Between the Lines

The Star Wars Saga in my opinion is the most imaginative and creative life metaphor ever concieved.
No stone is left unturned. Religion, war, love, social
activity, exploration, technology and spirituality. Hardcore fans should really look past some of the questionable marketing moves and celebrate these films for the absolute genius that they are. At the core of this story is a broken family ( not unintentional, I assure you ) in which two of its members are exceptional wielders of the Force, the binding matter of the Universe. Both Luke and Anakin are also gifted mechanically which gives us our first symbolic conflict of the saga. Technology vs. Spirituality, not the newest debate, but one that will definitely never
exhaust. Anakin's creation of C3PO is the benevolent
high mark of his technological wizardry, while the bionic
Vader armor is unquestionably his low. Lukes' final realization that his technological aides mean nothing comes to him after lopping off his fathers robotic hand and then staring at his own. Obviously Lucas does not want us to abhor technology. Many of the wonders of his universe are technological ( C3PO, R2D2, Corruscant, the many fantastic modes of transportation that allow the denizens of his universe to move about ), but when it comes to the human being he makes it very clear that knowing ones self thoroughly must come before one can utilize powerful technological tools. Palpatine is the ultimate metaphor for the evil chaotic fusion of technolgy and spirituality. His motivations and manipulations lead to one very grim truth: he wishes to be god over all and he uses not only his considerable force powers but all the machines and weapons at his disposal. The fact that all his soldiers are clones represents Lucas's obvious disdainfullness of that issue. And Palpatines desire to rule from a mobile, armageddon moon is the most powerful religion gone wrong symbolism in all cinema. Its not a coincidence that the Death Star is represented in actuality or theoretically in all but one of the films. Hitler comparisons aside, Palpatine/Sidious is one of the most original representations of pure evil ever put on the silver screen.
Lucas' representation of war as a necessary component of lasting peace is very brave considering real life goings-on in todays world and the mans obvious strong spiritual sense.
Finally the chronology of the rise/fall/redemption of Anakin is not only brilliant and heartfelt but loaded with symbolism. To paraquote a post on the Episode 3 board " it all starts with Dooku ". His political idealism and hardheadness with the Jedi Council leads to the downfall of the galaxy.
Not all roads to the darkside are as cut and dry as killing someone in cold blood. Dooku is obviously not a purely evil charcater as is demonstrated with the sadness he reveals when he speaks of Quai Gon. He truly ( and arrogantly ) believed in his Separatist ideology, and that arrogance is all Sidious needs to ensnare him. When you consider that Dooku was Jinns master you begin to see where im going with all of this. The modern make-up of the human being is represented first in Dooku ( a good man who cannot control his anger, stubborness, etc. ) and thus past onto Quai Gon who then inbreds it into Skywalker and Kenobi. Kenobi overcomes these pitfalls to become the epitome of justice and righteousness. Anakin becomes someone we are all more familiar with: a person who loses the stuggle, succumbs to the seductive natures of lifes seemingly harmless vices, and ultimately degenerates into evil. His redemption comes as a reminder that very few people are completely evil and and thats its never to late to do the right thing. Sorry about the length of this post but its my first on this forum and I figured Id get it all out in one shot. Phew!!!!

 

the great thing about star wars styled fiction is that it is more relateable, and more relevent to our lives than 99% of the bland entertainment set in our time.

 

So true.

 

Bravo severian28. Truly worthy of a GL scholar.
*applauds*

 

Bravo, great thread I agree with severian 100% but you haven't left us much to say.
what I love about SW is the definate contrast between good and evil. The empire is definately evil and the rebelion is definately good. Same with Jedis and Sith lords. With most movies nowadays the good guy can be really mean and the bad guy is always shown as a normal guy who feels he's doing the right thing. In life and movies we need more clarity between whats good and what bad. That kind of clarity we have in SW.

 

I like the take on the conventions of the Hero that Lucas plays with. Is it Anikan for saving the day? Obi-Wan, for holding true to all the most ancient qualities of what a hero should be like? Luke? The droids, because the story is told from the droids perspective?

 

i think at times, the story is told from everyones perspective.

 

Very well said. I get sick of people automatically giving the knee-jerk reaction that the prequels are stupid when I talk about my anticipation for EpIII. Frankly, these people aren't SW fans themselves the majority of the time so I couldn't care less what they have to think. They obviously aren't seeing the deeper meaning in a lot of the saga, including the PT, that's just excellent.

To me, the SW saga isn't just as simple as being about good and evil, or about Anakin and Luke. I think it's about where good and evil blur, and about an entire family line of all sorts of relationships (not all biological):

Yoda --> Dooku --> Qui-Gon --> Obi-Wan --> Anakin --> Luke

And by far the most powerful story in there is that of Obi-Wan and Anakin, the story that spans the whole saga. Even the ideas within that story that aren't explored to a great extent within the films, if you think about them, are amazing and thought-provoking. I think it says a lot about human nature and our relationships and what we do with what we are given.

-sj loves kevin spacey

 

Very Well said.
I agree with you there.

Its the story of a family as they live through terrible times.

And its the story of how a human can fail and then be redeemed.

-Seldon

 

This may be cliche, and most of you are probably going to disagreew ith me til' the end on this one...but The Matrix Trilogy far exceeds Star Wars when it comes to metaphors. It's easy to dismiss becausre it's the "in" thing to do these days, but the Matrix Trilogy is one of the most educational pieces of entertainment of our time.

 

The metaphors in the Matrix are thinly disguised and thank you for starting my virgin post down the slippery
slope of lockdown. If you want to know how I really feel about that other " trilogy " ( harumphh ) check my post history.

 

This is a discussion the Star Wars Saga. If you want to discuss other movies, go to another forum. If you have nothing valuable to add to the discussion at hand, just don't post. Thanks.

 

Wow, I didn't expect that kind of backlash!

Anyway, I was just merley disagreeing with his original statement, which was that he thought Star Wars the most imaginitive and symbolic film. I thought that's what these boards were for...disagreeing with others. I didn't intend for this to become a Matrix discussion thread. I was just adding my two cents. Sorry.

 

Dont worry Brody, us newbies have to adjust to the rules, and the first thing I noticed is how fast your
thread gets locked when you know what is mentioned. Its
a great forum, this Saga Forum , however - the best in the Jedi Council. I DO get upset, however, with the SMALL MINORITY of posters here that have the mindset that the longer youve been registered here the bigger SW fan you are. You must understand how insulting that is to a person who saw the OT in the theatre at the time of their release.