Is the next Star Wars movie a New Communist Manifesto

www.theforce.net ^ | April 16, 2002 | Unknown

[ChiefsMan]

I think you're right about Lucas being a wacko. I just can't believe he would be so blatant about the whole thing movie.

[Revolting cat!]

Lucas has a fascination with backwards cultures triumphing over advanced ones.

Very good, yes indeed. The old Western bourgeois fascination with the noble savage. Margaret Mead, Lawrence of Arabia, Josephine Baker in Paree, the Arabists at State Department today.

[mlo]

They absolutely are bad guys, and I'd be interested in hearing what you think would qualify as Marxism. The plotters are flat out saying they are planning a coup to pursue the cause capitalism, which would include low taxes and free trade.

I said they were the bad guys, but nobody talked about Marxism. They talked about capitalism and free trade, but they are bad because they were planning taking over the empire, not because they were capitalists. You can be a capitalist without taking over the government, I think. :-)

[ChiefsMan]

The scene is about 1000 times worse than what I think you're imagining. It depicts the bad guys, plotting a coup against the Republic, and they are saying that the reason they want to pursue this coup is to promote capitalism. Things like "low taxes" and "free trade" are mentioned as goals of the evil plotters.

[ChiefsMan]

Return of the Jedi was a very bad movie, and probably does reflect Lucas' (or Spielberg's) moronic view of the world. But Jedi (or Phantom Menace) did not have anything that was remotely this anti-capitalist.

[Vast Buffalo Wing Conspiracy]

We seem to be forgetting that these people are representatives of trades guilds, beneficiaries of government granted monopolies and charters. As such, they have very little to do with modern capitalism (except to the extent modern corporations seem to be trying to recreate some of the less savory aspects of medieval corporatism); "free trade" and "low taxes" means free trade and low taxes for themselves. It has very little to do with across the board, unrestricted free trade and low taxes for everybody. Am I the only one here who recognizes the obvious historical parallels between the medieval Holy Roman Empire, and Lucas' Republic? They are in fact quite similar in many respects.

[aynrandfreak]

I doubt it's better than Atlas Shrugged :)

[Redcloak]

Do you know how hard it is to find the "reply" link in a post that you're trying not to read?!? :p

[ChiefsMan]

We obviously have interpreted this thing very differently. The way I read it, we were supposed to believe the bad guys are bad BECAUSE they are capitalists.

[ChiefsMan]

I admire your persistence.

[jimkress]

Read it. I've read both and "Faith of the Fallen" is better.

[ChiefsMan]

"free trade" and "low taxes" means free trade and low taxes for themselves. It has very little to do with across the board, unrestricted free trade and low taxes for everybody.

You may be right, and I hope you are, but that is definately not the way I saw it.

[Mr. Peabody]

I've seen enough to know...this is bad news!

[Mike Fieschko]

Am I the only one here who recognizes the obvious historical parallels between the medieval Holy Roman Empire, and Lucas' Republic? They are in fact quite similar in many respects.

Elaborate, please? I think I'm familiar enough with medieval history to understand.

[weikel]

I liked Return of the Jedi...

[ChiefsMan]

Hey, I'm happy for you. Personally, I thought it blew chunks.

[HairOfTheDog]

This is fiction. It is a story. It is either entertaining or it isn't. You are taking this WAY to seriously.

[Godel]

If you want to read an unbelievably good, pro-freedom, pro-capitalism novel (better than The Fountainhead or Atlas Shrugged) read "Faith of the Fallen" by Terry Goodkind. It destroys the Left's gospel that successful people are evil and that freedom is ephemeral.

His books have always been great. From the very first book the forces of D'Hara pretended to be peaceful while committing atrocities, then kingdoms such as Tamarang forced hard working people to starve for the "common good" of socialism.

Also in "Soul of the Fire" the people of Anderith were conquerers who brought civilization and prosperity to the entire region then were apparently overcome by guilt/liberalism. Minorities were given control over the schools and the new generations were brought up to be ashamed of the achievements of their ancestors and to hate themselves. The descendants of the Anders wind up living as second class citizens and must go to special sensitivity training seminars every week where they're reminded how evil their ancestors were by revisionist historians.

[ChiefsMan]

I'm a Star Wars freak, I admit it. And I do take it very seriously. However...this movie is (evidently) going expose 10's of millions of people to ideas that are extremely dangerous. A lot of those movie-goers will be kids and teen-agers that won't have the mental tools to filter out the message, and neither will most of their parents. In my humble opinion, this is more important than just a matter of poor entertainment.

[HairOfTheDog]

Dangerous? - come on. You need to get out more. really. This is, in fact, a STORY. Just one story. If you think this country, including yourself, can't handle one story that doesn't follow your party line without becoming communists, I would like to know what has kept us all from slitting our wrists and flying the communist flag years ago. We can take whatever Attack of the Clones has to say. Some may even enjoy it.

It ain't Lord of the Rings, but it ain't the downfall of America either.