joshvanrad
Sr Member
That horse sure is mighty high.
When the PT rolled around, Lucas didn't hesitate to use contemporary politics then, either. So all this whining about "woes is meee! The politics in SW doesn't agree with my worldview. SW shouldn't be political" that I keep seeing is moot. In fact, if someone doesn't like the current politics of SW, I'd go as far as to hazard a guess they never truly understood its underlying themes of the saga in the first place.
No, it was Vietnam. I wonder how some of you claim to have this stupid high SWIQ when from a socio-political perspective your inclinations are so opposite of those of The Creator. If George was making these films in the current political environment it would be 10x more overt.
http://www.amc.com/shows/james-came...-of-science-fiction-master-class-george-lucas
Technically, it was inspired by both but I get what you're saying. The Empire and in turn the Emperor himself was inspired by several real life dictatorships. Some of the visual inspiration came from the Nazis, while ideology was a mix of Soviet Era Stalinism and Nixonian authoritarianism. When the PT rolled around, Lucas didn't hesitate to use contemporary politics then, either. So all this whining about "woes is meee! The politics in SW doesn't agree with my worldview. SW shouldn't be political" that I keep seeing is moot. In fact, if someone doesn't like the current politics of SW, I'd go as far as to hazard a guess they never truly understood its underlying themes of the saga in the first place.
The "bad guys," the Empire, clearly establishes itself as an anti-Force entity, with the Force being a clear symbol of religion in the Star Wars movies. Meanwhile, the "good guys," the Rebellion, is established as pro-Force. The biggest anti-religious government at the time were the Soviets, who happened to be a authoritarian dictatorship. These analogues are incontrovertible.It's ironic that you claim others don't understand the underlying themes in SW when you made the completely wrong assertion that the empire mirrored the soviets and was anti-religious. You actually go so far as to call it a "major point", when the bulk of inspiration behind the Empire is actually the Nazis. And not just visually, although considering movies are a visual medium, that would actually be a pretty major component to it's character.
This.I was so repulsed by the film, I've been unable to actually sit down and write a review. Thinking about it for more than a minute at a time, is gravely depressing to me. The film was an abomination, from start to finish. There is literally *nothing* I like about it. And most of it I abhor. Well...my minute's up, so I'll stop here.
The Wook
It's ironic that you claim others don't understand the underlying themes in SW when you made the completely wrong assertion that the empire mirrored the soviets and was anti-religious. You actually go so far as to call it a "major point", when the bulk of inspiration behind the Empire is actually the Nazis. And not just visually, although considering movies are a visual medium, that would actually be a pretty major component to it's character.
The "bad guys," the Empire, clearly establishes itself as an anti-Force entity, with the Force being a clear symbol of religion in the Star Wars movies. Meanwhile, the "good guys," the Rebellion, is established as pro-Force. The biggest anti-religious government at the time were the Soviets, who happened to be a authoritarian dictatorship. These analogues are incontrovertible.
The iconogrphy for the Empire were Nazi's however as George point out in the interview with Cameron, the inspiration for the Rebellion were the Viet Cong, ergo the Empire was a representation of US and western Imperialism.
...if someone doesn't like the current politics of SW, I'd go as far as to hazard a guess they never truly understood its underlying themes of the saga in the first place.
The Prequel trilogy...had fairly convoluted politics. TPM is completely confusing with respect to the blockade of Naboo, the rise of Palpatine to Chancellor, etc., etc. I don't think it tracks perfectly to a whole lot, although I may be forgetting some moment in history that maps to it nicely. It's mostly meant to be a moment where Palpatine uses a crisis to get one leader voted out and to take over himself...and that's about it.
This is where Star Wars tracks to Hitler's rise to power and the fall of the Weimar Republic.
Not really. Well, not exactly. TPM is entirely focused around the Trade Federation's blockade and invasion of Naboo, all orchestrated by Sidious. The vote of no confidence in Valorum leads to Palpatine becoming Chancellor. But Palpatine at the time had just been a minor senator, as I recall. He hadn't led major political movements. By contrast, Hitler had led the Beer Hall Putsch, and had been head of the Nazi party for over a decade by the time he became Chancellor. It's more the events of AOTC and ROTS (and the Clone Wars cartoon) that, in my view, more closely follow Hitler's rise, at least in terms of the behind-the-scenes political stuff (obviously, Germany wasn't actually fighting a civil war while Hitler was Chancellor).
Did...did you even watch the movies? There's pretty clear religious subtext.
Did...did you even watch the movies? There's pretty clear spiritual subtext.