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May 17, 2005

George Lucas / John Kerry

George Lucas is generating a lot of words in the blogosphere, including a few here, because of his statements on politics, freedom, and Star Wars. Many see Episode III as an anti-Bush movie. I have no opinion on that, per se. I'm going to go see the movie, and I expect to enjoy it greatly. I never have, however, considered Star Wars to be any sort of deep allegorical statement on anything at all, and where it has tried I've found the weakest moments in the story.

That said, let's take another look at what Lucas has had to say.

"In terms of evil, one of the original concepts was how does a democracy turn itself into a dictatorship.

"The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we're doing in Iraq now are unbelievable."

Lucas has previously stated that one of the influences on the Star Wars storyline was the Vietnam conflict. Now we see comparisons between Vietnam and Iraq, with apparent references to our current governmental situation thrown in.

Look at the story so far in the new trilogy.

We have a Senator that represents the dominant, enlightened population of an idyllic coastal resort planet. The non-dominant population look like, among other things, toads. The Senator exploits a trade conflict to place himself in the prime position of power.

As it turns out, the Senator is also the primary force behind the other side in the conflict. He is playing both sides against each other in order to give himself still more power. Eventually, he is able to gain a position of absolute authority in which he has singular control over a "grand army." Those who oppose him are hunted down, and eventually the Senator becomes Emperor and abolishes the democratic form of government.

If this is allegory, then who would be the person represented by the Emperor? Is it Nixon? Is it Bush? Is Lucas trying to say that Nixon orchestrated the Viernam conflict, or that Bush planned the Iraq conflict in concert with the opposing side? If so, Lucas would seem to be nothing more than a wacko conspiracy theorist liberal like Michael Moore.

As I wrote this, a completely different image popped into my mind. I had to change the title of the post. Consider this. Massachusets is coastal resort state. The junior Senator of that state worked both sides of the conflict in Vietnam. The non-dominant population (Republicans) of Massachusets are presented by the dominant population as inhuman. All Kerry had to do was win the election, and he'd have been commander in chief of the grandest army on the planet.

Wow. I'm going to see the next movie in a whole new light.

Posted by Lockjaw at May 17, 2005 2:48 PM

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