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| The
long awaited Star Wars Episode II finally hit theaters. |
It’s
always fun to observe how people invariably take entertainment and
read more into it than was ever intended by its creators. Take Star
Trek for instance. Not only are Trekkies fans, they are nearly
religious devotees, forming clubs and societies devoted to espousing
the principles derived from the popular television series.
Following
in the footsteps of the Trekkies have been Star Wars fans.
They read all the books, buy all the merchandise, quote the film and
make it part of their everyday lives. For some of them, “The
Force” is a perfect substitute for religion itself and they take
the principles surrounding the Jedi arts as guideposts for living.
Even political writers are getting in on the act.
Consider
Jonathan V. Last, the online Editor of The Weekly Standard,
that bastion of American neo-Conservative thought. In a May 16
analysis piece entitled “The
Case for the Empire”, Last goes to great lengths to
deconstruct the Star Wars series, mapping its themes and elements to
aspects of modern political realities. As could be expected, he took
a very right-wing approach to his dissection.
With
the tagline of “Everything you think you know about Star Wars
is wrong”, Last argues that the Galactic Empire that is
surreptitiously formed by Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine is
actually a good thing, and that the rebels, led by Luke Skywalker
and his cohorts, are little more than an anarchic band of thrill
seekers who bring more harm to the universe than good.
It’s
an interesting point to make, although normally such an assertion
would be left for Star Wars geeks to flesh out. That a truly
serious political publication has taken up the argument is somewhat
of a departure from the norm. However, in a day and age when even
the most conservative and stuffy right-wingers are scrambling for
relevance with the public wherever they can find it, it isn’t so
odd to see the National Review taking an interest in
something so socially penetrating as Star Wars.
Unfortunately
for Last, however, he is very wrong in his analysis. And along the
way to being wrong, he shows the reading public exactly why
Americans should fear the Republican Party and political right in
general.
To
start, Last explains to readers that his analysis is based wholly
and solely on the movies themselves, admitting that he is unfamiliar
with the Star Wars Universe of books and other apocryphal
material that provide context for the films. This is so typical of
conservatives. The likes of Chris Matthews and Alan Keyes on MSNBC
and Sean Hannity on Fox News seem never to hesitate in their
ignorance of the “back-story” on important issues of contention,
especially as those stories apply to Muslims.
But
Last pushes on. He proceeds to argue that the Galactic Empire is an
entity that brought order and peace to a dysfunctional universe. He
likens the Trade Federation from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom
Menace, to those modern institutions (governmental and
otherwise) that simply strive for free trade and order in an
inefficient, non-optimized commercial world. Last even remarks,
“Make no mistake, as emperor, Palpatine is a dictator--but a
relatively benign one, like Pinochet. It's a dictatorship people can
do business with.”
That’s
just great – a dictatorship people can do business with. Coming
from a conservative this is so predictable. After all, it was Ronald
Reagan and Margaret Thatcher who helped prop Augusto Pinochet up in
Chile. Of course in retrospect it is clear that he was a ruthless
despot who blazed a path of human rights violations that landed him
in hot water a few years ago. But as long as he made Chile – and
by extension, the region – safe to “do business with” American
was more than willing to look the other way.
Basically,
in analyzing the Galactic Empire, along with all its unsavory
characters, Last makes the thinly veiled assertion that despotic
dictatorships are a good thing. How American of him.
As
for the noble order of Jedi knights, Last has this to say: “Also,
unlike the divine-right Jedi, the Empire is a meritocracy. The
Empire runs academies throughout the galaxy [Han Solo begins his
career at an Imperial academy], and those who show promise are
promoted, often rapidly.”
Well
if that’s Last’s argument, then Nazi Germany was, for all
intents and purposes, a meritocracy. They had schools for the Hitler
Youth and special units and ranks that people could aspire to. And
as long as you towed the party line and didn’t have any qualms
about things like morals, ethics and scruples, you too could have a
splendid career serving the Fuhrer.
But
maybe it’s wrong to read so much into Star Wars. In fact, it is
very wrong to read so much into Star Wars. The original
trilogy and the prequel trilogy are both fantasy. In fact, when the
first movie debuted, Lucas eschewed too much deep analysis of his
work telling Time magazine in 1977: “The word for this
movie is fun.” But as he continued his work, he admitted being
influenced by Joseph Campbell, one of the best-known mythologists of
the 20th century.
Is
Star Wars myth for the modern man? Sure it is. The motifs put
forth in the films are timeless: Fathers and sons; good and evil;
ignorant youth and aged wisdom. But did Lucas try to make a coherent
commentary that mapped directly to the modern world? No. He tackled
some issues here and there, and left it up to audiences to take from
the films what they liked.
So
maybe Mr. Last (and this author as well) should shelve the
pseudo-intellectual Star Wars acrobatics. It’s a story.
It’s myth for the modern era. Let’s leave it at that.
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