Left-Wing Views in Star Wars

The more I study Star Wars the more I find it oriental and left-wing. I think Asians must find these movies easier to understand than Americans and Europeans. I think that George Lucas must be socialistic in his views. After all, the Trade Federation seems to be a statement against capitalism and imperialism. The Gungans and the Naboo could be viewed like the Vietnamese. The Confederacy of Independent Systems of AOTC seems capitalistic, for in the original script and in comic versions Dooku pledged to allow the Trade Federation and his allies to go ahead with their capitalistic ventures. I haven't really looked at the Classic Trilogy much in this light, but I'm certain there are some left-wing views in there also. I'm not saying this is bad. I admire Lucas for his artistic achievements in Star Wars.

What do you think? Do you think Lucas wants us to see left-wing messages in Star Wars?

 

Long and short of it... yes, Lucas has left-wing ideals... not really a secret... according to Lucas' own admission, the rise of the Empire was at least partially based on Nixon's belief that he could retain the presidency basically by military force.

The CIS, as Padme says in a scene deleted from AotC, is corporation becomming government, more or less a paraphrase of FDR's quote that "fascism is what happens when corporations run the state." Also, AotC warns those living in a democracy to never to abdicate their powers to the president, no matter the danger and to not rush into war. This was a lesson learned through the mistakes of ancient Rome and modern Germany, and one that we in America need to be constantly reminded of. It's slightly frightening that this message of AotC, conceived of in the 70s and inspired by events far older, seemed entirely relevant in 2002.

Corporations are portrayed in a decidedly negative light in the prequels; this isn't so much a matter of capitalism, but corporatism, which, as I said above, if left unchecked leads to fascism. Corporations need to be reigned in--if we were talking about biological succession, Corporations would be the climax species, the inevitible result and a virtually permanent one.

But, of course, in thinking about this issue in particular, one must remember that Lucas is a one-man corporation owning a wide variety of businesses; however, the intention of Lucas' companies is not to just make money, but to forward the artform of cinema. Obviously, the qualifier "greedy" is important when talking about Lucas' views of corporations: the TF and all of those in the CIS are greedy, wanting more, out for themselves and their own profit.

Star Wars has a populist message that is socially and globally conscious, but its story's really nothing new--the fact that the story sounds like it's contemporary social commentary should make us all stop and take a very close look at our nation.

 

Well, we must admit that Lucas' values in SW are the same most mythologies and folk tales. Maybe he is based in Left wing but still Tolkien or even modern superheroes portay them as well. Justise,freedom, peace, humanity yada, yada.

 

I always knew Lucas was a commie.

 

Yup - a commie who captivated the hearts of America

 

Maybe he is based in Left wing but still Tolkien or even modern superheroes portay them as well. Justise,freedom, peace, humanity yada, yada.

That's interesting, because Tolkien's writing is generally considered to be conservative - even though there are liberal values in his works. Storytelling can be a bit of a paradox when it comes to politics, and can be hard to unravel accurately - in Britain, JK Rowling was always accused of being conservative with her Harry Potter books, because they're set in a private school with all the usual old-fashioned charming private school stereotypes - yet in an interview, Rowling said she is a liberal, and the books are actually full of liberal/left-wing values if you stop to think about them - there are even satires on people like Margaret Thatcher (Aunt Marge), Conservative politicians (Cornelius Fudge), the conservative "New" Labour's policy on education (Dolores Umbridge), and the right-wing tabloids like the Daily Mail (the awful Daily Prophet).

For Star Wars, it's hard to tell, but I'd guess that George Lucas's politics are mainstream-liberal - let's say, slightly to the left.

 

There is something my literature classes taught me. One cannot confuse the narrator of a story with the author. The views within a novel or film are not always the ones the author holds. George Lucas is a story teller. He weaves a tapestry from threads that are made of mythology, history and philosophy. There are many messages within the piece about how to handle power and how good can become evil. In many ways it is about the gray areas between the black and the white. It is a known fact that Lucas was influeced by Vietnam and several other historical events.

However he is not purposely trying to insert a political message within his Star Wars films. His closest friends admit that George does not care to talk about politics and is not into screaming his opinion. He is not that type of guy. He is into telling a story with a universal ethos which anyone could understand. To weave a story from many other works and concepts. It is not about politics...it is about humanity itself.

Just my thoughts,
-Seldon

 

It's always the same mythological values. The only reason they seem left winged in SW is because there's a big senate and the PT is crawling with rotten senators. Thus too close to our political systems. In LOTR the fact that the peasant hobbits hang out with kings and such doesn't sound left winged.It's just fair to acknowledge someone's individuality right?


But Han and Leia, scumbag and princess being casualy around each other brougth the Russian Char(sp?) down a century ago. It was called communism. We are not detached enough to view them as values, and he percieve them as political opinions. Our mistake, not GL's.

 

Historically, corporations have been cruel, heartless and greedy. In this day and age we have harassement restrictions, workers rights, unions, laws against monopolies, and child labour laws to safeguard consumers and employees, and that makes corporations a good place to start a career and provide for a family. In the days of the Industrial Revolution and during the age of exploration, companies like the British East India Company had their own militaries and navies, which operated independent of their governments. Places like Africa, Southeast Asia and Central America suffered because natives were captured and used as corvee labour. Imagine if Nike and Walmart had private armies, I shudder to think!

 

I think Jedi Monk, DMM, and Seldon all had some good points. It's too bad this thread has to focus on Star Wars, or else I'd ask you your opinions on political and social views in "The Lord of the Rings" and "The Manchurian Candidate." I do think that corporations with unlimited power are fascist. It was relevant in 2002, and will be relevant for years to come. The Trade Federation and CIS could be compared to Halliburton, Enron, and other corporations. I'm not saying that employees are corrupt or bad. Not at all. I'm talking about misguided and greedy executives and CEOs.

Does anyone see any left-wing views in ANH, TESB, and ROTJ? What do you think Episode III will be like?

 

I must admit that the OT for me is much closer to an Arthurian tradition than it is to Marx and CO. So I'd say it's Right wing in a very very noble humanitarian way. ROTS will very likely be about the last democrats running for their lives in a facsist regim the lagre population has failed to identify yet.One thing is for sure, a lot of conspiracy wakkos will start comparing Palpatine with Bush a lot more than before.

 

I don't think it is leftist. I see it like people fighting against the extreme right, Fascism. The Empire is similar to Nazi Germany and other extreme right regimes. As we all know, extremes of either side are something to fight against.

 

One thing is for sure, a lot of conspiracy wakkos will start comparing Palpatine with Bush a lot more than before.

Like Ewan McGregor did during the filming of RotS?

I think we have to be very careful about looking for political messages in stories like this - the first aim of these people is to tell a story. Their own views, of course, come out in the stories, you can't help that, but I don't think they're intended as political lectures. The prequels show an opposition to corruption, greed, the power of corporations; AotC in particular shows opposition to politicians using fear to gain more power for themselves; these are things that liberals in particular worry about a lot, but I think most decent people would be worried about corporate power in government and supposedly "democratic" leaders using crises to gain more power for themselves, or get themselves re-elected. It's happened throughout history, and here's GL telling us the story again.

 

No, more like the ones that try to convince everyone that the Jedi and the Sith are real and that Lucas (a Jedi ofcourse) has managed to expose their evil plans by telling about the droid/clone armies before the US army has it's first massive deployment of war droids in 2007.

With the rest you said, I agree.

 

Let us not go down this road again. Please refrain from comparing Palpy with any current world leader.

 

Sorry I won't do that again.I promise.

 

Makes sense for SW to have left-wing views when Lucas is a liberal(most likely democrat then too) in real life.

 

Remember, just because you are paranoid doesn't mean they aren't all out to get you.

 

You're correct. Liberties were never removed (from Romans, slaves and CO didn't have the best of time),but on the other hand vesting power to a lot of crazy individuals was not top of the line choise either. I know history well enough to know why Calligula (small boot) did what he did and so on, but still I can't understand where does this stick to the thread.

 

Re: Rome...

I must admit, history isn't my strongest point, but... yes, the Roman Senate wasn't exactly the most representative of bodies, and, in some ways, I'm sure, Julius Ceasar and some of his decendants improved the government and the lives of the people.

However, we also have many, many examples of insane Roman Emperors who killed and destroyed at the slightest whim just because they could... they didn't have a set of brakes, and thousands paid for it.

Dictatorships beget dictatorships, and the dictatorship is an extremely stable governmental system, as opposed to democracy, which very often in history has fallen into dictatorship because the will of one person to sieze power can be greater than the collective will of the People to retain a (mostly, or seemingly theoretical) power.

But the point is, cosmetically, at least, the situation in Rome closely mirrors what happens in Star Wars: a Republic becoming an Empire. And wasn't it one of Hitler's goals to resurrect the Roman Empire?

Re: Storyteller

Yes, Lucas is out to tell a story, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't have a socially-conscious message. Beyond telling a story, I think he's also trying to be relevant. Huxley, Bradbury, Orwell--they were all trying to tell an engaging story and entertain, but they also used that as a vehicle for important messages. Lucas obviously social conscience, just look at THX1138, which, from what I've seen and read of it, is almost all message to the exclusion of entertainment

 

since you'll likely be using "pop history" reasoning

LOL I just think that's funny!

I find it oriental and left-wing. I think Asians must find these movies easier to understand than Americans and Europeans.

What a loaded statement that is. It's easy to pander to the inscutible Oriental mind. We all know it's certainly not that. What's my proof? If you need it, you don't get it. Not any disrespect. See below.


Separating author form narrator is a good textual practice, but where you can see a reasonable connection between the man and his art, it's also extremely useful, effective, and valid to make informed assertions as well.

Nute Gunray (Regan backward) is an obviously statement that GL has at least once made a subtle point about his like or dislike of the Reagan years. How much can be found in his politics? Won't even attempt that.

Regarding democracy: There are all sorts of interpretation of what makes a democracy. The word is specific enough to garner wide usage but its application is widely left to interpretation. Athenian democracy was aristocratic, American democracy is elitist (Electoral college), French democracy is direct (they vote directly for the actual person), Russian democracy is political machine, Iraqui democracy is imposed (figure that one out), while Naboo democracy is monarchical. The devil's in the details.

Greed: What is greed? That's also a vague word that has huge common currency. You can use it anywhere and it can be understood in a variety of way. Are capitalists greedy? Communists would say so. Capitalists would say other capitalists are greedy when they amass too much wealth. How much is that? How much is simply enough. Corporations are often the engines for the huge economic and scientific breakthroughs.

Liberal vs. Conservative: OK, huge debate on that. American Republicans have been using the word Liberal as a catchword for: decadent, effete, morally injust, degenerate, bad, wrong. Jeanne Kirckpatrick, former US representative to the UN (a conservative) spoke of liberals with a big "L" and those with a little "L", referring to Liberals that a Republican would bash, and those liberals which cannote Americans who value liberal concepts like free speech, personal autonomy, the pursuit of happiness (capitalism), et al. Most American are "liberal" when compared to monarchists and hard line communists (of Russia for example). You can have democratic communists (as in France) as well as religious conservatives which differ from economic conservatives. On and on.

Do I see left wing views in the saga? Yes, but nothing I'd stake my reputation on. I agree there's a need for GL to focus on the storyline. SW is definitely not an allegory. There is no one-on-correspondence that either GL or the public can strongly support -- there is little textual evidence to support an allegory unless you interpret events in such broad sweeps that it might apply to any time or place.

One could make the argument that SW is like communism. It has enormous emotional value all over the world that people of any culture or political view can embrace it in their own personal view and interpretation. In this sense, SW is the fairy tale with a simple lesson: make the correct choice in life. It's not a saga that tells the origins of a particular people of the world. It's not a modern mythology that tells the origins of humans on our world. It's rather an epic of images and ideas that are broad enough that we be appealing to people of any culture.

One thing few people speak of is GL's references to the Jedi knights who profess honor and serve as the protectors of society. Huge can or worms here. In my book Shimmering Sword I speak specifically to the fact that honor IS a huge theme throughout the SW saga. But honor in a modern, democratic, and liberal way. I do not speak of honor in heroic terms, much less in ultra-national terms (such as those in juntas which seize control in the "name" of the people).

Let's face it, the concept of an honor guard (the Jedi) of cu

 

This thread hurts my brain.

 

Interesting points, everyone.

I think the idea of a Republic becoming an Empire is based on Roman history also. I think a lot of people should distrust corporations. Just look at Enron, Halliburton, WorldCom, and other companies who are corrupt. Furthermore, I think it would be unwise to compare Palpatine to Bush. Palpatine is like Caesar, Napoleon, and Hitler as Lucas said in the AOTC commentary. Bush would be more like Sulla, the first Roman dictator to retain the office byeond its limit. He would inspire a Caesar of the future. No democracy is perfect. We Americans waged unjust wars against the Mexicans, Spaniards, and Fillipinos (in the name of Christianity and civilization) before we invaded Iraq. I think Lucas is probably a Democrat with socialistic views like the British have. He once compared Valorum to Clinton, which is a pretty good comparison: a good man everyone wants to get rid of.

History repeats itself endlessly. What happens once will happen again and again in different ways. I think America is the Roman Republic all over again. We could become an empire. Lucas may be entertaining us, but he's also giving us a philosophy lesson through the Jedi and Sith but also a political one through the whole corruption of the Republic. It's important to keep this in mind.

 

But Plurimus, Catholics DO run the world - I read it on a website