Regards, Ivan
Posted on 05/29/2005 3:49:16 AM PDT by MadIvan
Politics gets into everything these days, even "Star Wars." "George Lucas must be a Democrat," said our 15-year-old son as he arrived home from the opening day of the latest Star Wars movie, "Revenge of the Sith," a film with the unfortunate initials, "ROTS."
Ah, The Force is strong in this one, I thought, echoing Darth Vader. For, without the benefit of any advance word or special Jedi abilities, our young Jedi easily detected the anti-Bush propaganda that some liberals, to their delight, and some conservatives, to their fuming outrage, allege is imbedded in Lucas' new flick.
In keeping with today's polarized politics, some of the culture warriors are not as amused by Lucas' message as my son was. "Our country is at war and Lucas spouts off this crap?, blasted a Web site called "Patriotic Americans Boycotting Anti-American Hollywood," echoing some other conservative sites.
"Lucas has basically all but said Vader is George W. Bush," conservative columnist John Podhoretz wrote in the National Review blog The Corner. In a Weekly Standard review, he also slammed the film and Lucas as "the final chapter in the sad degeneration of a vital, vivid, and highly amusing moviemaker into a dull, solipsistic, and humorless incompetent."
On the flip side of the political fence, Slate.com critic David Edelstein praised the film's "anti-fascist politics" for taking a "palpable swipe at our own Darth Dubyou."
How subversive is it? Not very. But, like a Rorschach ink-blot test, people will see what they want to see, or, for those who imagine Hollywood-liberal propaganda embedded in every movie not produced by Mel Gibson, what they don't want to see.
"If you're not with me, you're my enemy," declares Anakin Skywalker in the new "Star Wars" tale as he drifts over to the "dark side," morphing into the evil Lord Darth Vader and echoing Bush's warning, "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists" after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks. Ouch.
His mentor, Obi Wan Kenobi, retorts, "Only a Sith thinks in absolutes." Double ouch.
Bad-guy Chancellor Palpatine exploits war fears to consolidate his power, suspend democratic rule and turn the Republic into a dictatorship. It's not hard to hear echoes here of Congress' rush to pass the Patriot Act that expanded government search and eavesdropping powers after the Sept. 11 attacks. Sen. Padme Amidala, played by Nathalie Portman, laments, "This is how liberty dies: with thundering applause." Triple ouch.
But, has Lucas' prequel trilogy drifted all that far from the original "Star Wars" trilogy (which even then was labeled Episodes IV through VI) that then-Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) praised back in the 1980s for anticipating President Ronald Reagan's epic struggle against the evil empire of the Soviet Union?
I think Lucas has a larger, age-old message: If democratic societies like ours are not eternally vigilant, the next evil empire might be us.
In a news conference at the film's premiere in Cannes, Lucas said he wrote the framework of his double-trilogy way back in 1971 when President Richard Nixon still was building his "enemies list," long before George W's presidency.
"The issue was: How does a democracy turn itself over to a dictator? Not how does a dictator take over, but how does a democracy and Senate give it away?"
He also said, "I hope this doesn't come true in our country. Maybe the film will awaken people to the situation of how dangerous it is . . . The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we are doing now in Iraq are unbelievable."
Whether you agree with the Iraq-Vietnam comparison or not, Lucas did not need Bush or Iraq to come up with the Sith. Try the Roman Empire, the French Revolution or Adolf Hitler's Germany for many examples of democracies that willingly yielded power to dictators who used fears and suspicions of outside threats, internal disorder and assorted scapegoats to gain popular support.
The message of "Star Wars," then, is not much different from the heroic themes that energized the Saturday matinees when I was a kid. Freedom depends on ordinary people who are willing to fight for it, even when the dark side looks like an easier choice.
Regards, Ivan
Ping!
Triple ouch, actually...as Obi Wan has made an absolute statement. Obi Wan is therefore either a Sith or a liar. To be honest, I found this part amusing...just like the Left, the jedi turned out to be hypocrites.
Kool, if we hang out with you, you might rub off on us, i'll have to go crawl thru the mud to get officially "dark sided" :)
Regards, Ivan
Personally, I hope Hollywood keeps on churning out obviously leftist hit pieces disguised as "movies."
We all saw just how well that worked for them in the last election.
Yep, keep the base fired up and ticked off and soon there won't be many so called democrats left, Hillary notwithstanding.
It seems pretty innocuous to me. I think I'll go with some folks who aren't political and don't follow news such as this. If they spout off with anti-Bushisms based on the above, then they will have really read into the flick.
But it is obvious that Lucas did have to get from a republic to a dictatorship in some fashion. It is not a revelation that turmoil has caused changes in governments in the past. (Germany, Russia, China....just recent examples.) To go that route doesn't seem particularly ingenious to me.
Nor is it a picture of the US. Last I checked, I voted last November. So far as I know, I'll be voting again shortly if the Lord tarries.
It's only May of 2005 and already Hollyweird is running against W in 2008.....
The Jedi don't seem to want to "just get along" with the Sith.
Well, Obi Wan never was the sharpest tool in the shed.
Let them. They'll be wasting their energies on a guy not even running.
Oy.
Did any of these people actually SEE the movie?
Yeah , life's just a Star Wars movie , man !!! .... ;)
He should have finished off Vader when had the chance.
I can't wait to see the face of them in 25 years time, after we have Presidents Rice, McClintock, and Jindal in quick succession. They will very likely have labelled our time as "The Darkest Generation" after one conservative US president after another in succession, each even more progressively conservative on all three legs (foreign/defence/WOT, economic, social/religious).
I don't think Bush is smart enough to be on the dark side , but I am sure he appreciates the thought.
Touche`
one of the lamest scripts of all time, notwithstanding the opening day box office and the hype surrounding the movie...somebody oughta tell these hollywod types the truth...
We know Obi Wan is a liar or at least someone who does nuance when he didn't tell Luke what really happened to his father. Also he never told Luke that by holding up your lightsabre you can neutralize the force lightning that Palpatine had.
The movie left me confused as to whether the Jedi really were on the side of good. Let me explain.
1. They start out fighting a group of seperatist. Basically a group of planets/worlds that wanted to form there own independent government. Did they feel oppressed?
2. The army behind the Jedi were clones with no free will. They sanctioned (by utilizing them) cloning humans for the express purpose of being cannon fodder in their war.
3. They were basically highly trained assassins who did not flinch at the idea of killing Heads of States.
4. When they crashed into the spaceport at the beginning of the movie they felt nothing for the lives they destroyed during the landing.
5. Decided that they could be the judge and jury as far as toppling their own government.
6. Never being able to love.
The list goes on....
Good link Ivan.
Star Wars films are visually brilliant. Even so, they lack cohesion and cogency, and often make no sense whatever. And their dialogue is just dreadful.
here is the deal about this movie. If you want to see anti-Bush bias, you will see it...
if you want to see anti-Liberal bias, you will see that...
Me, I just wanted to see the movie for pure enjoyment and not the political garbage which is so prevalent these days....
I never go to movies and support these losers. BTW: Coincidence that the projected Star Wars falls in second place for the 2 week showing? It was projected to be number one for many a week.
One alternative message, probably one that Lucas didn't intend, was that if you let evil reign unmolested and unchallenged, then you can have peace - the peace of mass graves in Iraq and of starving peons in North Korea.
Rather, he is not stupid enough to be on the dark side. Or did you not see Vader unmasked?
When Obi Wan cuts Aniken down to size , my comment was " None Shall Pass". All I could think of was the Black Knight in Monte Python and the Holy Grail.
if you want to see anti-Liberal bias, you will see that...
Me, I just wanted to see the movie for pure enjoyment and not the political garbage which is so prevalent these days....
Exactly. As the saying goes, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar...
APf
NIIIIEEEE!!!
I've done my part and boycotted this movie, too. The Star Wars geekoids can rationalize George Lucas's hate for President Bush all they want, but I'm not putting a penny into that angy leftest's pocket.
This movie's box office is going to continue to plummet and I can say I'm proud to help it flop.
George Lucas bashed President Bush as Cannes spouting all sense of nonsense. Funny how all the Star Wars fans are ignoring the comments Lucas made at Cannes...
Anakin brings balance to the force, he was the chosen one. So do those who say Bush is like Vader saying Bush brings balance to the world, is the chosen one?
Vader was the chosen one, and his actions at the end of ESB allowed the Jedi to return. He had to be in the right place at the right time.
And remember, when Ben Kenobi says "Only the Sith deal in absolutes." that itself is an absolute.
I loved Episodes 4-6. They were absolutely great cowboys & indians movies.
I probably won't ever see the last two releases - Episode 1 was pretty foolish, and I have decided to support only good movie making now. The Lord of the Rings is an example, as is The Passion.
There are thousands of great movies from the '40s-'60s I haven't yet watched - I'm working my way through those. Perhaps by the time I'm finished, Hollywood will have found some balance.
Millions of Iraqis with purple fingers braved death and dismemberment to take up the W's opportunity to create a new society for themselves, and a substantial number of our own citizens still cast W as an archvillian.
The more I consider life on earth the more I conclude we ultimately have an audience of One.
Obi Wan Kenobi is gay.
George Lucas must be insane to think that the dirty comments he made about President Bush at Cannes wouldn't have any effect on the box office performance of this movie.
Any director who goes to France to bash our President to the foreign press and expects Americans back home to embrace his movie aftewards is living in another world.
George Lucas is just another Michael Moore and will never see a penny from this family.
I guess one of my favorite phrases applies here...
"There are absolutely no absolutes...:)"
Glad Vader is on our side.
Oh no doubt!
i wouldn't waste my money to anyone who believes that.
this is the view foisted upon us daily by our media.
Obi Wan and Mace Windu were getting kickbacks from the Trade Federations 'Hydrogen for Food' program on Naboo.
I haven't seen it yet, but when I do I will purchase a ticket to a different movie and sneak in.
Use the force, Bush.
Clarence is simply more proof that brain death is not reversible.
He brought balance to the force all right - the Force ened up with two Sith (Palpatine & Vader) and two Jedi (Yoda & Obi Wan).
All the Jedi foolishly assumed that "balance" was an inherently good thing, like those apologists for the Soviet Union who couldn't conceive of a world without the "balance" of Mutually-Assured Destruction.
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