Sympathy For The Empire?
I am a big Star Wars fan and my favorite character is Darth Vader.However, I do not side with The Galactic Empire even though I believe George Lucas favors this faction throughout all six movies.
If you factor in what must occur at the end of Revenge Of The Sith to tie in the original trilogy, Anakin must become Darth Vader, almost all of the Jedi are killed, and The Empire is formed to dominate the galaxy, it's clear that The Dark Side has consistently come out ahead and the inescapable conclusion is that Lucas supports The Empire.
Let's break it down:
Round One - The Phantom Menace
Although the climax of the movie appears to show our heroes prevailing over the evil Trade Federation, the future Galactic Empire takes the true victory by manipulating the event to seat Senator Palpatine, who will later become The Emperor, to the Senate.
Empire 1 - Republic 0
Round Two - Attack of the Clones
Palpatine continues to gain influence over the Senate. The Republic is duped yet again, this time into utilizing an army of cloned soldiers who will eventually dominate the galaxy as the Empire's Stormtroopers. Anakin is seduced by the dark side into killing an entire tribe of Tusken Raiders, but then strangely wins over Padmé after confessing to mass revenge killing. Chicks dig bad boys.
Empire 2 - Republic 0
Round Three - Revenge of the Sith
Anakin gives into The Dark Side and becomes Darth Vader, almost all of the Jedi are killed except for Yoda and Obi-Wan, liberty dies with thunderous applause and the newly formed Galactic Empire begins to ruthlessly take over the galaxy.
Empire 3 - Republic 0
Round Four - A New Hope
Okay, I realize Luke destroyed the Death Star in the climax and the heroes got shiny medals, but The Empire wiped out the entire planet of Alderaan. That's like the equivalent of the Japanese shooting down the Enola Gay after it nuked Hiroshima. It doesn't change the end result. It didn't even seem to effect The Empire that greatly. They even already had another Death Star being constructed.
Empire 4 - Republic 0
Round Five - The Empire Strikes Back
The title says it all. The Rebels are on the run, they get discovered on the planet Hoth and are defeated and forced to retreat. Han Solo gets frozen in Carbonite. Luke gets his ass kicked by Darth Vader.
Empire 5 - Republic 0
Round Six - Return of the Jedi
Yes, the second Death Star is destroyed and Darth Vader redeems himself by killing The Emperor before he also dies, but I don't think that necessarily means The Empire was truly knocked out.
Although, the deaths of Vader and Palpatine appeared to cause The Rebellion to topple The Galactic Empire like a house of cards, I think things were tied up far to quickly.
As recent history has taught us, you have to win the peace after you win the war. There would be a huge power vacuum within The Empire, with various Grand Moffs lining up to seize power. The Empire's infrastructure is still is place, short of a Death Star or two, but apparently, those can be made to be fully operational failry quickly so it couldn't be too long before The Rebels realized the war was far from over.
Because the movie ends before those ramifications were addressed, I'll be charitable and give this round to The Rebellion.
Let's go to the scorecard:
This gives The Empire a resounding 5-1 victory with The Rebels only scoring a TKO.
Which side of the force do you think Lucas is on?
posted by Digital Fortress at 11:57
7 Comments:
I don't have a blogger account that's why I just comment on FB!
I transferred the comment to here just for you though:
Good post. Thanks for the laugh. I think you may be on to something. Excellent Clerks video at the end too.
Not a very exciting response now that I read it.
Always great when you do a Star Wars post. I thought it was obvious George Lucas was evil. Just look at what he did to Indiana Jones.
Well for one thing, the Dark Side seems much more powerful than the Jedi. After all, the Sith Lord they've been looking for forever has been right infront of them the whole time and the couldn't even recognize him.
Hence, your fondness for the Bush administration ;-)!
George Lucas was complaining about the Obama administrations policies not too long ago which was odd to me considering, but he is probably loosing money like the rest of us now so might be why he changed his tune. Empire is the best movie because he stood back and let someone else direct. I don't agree that The Dark Side is stronger at all. As far as bashing President Bush, well I would welcome him back over Obama anytime and that's saying a lot.
I'd still say 4-2 with the rebels winning the A New Hope. They didn't kill the Empire then, but they prevented their own destruction and knocked out their symbol of fear plus Governor Tarkin-one of the Empire's biggest masterminds.
I'm a big Star Wars fan myself. You're right that the rebels still have a long way to go after Return of the Jedi. You should check out some of the Expanded Universe stuff, it rocks.
Steve - Good job on following instructions.
Mason - Ha! He sure knows how to kill a good franchise.
T-Shirt Soup - Palpatine was a cunning manipulator and had the power of The Dark Side, but The Jedi as with any organization without opposition inevitably slides into decadence, tyranny or both. The Jedi in their own way were corrupted and the balancing of The Force was something inevitable. That's my opinion anyway.
The UB - True. I never really had any issues with Bush or his leadership.
SAAM - I read that too. Lucas is as worried as all of us about the state of the union and what will become of all our hard earned money.
Mike - A friend of mine has started reading some of the expanded universe stuff and he seems to like it. Two good recommends...may have to check it out.
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