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Is Padme and Anakin's relationship believable?

Discussion in 'Archive: Attack of the Clones' started by inkswamp, Oct 22, 2004.

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  1. Wesyeed

    Wesyeed Jedi Youngling star 4

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    Feb 5, 2005
    Yes, I believe that... she says "You'll always be that little boy I knew on Tatooine." Her first impression sounds like it comes from a mature woman who's not on the same level as our young dark hero. The Novel..let me see if I can find it... no well anyway I think I remember her fiddling around with the Japorsnippet and remember how kind and genuinly good Anakin was a little boy, so as far as the book goes, you are very correct. Maybe there's a deleted scene that shows Padme remember Anakin in his younger years, how much she like him etc..

    This doesnt seem like a polarizing question, more a question of what one felt upon viewing the whole thing. I said what I felt. And I can't change how I feel when watching something like that. Also, I want it to improve. I want GL to look at the movie and say... well maybe this needs a tweak or two. He's bound to at some point, and if he does, my hopes lay firmly on his seeing the P-A relationship as one of them.
     
  2. Amon_Amarth

    Amon_Amarth Force Ghost star 6

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    Jan 27, 2005
    The pendant obviously has a big role in the love story. I remember many people on this forum said that love was only from Anakin`s side, but every tome Padme looked the snippet, she remembered Anakin and probably asked herself where was he, how is he, what is he doing and so on. So when she met him again, she was overwhelmed by emotions.
    Though the dialogue doesn`t show much of the emotions, the actors do.

    Considering the love story, we should look on the entire saga, not just AOTC.
     
  3. swfan4life_1979

    swfan4life_1979 Jedi Youngling

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    Feb 4, 2005
    Of course the love story is believeable! Just think how you would react to the woman of your dreams who you have not seen for many years?! Anakin has been fixated over her for all these years. Naturally he is not going to come across suave and confident in his conversation with Padme. Padme looks conflicted and doesn?t know how to react to Anakin expressing his feelings to her. I believe that she developed some feelings for him in TPM but does not know how to harbor them. Anakin and Padme?s dialogue comes across to me as two people who are extremely tense and confused about the decisions they are about to make. Anakin seems to have no idea about the complexity he is getting into neither does he fully understand the consequences. He is just so fixated on his love or obsession for Padme that everything clouds his judgment. Padme loses her better judgment and decides to engage in forbidden love when everything else that is rational is telling her not to, she just has too much feeling for him. The love story to me is perfectly believable. If you hadn?t seen someone for years that you love, I am sure you would not be quoting Shakespeare and your words will dialogue will come across awkward.
     
  4. ST-TPM-ASF-TNE

    ST-TPM-ASF-TNE Moderator Emeritus star 6 VIP - Former Mod/RSA

    Registered:
    Jun 27, 2001
    I think Anakin and Padme's love story was written with the concept of Romeo and Juliet is mind, as if they are "meant" to be in love.

    Romeo and Juliet didn't even know each other's names and they were already planning to be married. Anakin and Padme's love story is not taken to that extreme, but I always felt it had that "we were meant to be" feel to it.
     
  5. goflickabean

    goflickabean Jedi Youngling star 1

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    Sep 22, 2004
    Anakin and Padme's relationship felt rushed and enirely based on physical attraction. It was teenage angst at its most extreme. Reminded me of my past relationship where I almost got married very young. It made me want to laugh. Or puke.
     
  6. Amon_Amarth

    Amon_Amarth Force Ghost star 6

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    Jan 27, 2005
    I wouldn`t say that this relationship is based just on physical attraction. Like many said on this thred, it is much deeper cuz reflects the entire saga.

    I would agree with ST-TPM-ASF-TNE that, though everything was aginst them, they really had *meant-to-be* relationship.
     
  7. Ididitall4thewookie

    Ididitall4thewookie Jedi Youngling star 3

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    Jun 29, 2004
    they really had *meant-to-be* relationship.

    I agree that that is what it was meant to be, and it was attempted to convey that. However, IMHO, they forgot the relationship part of it. These two didnt have one, and I realize that thats what the Japorthingy was meant to bridge, but I just dont think thats good enough. The japorthingy cannot be a keepsake for her to have a connection to a young, hot tempered goodlooking badboy. It was connection to a ten year old she took care of for a few hours ten years before. TEN YEARS.

    Again, I think the original intent was for it to be very Romeo and Julietesque, but you gotta remember, in Romeo and Juliet, they were BOTH into it. In AOTC, we see Padme trying NOT to be into it, and then BAM, they are married. Padme was portrayed as someone who was unwilling, but then showed signs of succumbing. From then on, though, it just happened too fast, at least for me.

    I reiterate my original stance that the portrayal of their relationship would be infinitely better without the horrid truly, deeply line.
     
  8. openmind

    openmind Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Jan 23, 2003
    In AOTC, we see Padme trying NOT to be into it, and then BAM, they are married.

    Well, that's better than sleeping together, doing the "horizontal Mumba", and leaving at that. Now they can conciously believe if they have a child, it won't be "illegitimate".
     
  9. Wesyeed

    Wesyeed Jedi Youngling star 4

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    Feb 5, 2005
    Actually, think of the deleted scenes when you wonder about Padme's decision to jump into marriage so quickly. It was her sister who constantly suggested she settle down and start a family of her own already. It's in the book. I think people on Naboo get going in life's more mature stuff pretty early unlike us here in the real world. Anakin reminds her of a childhood she never had, free from all the legal gobbly gook that was pounded into her head as a child. That's why she calls him strange at first, but warms up to him when he shows her how cool he is even though he's just a slave guy.

    Didn't quite come across enough on film IMHO, but just read the book, watch the deleted scenes and your all set.
     
  10. Ididitall4thewookie

    Ididitall4thewookie Jedi Youngling star 3

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    Jun 29, 2004
    Well, that's better than sleeping together, doing the "horizontal Mumba", and leaving at that. Now they can conciously believe if they have a child, it won't be "illegitimate".

    Ummmmmm... ok
     
  11. Amon_Amarth

    Amon_Amarth Force Ghost star 6

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    Jan 27, 2005
    Wesyeed, I agree with your statement on A/P marraige. They made a decision to fast, but here Sola has a big role.

    There is also fact that SW is Sci-Fi world, Naboo is a Sci-Fi planet, their culture is way different than our own. Just look at our planet; it has so many diversities in nations and cultures and it is only one planet.
     
  12. Jabba-wocky

    Jabba-wocky Chosen One star 10

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    May 4, 2003
    As I was about to post in another thread, something occured to me abou this one.

    For a long time now, I and others have criticized this love story from Padme's angle. That is, it's constantly repeated that she has no motive to fall for Anakin, and that this process is never known. I still believe this is true.

    However, what motive did Anakin have to fall in love with Padme?

    First off, we have to consider what their relationship was in TPM. Close analysis shows it to be very unimpressive. While they were nice to each other, Padme doesn't particularly patronize Anakin any more than Qui-Gon. In fact, she even offends him early on when she calls him a slave. Now, what basis is there for any kind of fixation on her? To suggest that she became a surrogate mother is ridiculous, since she was in Anakin's presence for less than a day after he was separated from his mother. Similarly, it was Qui-Gon that engineered Anakin's freedom, and Padme had nothing to do with it--a fact Anakin is aware of. So there's no special reason for him to be grateful to her, and no especially poignant interaction between the two. As for the idea of sexual attraction, this is just ludicrous. It seems highly unlikely that a pre-pubescent girl would find an undeveloped, pre-pubscent girl from 10 years ago to be over-whelmingly more attractive than any other woman he'd ever met, despite having been around several women after both he and they were fully sexually developed.

    So why would this develop into a long-term fixation? Although what we know about the Jedi's training is admittedly limited, there is little evidence to suggest that this sort of fixation should arise from it. In the first place, the Jedi Code only forbids attachment, not sexual activity. And even were this the case, Anakin still was making regular contact with girls both his age and older. So what reason would he have to blow the memory of Padme up into some grand obsession, when in all likelihood there were female Padawans in the Jedi Order that he came to know both better and for a longer period of time than her?

    Insofar as we know, Anakin experienced no significant developmental damage as a result of living with the Jedi. If the Jedi can produce normally functioning adults raised from birth (Qui Gon, Obi-wan, etc), the suggestion is that there is nothing in the nature of the Jedi Order or Code that should cause significant development problems in children. Given this fact, there is no reason why any should arise in Anakin. (Note that while there is acknowledged conflict between Anakin's desires of possession and the Jedi Code, this is a matter of principle/theory not a fundamental flaw in child-rearing strategy). Further, we know that the kind of obsession Anakin has with Padme is abnormal. So how would it have arised? There is no probable cause.

    The only remaining arguemnt, then is that it arose out of some mental circumstance unique to Anakin, that the Jedi must've subsequently over-looked. But this is still non-sensical. Recall that initially, the Jedi decided not to train him because they'd sensed just such problems. Obviously, then, when they reversed there decision, it must've been contingent on the fact that these concerns were dealt with. So even if he had any underlying/innate problems, the Jedi must've seen about attending to them.

    So how does Anakin's attraction to Padme make sense?
     
  13. ShrunkenJedi

    ShrunkenJedi Jedi Knight star 5

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    Apr 26, 2003
    My argument in response to that, JabbaWocky, is that, yes, there is baggage arising from Anakin's unique situation that is not being dealt with. This can be seen clearly enough in my view from the fact that Anakin is fixated not only on Padme, but on power itself, and that he becomes a Sith.

    You say that the council has seen this as a problem when Anakin was proposed for training (which I agree with), and that it must have been dealt with. I would argue that it would probably be up to Obi-Wan to deal with it, and that he did not do so well enough at the very least-- either through overconfidence, oversight or inexperience. Remember Ben's words to Luke: "I thought I could train him just as well as Yoda. I was wrong." I beleive that is what he is talking about.

    --SJ
     
  14. mixza

    mixza Jedi Padawan star 4

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    Jan 28, 2004
    Because he knew in TPM that he would marry her someday, through his Force intuition, and knowing that, her image stayed with him. He saw her goodness and her willingness to help others and that is what made him love her.

    Their relationship IS believable. They were reunited, quickly fell in love, and married. It happens.
     
  15. poweranger

    poweranger Jedi Youngling star 2

    Registered:
    Apr 21, 2002


    the council chose to train anakin partly from fear.

    qui gon warned them that maul was a sith and they refused to believe until the funeral! so they reasoned that if qui gon was right about maul, then he was right about anakin. they used obi wans triumph as an omen...to ignore their inital doubts concerning anakins training.

    anakin falling for padme makes sense because of the storytelling. anakin understood that the only reason the jedi showed up on tatooine, was a direct result of the crisis on padmes planet. he believed she was an angel. her arival changed his life forever. her planet was unlike any he had ever seen! it was full of life. once he became a jedi, he was no longer a slave but his life was a little like being a monk.

    padme became a symbol which held rich memories: winning the big race, meeting a jedi, being set free, flying in a huge space battle, being accepted as an apprentice and finding a paradise called naboo.

    then he sees her ten years later...and is convinced that he doesnt want to "lose" her again. for me anakins response makes perfect sense since aotc happens so fast.
     
  16. Amon_Amarth

    Amon_Amarth Force Ghost star 6

    Registered:
    Jan 27, 2005
    I agree. Very good post.
     
  17. EPIIIWILLROCK

    EPIIIWILLROCK Jedi Youngling

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    Feb 14, 2005
    Well for my money yes the relationship seems to be belevable in as much the force is ...

    But that brings up a good point, Anakin is the most powerful Jedi ever, is it possible his love for Padme, his obsession with her is so strong he could make her love him? Just like Obi-Wan does in EP IV with the stormtrooper and Luke in EP VI with Bib Fortuna, couldn't the Jedi Mind Trick work on Padme if the Jedi in question was powerful enough?
     
  18. Amon_Amarth

    Amon_Amarth Force Ghost star 6

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    Jan 27, 2005
    Nah, that would be too much.

    Lucas wanted them together and they are together. What's so hard to accept?!?
     
  19. Wesyeed

    Wesyeed Jedi Youngling star 4

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2005
    Lets have some fun. Name three traits, habits, or characteristics about Anakin that Padme would love.

    Then do the same for Padme.

    I'll start.

    Anakin is: Intellegent. Well dressed. Full of that new jedi smell.

    Padme is: Hot. Intellegent. Sexy.

    ******************************
    Now just as Leia often voices the things she doesn't like about Han, lets imagine what these two lovers wouldn't like about each other.

    Padme doesn't like how: anakin is always leaving the toilet seat up. Forgeting to put on his rubber...glove when they sleep with each other. He's never around much.

    Anakin doesn't like how: Padme likes to argue. She likes to own every outfit on the planet. She spends hours in the salon getting her hair done every day.

    That's all folks...
     
  20. KPoland

    KPoland Jedi Youngling star 1

    Registered:
    Feb 5, 2005
    Their relationship is believable once they prepare to leave Tattoine after Shmi's funeral. Once Padme takes control of a situation, Anakin becomes atttracted to her headstrong motivation. See him beginning to smile? By the time they arrive on Geonosis, he remarks that he gave up trying to stop her (words to that effect).
     
  21. Lukecash

    Lukecash Jedi Master star 4

    Registered:
    Jun 6, 2001
    Let see...
    akward moments... check
    verbal sparing... check
    Bad teenage poetry espounding love undending.... check
    Moments of complete embarasment .... double check for the fireplace scene alone.
    Mind games between men and women.. check.
    The old saying: A man chases after a woman until she catches him.. oh soooo true.. CHeck.


    Lets face it: AOTC was the MOST accurate filmed love story ever. Lucas realizes that romance isn't pretty...

     
  22. Knight_Mical

    Knight_Mical Jedi Youngling star 1

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    Mar 25, 2004
    Jabba-Wocky... great post. You make a great point and that pretty much sums up the problem with the whole love story. It is too fast with no time or effort put into developing the relationships. Anakin has no reason to be obsessed with Padme. Perhaps because he finds out that she's a queen and paid him a little bit of attention; that would def appeal to Anakin who craves power.

    Lets face it: AOTC was the MOST accurate filmed love story ever. Lucas realizes that romance isn't pretty..

    Thats about the silliest comment I've seen. THe love story is a joke. At least on Anakin's part you could see that he'd be sexually attracted to Padme, but Padme's end of the relationship falls apart or never gets started.

    She shows no attraction to him at all until they reach Naboo and even seems to think of him at the most as a little boy and a nuisance as indicated by her dis of him in her bedroom on Coruscant "don't look at me like that" and in front of the royal court.

    All the sudden we go to their first kiss, thats where the love story bombs. The audience shocked to see her all the sudden go from you are here to serve me attitude to come on baby kiss me.

    The love story's problem is it is badly edited and given short shrift. It doesnt follow a logical progression. If you leave the first kiss out (which GL should have done) and go to the frolic in the pasture and then eating pears it would have been better. Then the fireplace scene (which is just horrible) would have made sense. IT is badly done but at least you can see where Anakin would have gotten the impression that he had a chance and where her confusion at her softening towards him would have come from. As it stood it just make Anakin look like an idiot and Padme cruel.

    However, she dis' him again and chastizes him for acting the fool and making her uncomfortable. But again Padme seems to play games with his mind.

    The worst part is the next day after telling him to act his age and like a jedi and be mature that they can't enter into a forbidden relationship because of their duty to their careers. She then turns around and agrees to go to Tattoine with him and in essence tells him its okay to forget his duty and jeopardize his career by disobeying orders. Padme's character has no theme or consistency to it, one moment she encourages his crush and the next she's acting like a senator.

    She is the crux to the failure to the relationship.

     
  23. angel_of_the_force

    angel_of_the_force Jedi Master star 3

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    Feb 26, 2005
    if we are saying it is not believable because of the age difference, who are we? its only five years.

    i do find romances on star wars a little odd.


    now that i really think about it, it's not that beleivable. I mean, you rarely see signs of padme's love. it's almost like it's a one way thing, ani loves her, but she doesn't love him. sure, she tells him she loves him, but there is no action on her love. i love their romance, it's the center of my obsession with star wars(note my icon) i want to think it's believable, but it's not. i love both of them and their romance, it's just not realistic.
     
  24. angel_of_the_force

    angel_of_the_force Jedi Master star 3

    Registered:
    Feb 26, 2005
    another reason it's not believable, keep in mind anikan just leaves her (pregnant) to go to the dark side. he went from " every day since we've parted i've thought of you" to, bye bye baby i'm turning into vader. just a little odd?
     
  25. Chaotic_Serenity

    Chaotic_Serenity Jedi Padawan star 4

    Registered:
    Oct 10, 2004
    Tish. Han was 11/12 years older than Leia. Is it suddenly a problem when it's the guy who's younger? ;)

    Anakin/Padme is realistic to me only in the sense that it's movie "reality." If it happened in real life, I'd be highly skeptical, perhaps even bit perturbed by how it was handled. But since it's in a movie based on those over-the-top 30s serials with melodramatic characters where it's suggested that they're "destined" to be together, and keeping in mind that the usual Hollywood romance occurs over the course of a few days anyway, I can believe it. It helps that there's a sense of connection carried over from TPM, and the fact that while they spent a short time together, they went through alot of emotionally revealing and binding experiences together. The romance suffers mostly (I feel) from the editing, and Padme feels a little too reserved in some places, but otherwise, it's actually grown to be quite a favorite of mine.
     
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