PT Isnt Anakin a bit too young for Padme?

But part of the reason for Anakins fall was obsession. In that context, it makes sense to interpret his words in the way I did. But of course you can prefer alternate interpretations.

 

Yes, but I'd say the seeds of obsession weren't truly planted until the horrific circumstances of and around Shmi's death, and didn't take form as anything truly debilitating until after several years of marriage and further entrapment into the Jedi order's rigid code. I myself wouldn't bring "obsession" into the equation until ROTS, as the word suggests something negative to me, and I honestly didn't see anything negative about Anakin's thoughts of Padme though AOTC. I think carrying his boyhood memories of her through adolescence and up to young adulthood felt like a very natural occurrence, while Anakin's accepting of Padme's initial insistence that they cannot be together again serves as an additional argument against obsession.

 

Not really about their age but thought I'd share a chucke:

 

This is supposed to be funny? I don't find it funny. Nor do I consider this scene as a bad date. And if it seems as if my sense of humor had left me . . . it did when I laid eyes upon this post.

 

Sensitive much? I didn't write the blurb, just sharing. Jeez

 

So, bashers can't make up their minds, eh? I thought Anakin was an "emo kid". Now he's a "lifeless robot with no human emotions or feelings". Priceless. You can't make this **** up.

 

These hobby writers are talking about dates which deal, by nature, with emotions. Then they are claiming to talk about a date "with no human emotions".
Probably they've just never experienced a date themselves

Why is AOTC only fourth? RLM won't be amused.

 

That may contradict with the whole "attachment is forbidden" angle. You can't just have sex with someone and expect them not to develop any feelings for you or vice versa. All sentient beings are born with emotions and none of us can simply turn them off with just the flip of a switch.

 

Of course you can, it isn't ethical....but it does happen quite a lot in our world.

 

Lucas still said it, though.

 

That's actually pretty funny -- as in, funny, weird -- because I've long considered that scene to be one of the more naturalistic ones in AOTC: two people in a field, beginning to relax in each other's company, seeming to have all the time in the world while the galaxy is rapidly changing all around them. I actually get a little teary-eyed watching that scene, because, firstly, I'm an emotional SOB, and secondly, you realize that it is the most fun and freedom these characters will ever experience. When Padme flips Anakin over in the grass and he emerges laughing with all the joy in the world, with the beautiful music of John Williams providing rich accompaniment, you feel for these characters and their too-short youth. Their time in the sun will be short-lived: one brief peak and then it's downhill.

And then there's the whole deal with io9: a commercial website whose business model seems built around superficially pitting one geek movie off against another. Is there really a POINT to that? Do people actually learn anything? It's mass brain-neutering: playing to peer prejudice and encouraging people to watch films like idiots. I think it would even make people like Damon Lindelof or Simon Pegg want to spit in a cup.

 

Padme became queen at a young age of 15 ( if you' re gonna start bitching about it, I can say in ancient history there are many examples when rulers came to throne at even younger age) , by that time Anakin was 10. In AOTC she was about 25, while he was 19. I don' t think 5 years is such a big difference.

 

When TPM was first released, I was about 10, and even I thought she was too old and he was too young. By the time AOTC was released I didn't even notice (probably because they looked the same age). Really it doesn't matter because they only have about a 5 year difference between them.

 

Actually, I would disagree with a lot of this.

"No meant no" as far as Padme's wishes went; Anakin didn't have any choice but to respect her wishes. That didn't change what went on in his mind.

Obsession is just an idea or thought that continually preoccupies or intrudes on a person's mind. This certainly would fit with Anakin's mindset on Padme; she was larger than life to him; he obsessed about her since the first day he met her ("I've thought of her every day since we parted all those years ago"). What he carried in his mind about her was NOT the natural/normal feelings that a boy growing up has because he was taken out of his normal growth environment to become a Jedi (and remember, he was never IN a normal environment to begin with; he was a slave).

Listen to the agonizing way he talks about his feelings for her in AOTC; these feelings are becoming pathological and setting him up for trouble well before ROTS. Anakin's descriptions of these feelings such as the one by the fireside are not subtle, he is overwhelmed by his feelings for her, and prepared to risk everything for her. In the end, this was used by Palp to turn him; this is the central point in why he turned; so as not to lose Padme like he had lost his mother, and to go to any length to prevent that. It was NOT the Jedi code being too rigid, which is arguably a contributing factor to Ani turning, but is certainly not the central theme in this turn.

 

This. Spot on.

His age is suddenly magnified tenfold when you compare him to Hayden, which people naturally do - Hayden in AotC looks easily in his early 20s, suddenly making TPM Anakin look eeeeven younger - I've also seen this confuse some people as to how much time passed between the two films.

I think people also suffer from the fact that Jake actually looks much younger than he really should, he's incredibly small and has extremely childlike features for his age. Sure, he's not gonna have a beard but compare him to Kitster for example... they're the same height etc, but Kitster just looks generally older. Jake looked closer to 7 years old in TPM than 9 going on 10.

And to top it aaaall off, lovely Natalie was fortunate enough to keep her youthfulness and distinct features for all 3 movies (and for every year after!) - once again, this almost makes it look like you're seeing AotC Padme in Watto's store in TPM - in turn, making that age gap look even bigger!

And finally, the maturity of Padme in TPM is leagues above Anakin's. She instantly seems older than her years... Whereas he says "Yipee!" - the age gap seems resounding when looked at this way

It was simply a silly casting decision. They should've made Anakin's character 11-12ish and cast a slightly older boy (and in an ideal world, kept the same actor) - problem solved!

...Would love to talk about the actual characters and not just the casting but I'm so tired I'll have to state that case tomorrow (when I'll still be tired... I hate the clocks changing!).

 

IT seemed odd to me too - maybe not a show-stopper, but weird. I think this was meant to be a "fairy tale" aspect of the story - and thats not a knock on that kind of thing, just saying! ... a sort of "bolt of lightning" love at first sight on Anakin's part. As some others here have noted, think I would have bought it more if Anakin had been, say, 12 or 13 or so at the time of TPM.

And yes too, to those who note that retaining Portman as Padme made the transition more jarring, the romance angle a bit more strange.

 

Love might be different. Very different. And everyone feels it in their own way. Sometimes love happens like that, it becomes an obsession. It really depends on the person. I guess due to the fact that Ani is waay too emotional, it was fit for him. I' ve seen many things that, if to look with cynical, down - to - earth eyes, seem abnormal. But still, somehow they do happen. For some couples it all started just from being childhood friends, maybe having a crush on each other, but later it grew out into real love. Also, shouldn' t I remind you of Romeo and Juliet? They weren' t much older, and still, their story has become one of the most romantic and tragic stories in the world. Also, it all happened not on Earth, it happened in a galaxy far far away... The society was formed in a different way than on Earth, so people also might act slightly different. And because regular teenagers of our time in Earth dump their crush after less than a year of dating them, it doesn' t mean the same is in Star Wars. So before you say love is abnormal, think that love is generlally contradictable and difficult to explain, and sometimes there are things much more abnormal( I' m not gonna debate gay rights in here, I' ll just state that I think such relationships are abnormal. No offense, it' s just what I think and I won' t change my opinion. If you think different, just keep to your opinion and let me keep to mine) .

 

But for a fantasy film to work, it's got to have a human element to it. Something that you can relate to so you can feel for the characters your supposed to care about. This is why the Han/Leia romance worked so well. They couldn't stand each other to begin with but gradually they fell for each other. And everyone can relate to that. The fantastical setting becomes secondary. The Anakin/Padme romance IMO didnt work. Sure I suppose everyone had crushes when they were younger (I did) but not when I was 10. Anakin had friends in TPM some of which were girls (if I remember rightly) but they were just being kids of that age. If Anakin had been a teenager in TPM then the whole infatuation thing in AOTC would've been far easier to swallow.

 

Love is such a wonderful thing, we all know it exists... yet none of us can explain its power, adequately. Sprinkle in the word: fiction, and that is recipe for msg-board futility.

 

Everything here is so soft and smooth.

 

Relate to? Have you seen Avatar by James Cameron? I' m not sure that many people can relate themselves to blue aliens who live a primitive civilization, yet who are very spiritual and can estabilish mental connection with other living things. In such genres as sci - fi and fantasy the main thing is imagination. In general, rules for art are an illusion. One true thing that makes one a good artist are their instincts. And the biggest mistake many critics do is judging art by their cold logic. It' s not something that must be measured with logic. But enough with cinematography and art( I guess I can a critic myself since I constantly write lengthy posts about it XD ) .About their relationship: What did you expect from a person with such personality, who was put into an organization whose members live a monk lifestyle, where it' s constantly said love is evil etc. If someone quietly spoke with him in private like parents mostly do to their kids, it might' ve went more softly. But strict restrictions usually only fuel a wish to do the forbidden thing. Also, kids aren' t that innocent creatures adults think. When I was 7, my classmates already knew about sex( yes, it' s true) , and when I was 11, they already started having crushes. Anakin is a complete innocent softy compared to them.

 

Well, you are at least correct in that love is a complex thing. I don't think you quite understand what I was saying.

Your basic normal (or perhaps "typical" is a better word) love/romantic relationship contains a certain range of behaviors (obsession within certain limits could be a part of that); there is (as you say) some variation in this, but there is unquestionably a typical range. Those who engage in behaviors outside of that range (e.g. extreme obsession, criminal stalking-type obsession, physical/emotional abuse, severe jealousy, other criminal/extreme sexual/relationship behavior) are almost always people with troubled backgrounds/childhoods. This fits Anakin very well. He was a slave (severe early-life trauma, big impact on relationships later in life), then was taken out of any possible sense of normalcy by being trained as a Jedi, where he couldn't have any kind of dating/relationships as he grew up. This set him up for the situation with Padme; he obsession was out of control because she was all he knew; he wasn't seeing/dating anyone else for his whole life (plus, again, his mindset was a troubled one already due to his background). The fact that he goes to SUCH EXTREMES in an attempt to be on the right side where he can save her (including killing children, big red flag there) is a sign that his feelings for her are way outside of the normal or typical range.

 

You ( and a lot of others say slave) but from what we saw, he wasn't a slave in the truest sense was he. I mean, he wasn't working working gruelling hours in some mine somewhere with just about ample sustenance to keep him going. And when his day was done he wasn't thrown in a cage with the rest of the slaves. It didnt come across as if his life was a constant dredge of hardship. He helped out in shop, and his slave master (?) would even let him go home early some days! As for his home, it seemed ok to me. And his mother wasn't a depressed mess on the brink of suicide on due to their situation and the squalor they were being forced to live in.

 

I know I shouldn't post it, but I couldn't help thinking about this when reading some of the posts in this thread...

 

Being a slave in the "truest sense" is ownership by another, which was true of Anakin and his mother. The fact that other slaves live in harsher conditions than Ani and his mother doesn't contradict the larger point I was making