Posted on 05/15/2005 8:24:10 AM PDT by gopwinsin04
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.
The conflict between moral absolute and moral relativism is as old as civilization. Bush was hardly the first to use that sort of language. Likewise it has been used over and over in stories, movies, etc.
This may shock some people, but some of us spend entire minutes every day thinking about something besides the Maximum Leader.
The all time record for one day is 44 million for Shrek 2.
I was talking from Thurs through Sun.
Well, if money is the only thing to go by, then I guess billions is a technicality that means something to *somebody*. The monetary aspect means very little to me because it seems to me that Hollywood is nothing but a bunch of moneyspenders. But as a storyteller, Lucas is indeed worthless. He consistently showed himself to be unresolved in a lot of his themes, unwilling to respect his fan base, and derivative at best, limp-wristed and school-girlish at best. His films/story has been a tremendous disappointment since ROTJ, which is really sad because the first two he made were apparently inspirations. Sorry, but I stand by my statement.
" ... that Hollywood is nothing but a bunch of moneyspenders."
Hollywood means nothing to GL.
Along with the guillotine for those who did not agree with the Paris mob.
I've always rooted for the bad guys: the Empire, the Decaptacons, Cobra, you name it. Why, you might ask? I would have to say because the villains are the progressive forces (if I may borrow a term from the DU), whereas the good guys represent the status quo. The villains seek to unify the globe and usher in an age of order and peace (which is only possible when 1 figure/civilization is so dominant that all rivals must submit or be crushed), while the heroes fight for factionalism and chaos.
Plus, the bad guys know what they want and they go for it. They rarely succeed (because they are usually inept), but you have to admire their pro-activeness. Good guys, meanwhile, are reactive--they only respond to the villains and never initiate anything on their own.
Not to mention that the bad guys are, as you said, so dang cool.
I remember saying about the first of the new Star Wars films, "Any planet who elects a pre-teen girl to be their galactic queen really, seriously NEEDS a little external guidance."
This made me rethink the entire Star Wars dynamic. The empire was "bad" only because it was stated that they were "bad" in the exposition of the film, but all I saw of them was one cool as anything space station and some pretty decent organizational skills.
Granted, the destruction of Alderaan was a BIT harsh, but it drove a point home.
Blowing up a planet may seem harsh to us, but we have to remember the context of the story. The Empire spreads out over an entire galaxy, and a single planet is infinitesimal. It would be no different than the US using a smart bomb on a single house where they knew a major villain, such as UBL, was hiding.
Honestly, when you look at the collateral damage rate of the Empire as it fought for its survival, it would have to rank as one of the lowest civilian death tolls ever. Say the death toll from the Galactic War was 12 billion or so (a couple of planets here and there). Compare that to the population of the galaxy, which must run in the trillions or even the quadrillions (I'm sure there's a Star Wars website that tells us). Not exactly a bloodthirsty or maniacal Emperor. :)
For some unknowable reason, I looked up the figures. The Force.net seems to believe that the population of the Star Wars galaxy is 100 quadrillion. I can't find a casualty table, so we'll use my estimate of 12 billion (which I think is quite reasonable considering the action shown during the movies). If that's true, then the deaths perpetrated by the Empire account for .000012% of the population of the galaxy. Even an extremely liberal estimate of, say, 1 trillion casualities accounts for a rate of .001 % of the galactic population.
Let's compare this with WWII, since the Empire is often labelled the Space Nazis. The total losses in WWII were around 60 million or so (all sides involved). The population of the Earth was about 2.5 billion or so in 1945. The war therefore resulted in the deaths of about 2.4% of the global population.
I'm not sure why I just went through that. None of the above information should be taken too seriously.
Now, it's often assumed that everyone working on the Death Star, especially the unfinished death star of the third film, are all these evil baddies deserving of the righteous ends they meet at the hands of the noble rebels.
But I'm thinking, okay, what about the simple line cook in the sector 5 commissary? Was Luke thinking of HIM when he dropped the photon torpedo? No, he was caught up in the zealoutry of the fanatics around him, he wasn't thinking of the poor, middle-aged guy in the sweat-stained wife beater and hair net who's claim to fame was making Lord Vader's favorite grilled cheese sandwiches. It's even more insidious when you think that not a week earlier (during the first film, at least) Luke was an apolitial little mush head (skull full of mush, as the great one says) on Tattooine.
And yes, given the numbers, the loss of Alderaan does seem pretty minute and insignificant. And, really, it all falls squarely on Leah's shoulders for trying to bluff Tarkin like that.
I have not been paying attention lately.
Yeah, right. Like, the millions who will see this movie will even get it, if there is an "it." Give me a break. This is entertainment. LucA$$ can put anything he wants in his movie about Bush, but so what? Will it hurt his chances for reelection?! Of course not. Because there is no reelection!! Even the fat man, Michael Moore could not hurt Bush. This is B$. It is not news. It is drivel.
You should read the Thrawn Trilogy (Heir to the Empire, Dark Force Rising, The Last Command.). Grand Admiral Thrawn is by far one of the coolest imperials.
"'So this is how liberty dies-to thunderous applause.'"
----
Liberty died long ago in western europe with the rise of "we know better than them" secular socialism.
I did read them, long ago (I think about 8 years or so). I still retain some of the basic plot, but not enough to replay the story arc in my mind, unfortunately. But you are right--it is an excellent series. I seem to remember a few of the characters (the Emperor's femme fatale, the crazy old Sith master). Also, the plotlines about recontructing the New Republic were excellent, including the Emperor's old traps (His hand moves against us even from beyond the grave).
The computer game "Tie Fighter: Collector Edition" also included some missions based on the Thrawn books. That was an awesome game.
Exactly. Zahn's books were extremely well done and would be worthy of movies--not the rubbish they made into the prequels (I am so glad I waited for cable for AOTC).
As a side note, I just can't get excited about Star Wars any more. The LOTR movies have utterly ruined me, and I just can't imagine anything else coming close any time soon. At this point I'm planning on waiting for cable for ROTS. I also think that Hollywood needs a good and thorough spanking for all of their misdeeds, especially F911 (and for what they will no doubt attempt to assist Hillary in three years), and they haven't quite gotten it yet. I want to see a studio go belly-up and file Chapter 11 because people told them to get stuffed. As I've mentioned before, it's like training a dog--occasionally you have to use the belt.
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