NEW STAR WARS FLICK
Anti-Bush Innuendos Abound
This just in from Craig Winneker at TechCentral Station:
"I just saw a press screening of the new Star Wars movie, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. It's superb… However… disturbingly — and rather awkwardly — evident [is] a recurring anti-Bush, anti-Iraq war message. Forget about the merits of the argument in question. This stuff has no place in a Star Wars flick.Now let me get me this straight. Obi-Wan Kenobi — the Jedi knight who harangued us through every episode of Star Wars since 1977 to shun the Dark Side — has suddenly become a moral relativist? Why then does he resort to sword play in his tiff with Anakin? Why doesn't he… listen? Try to see things from Anakin's perspective?
"The dialogue in ROTS is rife with distinctly unsubtle references to the current political situation. `This war represents a failure to listen,' Padme laments at one point, before declaring after a vote to give executive power to Chancellor Palpatine: `So this is how liberty dies — to thunderous applause.' The wicked Chancellor, played brilliantly by Ian McDiarmid, talks on and on about `security,' giving it an evilly sibilant S, and about `peace.' As he lures Anakin over to the dark side, telling him what to say in Jedi Council meetings, you wonder if he's supposed to be Karl Rove. He does, after all, appear to be the smartest man in the movie.
"The ultimate reference comes in the climactic duel between Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi on the planet of Mustafar, which seems to have long ago failed in its struggle against global warming. `If you're not with me, you're my enemy,' Anakin shouts to Obi-Wan, who responds: `Only a Sith lord deals in absolutes.' Yes, and so, it would seem, do neo-cons." (via FreeRepublic)
Damn it, I'll probably go see this movie anyway. I can't resist a new Star Wars installment (see "The New York Times Embraces the Dark Side," May 31, 2002).
But, for the record, I would like George Lucas and all the good folks at Lucasfilm Ltd. to know that they have placed a serious burr under my saddle.
26 Comments:
Only an idiot doesn't deal in absolutes.
"Only an idiot doesn't deal in absolutes. "
...is that heisenberg?
I have not seen the film yet, but I would argue that what are called “leftwing sentiments” exist in all of the star wars films. The nostalgia for the days of the republic in 4 5 and 6 is palpable. It is almost as if as if Lucas were channeling the “monsters to destroy” motif (by the end of the 20th century we have fought and destroyed our fair share of monsters).
I agree, the Jedi would not identify with neocons (although to be fair to the neocons their distinctions between the esoteric and esoteric might qualify their absolutism)
…but they might Identify with some of the neocon ancestry. They are certainly more Wilsonian than ...Naomi Kleinian.
*shaking head* Episodes 4,5,6 had a heady concoction of deep cultural themes that were anything but left-wing. First, you have the rebels (few, the proud) trying to restore the Republic; the Empire was a totalitarian government. You can see the themes of small-government anti-communism in that. Then you have the mystical spiritualism of the Force; that appealed to a wide variety of spiritual people and to be certain, ticked off atheists and materialists who argued endlessly that physical matter is all that there is. You have the theme of the hero (Skywalker), which in turn represents quality and good, something which moral relativists and equal outcome proponents can't stand. You have the theme of courage in combat, which the pacifists can't handle; you have few profanities and no blasphemies, which the anti-Christian and sewer-mongers hated. You had the theme of self-sacrifice in Obi-Wan Kenobi, which again, the selfish and self-obsessed left can't understand. These great themes coupled with above-average acting, awesome music, and incredible cinematography were what made Star Wars 4-6 both epic and classic. The dearth of such are what made episodes 1-2 hollow, pitiful, and emaciated by comparison.
Why not go for the simple explanation......George Soros paid for a "product placement" in the film?????
Randal: In order to get it built quickly and quietly they'd hire anybody who could do the job. Do you think the average storm trooper knows how to install a toilet main? All they know is killing and white uniforms.
Dante: All right, so even if independent contractors are working on the Death Star, why are you uneasy with its destruction?
Randal: All those innocent contractors hired to do a job were killed- casualties of a war they had nothing to do with. (notices Dante's confusion) All right, look-you're a roofer, and some juicy government contract comes your way; you got the wife and kids and the two-story in suburbia-this is a government contract, which means all sorts of benefits. All of a sudden these left-wing militants blast you with lasers and wipe out everyone within a three-mile radius. You didn't ask for that. You have no personal politics. You're just trying to scrape out a living.
Blue-Collar Man: Excuse me. I don't mean to interrupt, but what were you talking about?
Randal: The ending of Return of the Jedi.
Dante: My friend is trying to convince me that any contractors working on the uncompleted Death Star were innocent victims when the space station was destroyed by the rebels.
Blue-Collar Man: Well, I'm a contractor myself. I'm a roofer... (digs into pocket and produces business card) Dunn and Reddy Home Improvements. And speaking as a roofer, I can say that a roofer's personal politics come heavily into play when choosing jobs.
Randal: Like when?
Blue-Collar Man: Three months ago I was offered a job up in the hills. A beautiful house with tons of property. It was a simple reshingling job, but I was told that if it was finished within a day, my price would be doubled. Then I realized whose house it was.
Dante: Whose house was it?
Blue-Collar Man: Dominick Bambino's.
Randal: "Babyface" Bambino? The gangster?
Blue-Collar Man: The same. The money was right, but the risk was too big. I knew who he was, and based on that, I passed the job on to a friend of mine.
Dante: Based on personal politics.
Blue-Collar Man: Right. And that week, the Foresci family put a hit on Babyface's house. My friend was shot and killed. He wasn't even finished shingling.
Randal: No way!
Blue-Collar Man: (paying for coffee) I'm alive because I knew there were risks involved taking on that particular client. My friend wasn't so lucky. (pauses to reflect) You know, any contractor willing to work on that Death Star knew the risks. If they were killed, it was their own fault. A roofer listens to this... (taps his heart) not his wallet.
Russet,
Those notions you speak of (i.e. trying to restore the republic) have been hijacked as the agenda of many leftist (Vidal immediately comes to mind). Episodes 1 and 2 sucked, but more because they try to pander to a new generation of kids. In some ways this was foreshadowed by the munchkins in episode 6
Then you have the mystical spiritualism of the Force; that appealed to a wide variety of spiritual people and to be certain, ticked off atheists and materialists who argued endlessly that physical matter is all that there is
It also ticked off a number of Christian Fundamentalists who considered it to be a dangerous liason with eastern hocus-pocus religions.
I know my sister in law was just livid when 'Phantom Menace' came out - especially when we learned Anakin Skywalker was a virgin birth. Hoo-boy.
J
Since the contributors to this blog seem to interpret every movie, indeed every work of art, as simple-minded propaganda, either the good ("Bush good/world bad") or the bad ("world good/Bush bad") kind, perhaps these writers should just avoid art altogether.
Art is not really made for paranoid contol freaks and other "concrete thinkers" who lack the capacity for ambiguity.
There is a lot simpler explaination, Lucas is a great filmaker, but has never had an original idea in his head. He lifted everything he ever tdid from other sources as I am sure he did in this episode as well.
Aynyway, complaining about liberalism in Hollywood is like complaining about the religous right at the Southern Baptist convention.
The only thing greater than liberal sentiments in Hollywood is ignorance.
kabloona asks: "Why not go for the simple explanation… George Soros paid for a `product placement' in the film?"
Ha ha! That's funny.
On second thought, maybe it's not so funny.
Obi-Wan Kenobi: "Only a Sith lord deals in absolutes."
George Soros: "The supremacist ideology of the Bush administration is in contradiction with the principles of an open society because it claims possession of an ultimate truth. … President Bush equates freedom with American values. He has a simplistic view of what is right and wrong: We are right and they are wrong."
George Soros, The Bubble of American Supremacy, pages 10, 12
carl writes: "Art is not really made for paranoid contol freaks and other `concrete thinkers' who lack the capacity for ambiguity."
"Contol" freaks?
First Rule of Successful Trolling: When attempting to assert your intellectual superiority over others, always use your spellchecker.
carl writes: "Art is not really made for paranoid contol freaks and other `concrete thinkers' who lack the capacity for ambiguity."
Oh, one other point, Carl.
According to your fellow leftists, Star Wars does not qualify as "art."
You need to get with the program. Someone slipped you the wrong talking points.
Here, read this. It will help you get back on message:
"Life After Darth: George Lucas was born to make underground films. Then a little movie called Star Wars lured him to the dark side. Can the father of the blockbuster really rediscover his avant-garde soul?" by Steve Silberman (Wired.com, May 2005)
I have to say none of this, NONE, would have happened if Jar Jar Binks had not been given a seat in the Galactic Senate on Coruscant. It was HIS deciding vote that determined that the Republic should bolster its defenses against centrally controlled Trade Federation droids with stormtroopers cloned from a bounty hunter that couldn't shoot straight.
The real question is how, before the Death Star is constructed, does the Emperor impose his will upon the galaxy without causing bouts of laughter?
"They're sending Imperial Stormtroopers? I thought they were threatening us?"
Who cares. "Star Wars" is LAME. I am so sick of "Star Wars" ads on everthing from cereal boxes to my soft drink at a fast food joint. Yoda is not appetizing to look at while I'm trying to eat!
Who cares. "Star Wars" is LAME.
Blasphemy! Roll 1d20 to dodge my force bolt.
C'mon, everybody knows that Palpatine is a Republican.
"Forget about the merits of the argument in question."
Ah, yes, the dittohead motto.
George Lucas wrote these stories years ago. It has absolutely nothing to do with right/left or conservative/liberal, it has to do with personal struggle. George Lucas said himself in several interviews that main theme throughout his movies, specifically star wars, is about the barriers we set up around and within ourselves. Star Wars, Lucas said, is more about breaking those barriers of self and having the courage to live our lives. Also Lucas has stated in numerous interviews that he is more a libertarion(hope I spelled that right)and he hates politicians (A MAIN THEME IN SW) but has no political leanings either way. My guess is he is more centrist like most Americans. As a person that really has no political leaning, but can't stand silly liberals either, I could not find the "Anti-Bush innuendos" that are implied in this Blog. Given that the outline of events of these stories were written in the early 70's, I believe Mr. Lucas deserves the benefit of the doubt. He is not part of the "Hollywood Elite" crowd and according to George himself, he just wants to tell great stories. If you cannot look past your own political agenda to watch a great movie, then I just feel sorry for you.....
Hoorah United States Air Force!!
The world's greatest AIR POWER!!
George Lucas wrote these stories years ago...
In a galaxy far away.
I'm sure the original script calling the slimy Trade Federation aliens "Nute Gunray" ("Newt" and a scrambled "raygun" Reagan) and "Lott Dodd" is just a coincidence.
Lucas may have written the original trilogy in the 70's, but this current set is so incoherently written, almost defiantly horrible, that this new installment has a lot of explaining to do, to build up to the prologue of Episode 4: A New Hope. I hope it doesn't bog down in attempting to do so.
The carelessly crappy Clone Wars cartoons on Cartoon Network don't portent much custodial effort is being made for the Star Wars franschise.
All that's left is for Henry Winkler to jump a Hutt with a speeder-bike.
This isn't that new. I remember a few critics wondering if there was something behind all those third-world commune dwelling Ewoks waging jungle guerrilla warfare against the Empire in the Return of the Jedi. Besides, I'll believe these movies make one iota of difference one way or the other when a Presidential candidate accuses their opponent of being a Sith Lord.
What remains to be revealed is if Anakin was using Jedi mind control on Padme to wed and bed her, or if her character really is shallowly written.
There is only one problem with your theory about STAR WARS Episode III, Lucas wrote the outlines for all 6 episodes when he was first starting out as a filmmaker. The storyline of rise of the empire and Darth Vader had to be in place before filming episode IV, which was released in 1977. A year before W’s first run at Congress.
It’s been well documented that Lucas’ themes in these screenplays were heavily influenced by Flash Gordon, Buck Rodgers, and even films by Akia Kurosawa. I think it just goes to show that these are universal themes that are evident whenever two sides are at war. If you search back in recorded history, you can find the same themes going back pre-B.C. Long before there were conservatives and liberals.
Most of these people making comments haven't even seen the movie yet. It’s amazing to what lengths people will go to spin their agendas.
PalpatineChancellor Palpatine
What remains to be revealed is if Anakin was using Jedi mind control on Padme to wed and bed her, or if her character really is shallowly written.
No Star Wars character has ever been all that deep, really. And Lucas has no idea how to write women, on top of it all. What sells the story is epic struggle, clear-cut heroes and villains (at least until Vader surprises us all) and an amazing score.
The constraints of having to actually make so many effects helped keep the first three movies lean and mean, because they could only afford to spend time and money doing so many things, and had to rely on narrative and character - such as it is - more. The "blessings" of CGI and near-unlimited funds have made it so that there are no restraints, and Lucas has behaved very self-indulgently, which is why Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones were so bloated and ridiculous.
I'm hoping that Revenge of the Sith is the culmination of lessons learned from the other two films, and a return to epic storytelling, but if I walk out of the theatre tomorrow disappointed I won't be all that surprised.
J
There is only one problem with your theory about STAR WARS Episode III, Lucas wrote the outlines for all 6 episodes when he was first starting out as a filmmaker. The storyline of rise of the empire and Darth Vader had to be in place before filming episode IV, which was released in 1977. A year before W’s first run at Congress.
It’s been well documented that Lucas’ themes in these screenplays were heavily influenced by Flash Gordon, Buck Rodgers, and even films by Akia Kurosawa. I think it just goes to show that these are universal themes that are evident whenever two sides are at war. If you search back in recorded history, you can find the same themes going back pre-B.C. Long before there were conservatives and liberals.
Most of these people making comments haven't even seen the movie yet. It’s amazing to what lengths people will go to spin their agendas.
By the way, when dealing in absolutes: if believe that everything can be classified as black and white, just think about all the other colors on the palette you wind up missing.
"Space superiority is not our birthright, but it is our destiny," he told an Air Force conference in September. "Space superiority is our day-to-day mission. Space supremacy is our vision for the future."
Real World StarWars!
DO IT, BECAUSE WE CAN!
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