Comments on: Sith Happens

By: V-bunny

V-bunny — Mon, 23 May 2005 16:58:10 +0000

That’s awfuly close-minded of you Adrian. If you’re going to take the Star Wars movies down the route of “art”, you have to include all the intelligent layers involved. Art is not mindless, it is ever-evolving, inclusive, and thought-provoking. Star Wars is “art” but it is also many other things (political debate, as mentioned above, hero-mything), especially if its creator purposely shapes his story around those things.
And people have been disguising debate on matters political and beyond in the form of entertainment for centuries. Look at Shakespeare and Plato.

By: Adrian Turcu

Adrian Turcu — Mon, 23 May 2005 14:00:19 +0000

I go to the movies to be entertained. If it should ever happen that a movie does tell a political message but that is totally subsequent to it’s artistry, then that’s ok by me. But to write, produce and direct a film with the intent of telling people how to think and live and adapting the quality of the elements of that film to this end is, in my opinion, a great insult to the viewers. If I need lectures I know were to find them, I don’t want that on my time and on my money.
Make no mistake; this doesn’t mean that I can’t digest a public, out in the plain political debate, but to have actors metaphorise political message in films is childish and very presumptuous of my own political persona. I am not a child and in fact parabolas have no place in political debate, they only mystify issues and create misunderstandings.
I have noted that by ?political message? you all imply making Bush look bad? Have a Bush ridiculing cartoon then, but leave the movie (supposed to be art, nothing more) to itself.
Good day to you all.

By: andrea

andrea — Mon, 23 May 2005 02:46:26 +0000

I saw Revenge of the Sith last Friday, and I thought the political message was loud and clear, there was zero vagueness about it.

By: Everkvetch

Everkvetch — Sat, 21 May 2005 16:24:54 +0000

Sith happens…

Ok, I admit it .

By: greg

greg — Thu, 19 May 2005 21:10:34 +0000

I’ve really liked the episodes that I’ve seen, but I haven’t picked up the DVD or TIVO’ed it or anything. Like with The Empire Strikes Back, I think Star Wars is best when Lucas sets up the framework and gets a veto, but leaves the actual filmmaking to more talented people.

By: dAnimal

dAnimal — Thu, 19 May 2005 19:36:29 +0000

This is off topic a bit, but I’d love to hear your opinion on the Clone Wars animated “prequel” to Revenge of the Sith.

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 19 May 2005 02:02:32 +0000

I hope yuo can get this “published,” it’s good. Really, you could expand it some more, and give more examples of historical parallels to what occurs in the movies. The early paragraphs could be tightened up a little. Also, the front story on AOL.com is in this same terrirtory, so you should check it out to make sure you cover different stuff.

By: Kerensky97

Kerensky97 — Wed, 18 May 2005 21:53:06 +0000

I?m not sure if it?s because the franchise is coming to an end so he feels more comfortable making a political statement, or he just enjoys the fact that he predicted the current state of affairs when he came up with the story back in the 70?s. But Lucas?s recent remarks at Cannes showed that he?s being a bit more direct in drawing the line between the events in star wars and the events in America. He seems much more willing to show people that what happens in his movies is happening right now.
??and part of the observation of that is that most bad people think they are good people, they are doing it for the right reasons.? How many Bush speeches urging us to go to war make it sound like Bush is leading a noble crusade ?for the right reasons??

By: Dr. 12

Dr. 12 — Wed, 18 May 2005 17:59:46 +0000

It’s my opinion that three things the broader U.S. public will never ‘get’ are satire, metaphor, and allegory. We like our comedy broad and our drama melo (sic) because we are creatures of the immediate, simple, and easy (de Toqueville had us pegged early on).

For a culture to truly excel in and be fluent these areas it must be politically oppressed and through that oppression create its own new language of political subversion. This is why Asia, Eastern Europe, Africa, and South America have the greatest talents in the areas of metaphor, allegory, and satire (Marquez, Dostoevsky, Rhys, Kundera, Chekov, etc). Unfortunately, give us three generations and I bet our appreciation of these subtle arts will be different. Democracy ends in applause (paraphrasing Amidala here, of course).

By: BunkoSquad

BunkoSquad — Wed, 18 May 2005 16:20:41 +0000

The Force Is Strong In This One

I hadn’t been paying all that much attention to the "Star-Wars-as-political-parable" meme that’s been lurking on the Internets. But then I read Greg’s take on it. It’s a real interesting read….