/Jefferson Force -- then what is Lucas saying about Lincoln?

Was that noise Yoda made really the rebel yell?

[stand watie]

!

[archy]

R2D2 would have to be the Scarecrow since Chewbaca must be Toto.

RWWWaaaaeaaaarrrraarawwwaa

No Toto, I don't think that we're on Tatooine anymore

Just based on appearances, I figured Chewbacca the Wookie as a stand-in for the lion, if his personality was neither hardly that of a *cowardly* [actually, more of a timid one] lion nor the tin guy...and he certainly had a brain. But though sizes differed greatly, little Toto was an agressive little yapper, so you may be on to something.

Note though, that in both the stageplay and the less-cut version of the Oz movie, scarecrow was armed with a handgun, as the wookie was with his blaster/crossbow:

[archy]

R2D2 would have to be the Scarecrow since Chewbaca must be Toto.

RWWWaaaaeaaaarrrraarawwwaa

No Toto, I don't think that we're on Tatooine anymore

Just based on appearances, I figured Chewbacca the Wookie as a stand-in for the lion, if his personality was neither hardly that of a *cowardly* [actually, more of a timid one] lion nor the tin guy...and he certainly had a brain. But though sizes differed greatly, little Toto was an agressive little yapper, so you may be on to something.

Note though, that in both the stageplay and the less-cut version of the Oz movie, scarecrow was armed with a handgun, as the wookie was with his blaster/crossbow:

[Darth Reagan]

This is a little late, and not of the scene you were looking for, but everyone else failed on this thread to help you out.

[mattdono]

Thanks, Darth. You actually made my morning. Being able to see the beautiful Natalie Portman in the morning is a nice surprise.

[newcats]

This person needs to move out of his parents basement!