Star Wars Saga - Meaning
After posting two entries about the parallels between the first Star Wars Trilogy and the second Star Wars Trilogy:I've Got A Bad Feeling About This...
Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker: Parallels and Contrasts
I thought I should post one last entry about the Star Wars movies. This makes a trilogy for me as well.
Here I'll post some thoughts about meaning - intended and perhaps unintended - in the Star Wars saga. I say "perhaps unintended" because, of course, we all walk away from a good book or movie with ideas in our minds of what the book or movie was about, and our ideas may have nothing to do with what the author intended.In some cases, in writing this I'll talk about it in "religious" terms - not because I think that was how Lucas intended it, but because those are the terms in which I tend to think about things.
Anti Technology Bias?
The original trilogy of Star Wars movies struck me as having a strong anti-technology bias, very similar to Tolkein's Lord of the Rings novels. This was ironic, considering the entire Star Wars Saga takes place in a futuristic society filled with technology. How is this anti-technology mindset shown?
- Luke turns off his guidance system in order to destroy the death star
- Darth Vader - one of the "ultimate" evil characters is described disparagingly as "more machine than man"
- The battle on Endor's moon is won not by blasters and war machines, but by little furry Ewoks, whose technology does not go past tripwires and rock catapults.
There is a very strong "mystical" element to all this, with the all pervasive force, which is not God, yet seems to be somewhat god-like in its nature. However, it seems that Lucas had a shift in his own thinking during the years between the original trilogy and the new one, because in Episodes 1-3, we discover that the Force is not mystical in nature, but is scientific and quantifiable - the midi-chlorians which live within all living beings. Surprisingly, we discover that a person's receptiveness to the Force can actually be measured by a machine!
Destiny vs. Free Will
"It is your destiny". This is a phrase which is used by Darth Vader, when speaking to Luke. Ironic, since Vader seems to have evaded his own destiny as the "chosen one who will bring balance to the Force". Or has he? Lucas doesn't give us much information about the prophecy of the chosen one, except that he will be a fatherless child, and that he will bring balance to the Force. So who does that refer to? Anakin? Or perhaps Luke? Because, after all, they were both, in a sense, fatherless children. And perhaps it was both of them; Luke brought balance to the Force by turning his father from the dark side, who in turn brought balance to the Force by eventually killing Palpatine. Or perhaps the prophecy referred to Anakin originally, and when he rejected "the will of the Force" (remember Obi Wan crying out to him at the lava pit "You were supposed to be the Chosen One!") the Force chose another receptacle for its will and destiny to be carried out. Either way you look at it, it seems that we can draw two conclusions; that destiny is not to be thwarted, yet at the same time, mankind has freedom of choice.
To put that in religious terms - God's will is inviolate, yet mankind has free will. If you try to wrap your mind around that concept, you begin to see an extraordinary picture of ultimate sovereignty - a God who does not force people into His purposes, yet whose purposes are always accomplished!
Redemption
In my mind, Return of the Jedi could just as easily have been called Redemption of Vader. The notion that no one is beyond redemption and forgiveness is one of the most powerful ideas in the movie. If anyone was beyond redemption it would be Anakin Skywalker. There is a moment in Revenge Of The Sith when you realize there is no going back for Anakin/Vader. It is the moment when he walks into the Jedi Temple and stands face to face with the younglings who look to him for protection. Though nothing is said or shown, you understand what he is about to do, and your mind recoils at the horror of it. It is the slaughter of the innocents, and it immediately made me think of a verse from the Bible:
"A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more." - Matthew 2:18
There is no crime more repulsive to us than the slaughter of the innocents. For someone who would perform such a vile act, surely there could be no redemption? Apparently, Lucas seems to be saying, even the perpetrator of such a deed is not beyond forgiveness.
But how does that forgiveness occur? What was it that redeemed Vader? Was it the act of saving Luke? Or the act of destroying the emperor? Neither, apparently. Remember the statement made by Anakin at the of "Return of the Jedi". Luke says "I have to save you," and Anakin replies "You already have."
Vader was not redeemed by his own act, but by the act of another. He did not redeem himself (could one rescue and one killing ever atone for the Herodian slaughter of the innocents?) he was redeemed by the selflessness and innocence of another.
This is, of course, a very Biblical idea.
Fear and Hope
I love it when, in a series of books or movies, something happens in a sequel which forces you to re-evaluate what you've already read/seen in an earlier installment. (My favorite example of this is Ender's Game and Ender's Shadow by Orson Scott Card). This re-evaluation happened for me in Revenge of the Sith. I found myself re-evaluating why Vader turned against the Emperor at the end of Return of the Jedi. I had always assumed it was because of his love for his son. Or perhaps because of his son's love for him.
Now I don't think it was either.
The biggest contrast between the original trilogy and the new trilogy is the contrast between fear and hope. As you watch the new trilogy, you realize that everything Anakin does is driven by fear. And his mentors continually remind him to beware of fear. "Much fear in you I sense," Yoda says in "Phantom Menace". Fear of loss, fear of pain, and fear of death. And it is that last fear - the fear of death - which drives him to the Dark Side. Why? Because he cannot bear the thought of losing Padme, and he cannot imagine a fate worse than death.
The original trilogy begins with the movie titled "A New Hope", which clues us in to a change of focus. Several times we are given the message which is hinted at in the ending of Revenge of the Sith, that death is not the ultimate evil. Neither Obi Wan nor Yoda fear death; in fact, Obi Wan promises Vader that if he strikes him down, he will become more powerful. This is the hope and promise of immortality which was hinted at in RotS. Yoda assures Luke that death is a natural part of life, and not to be feared.
And apparently Luke takes this message of hope to heart, because when it comes down to the final showdown, he is able to do the one thing Anakin could never have done. He stares death in the face and he defies it. He is faced with a simple choice; turn to the Dark Side, or die. And he chooses what Anakin, for all his fear of death, rejected long ago. He chooses death. He chooses death, and in choosing it, denies its power.
This is the moment of change for Vader. Up until this point he has always run from mortality - his own mortality and the mortality of others. Now he sees in his son what he never had - hope, and the belief that there really are fates worse than death.
This change of perspective is clearly shown in his words to Luke. Luke says, "Father, I have to save you." and Anakin says "You already have." This is a statement Vader could never have made. To Vader, hounded by the fear of dying, salvation meant salvation from death. Yet clearly Anakin was about to die, and still was able to say "You already have." For he had discovered the truth the Jedi knew all along - that there is a fate worse than death, and it is from this fate that he has been rescued.
Of course, love does play a significant part in this change of heart. As the Apostle John wrote in one of his epistles,
There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.
Posted On May 29, 2005 at 4:07 AM
On May 29, 2005 Laura wrote: Wow - I'm impressed that you came up with so much only a day after seeing it (I saw it a week before and all I could talk about were the special effects and acting ;-) ) I've often been confused by the spirituality in the Star Wars movies, because I know that they clearly aren't Christian movies, and seemed more "new age" to me than anything else. And I know you're not trying to say that they are Christian, but I think it's neat that you're able to pick out certain allegories like that.
The only aspect of Christianity I noticed in Revenge of the Sith was when Darth Sidious referred to the "dogmatic, narrow view" of the jedi, which is often how skeptics refer to Christianity. At that point, the idea portrayed seemed to be that plurality was evil, or at least that the "good" way is often seen as narrow.
However, right before the battle between Obi-wan and Anakin, Obi-wan remarked: "Only a Sith deals in absolutes." Which almost seems like a contradiction to me, but that's probably just because of my perspective.
Now I'm going to have to watch the originals again, so I can see those parallels for myself. :-)
Doug Replied: "Only a Sith deals in absolutes."
That line really annoyed me. The truth is that we all deal in absolutes.
In his novel "Speaker For The Dead" (the sequel to "Ender's Game", which I referred to in this entry) Orson Scott Card has the following line, which I think is "absolutely" brilliant:
"This is how humans are: we question all our beliefs, except for the ones we really believe, and those we never think to question."
We all deal in absolutes, and it is only the naive or self-decieved who think they don't.
The Jedi are anything but naive and self-deceived, and Lucas should have known better than to allow that line into the script.
But I suppose, it's all relative, anyway.
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