Some thoughts on Star Wars

[ballzac]

We, as the audience, are encouraged to accept the Jedi way and to shun the 'dark side'. But how do we really know that Darth Vader is the 'bad' guy? Darkness has long been thought of as a bad thing. Black magic for instance, is magic associated with evil. But like yin and yang, could the dark side of the force be a necessary compliment to the light side?

It is very easy to feel distanced from vader as, until end of the third film The Return of the Jedi, we never see his face. His black, shiny, armour-like suit, and his deep, almost robotic voice, make him seem inhuman. But does this make him evil?

One clear difference between the two sides is that Darth Vader will kill those who fail him even if they showed utter loyalty towards him. Obi Wan or Luke Skywalker etc. would never turn on each other for a simple mistake (unless you count Leia and Han's sexual tention derived bickering). However, these 'good guys' still kill people. Is it any less immoral to kill someone just because they are not on your side? Many of the storm-troopers and pilots may have families somewhere, or may be working for Vader only because they fear for their lives if they do not.

One of the major differences is the level of self-knowledge they posess. Obi Wan's mastery of the Force seems dependent on his understanding of himself and his faith in his own intuition. Towards the end, it becomes evident that Vader is not so sure of himself. Even when he is still trying to persuade Luke to join him, he states, "It is too late for me." This implies that deep down he believes that he is on the wrong side, but feel he is beyond the point of no return.

Another big difference is the level of organisation. Behold the Discipline of Vader's army as they line up or march. Obi Wan and his friends have no such discipline. In reality, it is this sort of discipline that makes an efficient army. This is a good example of how in movies we are encouraged to hate the institution, and root for the underdogs, the rebels, the terrorists!

In real life however, we are perhaps like the storm-trooper, too scared to disobey our masters. And perhaps there are many who are like Luke Skywalker and similarly feel righteous in trying to destroy us.

Of course Star Wars is just a movie, but maybe it is good to look at how easily we are swayed by media of one form or another. It doesn't really matter who you root for in star wars. But in real life it does matter, particularly if you take action and decide to actively support one side or the other.

[Northern Gnome]

Enjoyed your post mate, thanks.

[reptyle]

storm troopers are cloned assasins...so they dont have families. but does that matter?

and would yin and yang theory mean that if you do black magick then by default the equal and opposite white magick wil automatically happen? so each "evil" action produces also "good" actions? and vice versa it would be impossible to do white magick without it being 50% black?

grey magick only option from here on out i spose.

[Northern Gnome]

Edit: Removed, off topic. Moved.

Edited December 25, 2006 by Northern Gnome

[Avaricial]

Every organisation(or government) has a hierarchy that establishes lawsthroughout it's ranks.

Laws that define what individuals can or cannot do.

As with all laws, they need to be enforced. Its through this enforcement of the law that the common man's liberties are threatened, especially if the particular individual in question had opposing views.

In this case, there may be no black & white answer, no right or wrong. Perhaps we should be willing to accept such answers and embrace them into our lives.

In the case of Jedis versus the 'anti-jedi', the ones who have embraced the so-called 'dark side', maybe there is no good or bad. As far as organisations are concerned, there will always be an opposition. Perhaps its the organisations which have created the problem of trying to define good and evil (or what we can and cannot do) to begin with.

[Pala]

Another big difference is the level of organisation. Behold the Discipline of Vader's army as they line up or march. Obi Wan and his friends have no such discipline. In reality, it is this sort of discipline that makes an efficient army. This is a good example of how in movies we are encouraged to hate the institution, and root for the underdogs, the rebels, the terrorists!

This is something I've wondered about it different movies. Eg. in Gladiator, the protagonist is sympathised with for various reasons, this including the fact that he is the underdog. But having said that, the way the hero succeeds to that story is by emulating everything that is great in Rome. He becomes a paragon of order and discipline. How do we, the audience, reconcille this difference and maintain our bias in favour of the hero?

I think that as a society, we adore both the underdog and the ordered (which is why Gladiator is so successful, as it combines these two). Eg. in Lord of the Rings, the good army is often seen as disciplined where the evil army is displayed more like a large rabid mob.