Gotta love how Instahack will link to any shrill, anti-liberal post that strikes his fancy. In this case, the object of the right-wing’s wrath is George Lucas because he apparently mentioned Michael Moore in an interview without calling him a fat traitor or something. After clicking through three sites, you can eventually find your way to the George Lucas article that’s got Glenn’s panties in a bunch¹. Along the way to the hidden Lucas article is this post that pretty much sums up the right-wing problem with Lucas :

From the sum total of Lucas? remarks, I?m left with the following impression: that Lucas is dismissing Moore, simply because Moore is too obvious - too openly political and ?of the moment? - but that Lucas isn?t otherwise troubled by Fahrenheit , at all. In fact, the film and its reception are obviously on his mind a lot - and seem to frustrate him. Moore is clumsy, Lucas seems to be saying, because he isn?t able to explore the same issues in the more guarded language of symbolism and fiction.
[. . .]
Now, I find all of this a bit alarming, for obvious reasons. Lucas clearly wants to ?affect? people, and he doesn?t seem particularly concerned with how Moore had intended to ?affect? audiences - only that it may not have worked. This is a bit like saying Goebbels was merely clumsy, but his intentions were pure.

Since this guy was so quick to play the Nazi card, you can pretty much disregard what he’s saying, but why should we tiptoe around the fact that Lucas is a liberal? Personally, I find Lucas’ injection of political themes to be the best thing about the somewhat disappointing new Star Wars movies :

So where does Lucas stand in this political polemic? “I’m more on the liberal side of things,” he says. “I grew up in San Francisco in the ’60s, and my positions are sort of shaped by that … If you look back 30 years ago, there were certain issues with the Kennedys, with Richard Nixon, that focused my interest.” Lucas’ own geopolitics can sound pretty bleak: “All democracies turn into dictatorships?but not by coup. The people give their democracy to a dictator, whether it’s Julius Caesar or Napoleon or Adolf Hitler. Ultimately, the general population goes along with the idea … What kinds of things push people and institutions into this direction?”

In Clones, Lucas goes a way toward answering that question. “That’s the issue that I’ve been exploring: How did the Republic turn into the Empire? That’s paralleled with: How did Anakin turn into Darth Vader? How does a good person go bad, and how does a democracy become a dictatorship? It isn’t that the Empire conquered the Republic, it’s that the Empire is the Republic.” Lucas’ comments clarify the connection between the Anakin trilogy and the Luke trilogy: that the Empire was created out of the corruption of the Republic, and that somebody had to fight it. “One day Princess Leia and her friends woke up and said, ‘This isn’t the Republic anymore, it’s the Empire. We are the bad guys. Well, we don’t agree with this. This democracy is a sham, it’s all wrong.’”

So even though the new Star Wars movies are full of soulless special effects, shitty acting, and amateurish dialogue, there’s a bit more beneath the surface than meets the eye. Though the genesis of the new trilogy predates any of our current problems, the parallels are striking. For instance, remember the scene in F911 in which Reps. Conyers and McDermott discuss how the Patriot Act was printed in the middle of the night and passed without being read? Look past the cheesy dialogue and see if you notice anything slightly familiar from this bit from the last Star Wars film :

BAIL ORGANA: Unfortunately, the debate is not over. The senate will never approve the use of the clones before the separatists attack.

MAS AMEDDA: This is a crisis! The senate must vote the Chancellor emergency powers! He could then approve the use of the clones.

PALPATINE: But what Senator would have the courage to propose such a radical amendment?

MAS AMEDDA: If only Senator Amidala were here.

JAR JAR steps forward from the back of the group.

JAR JAR: Mesa mosto Supreme Chancellor… Mesa gusto pallos. Mesa proud to proposing the motion to give yousa Honor emergency powers.

[. . .]

INTERIOR: CORUSCANT, MAIN senate CHAMBER - EVENING

JAR JAR stands in his pod as it floats in the middle of the vast space.

JAR JAR: In response to the direct threat to the Republic mesa propose that the senate give immediately emergency powers to the Supreme Chancellor.

Uproar. JAR JAR looks a little sheepish.

Brief silence, then a rolling wave of APPLAUSE. JAR JAR beams and bows.

PALPATINE rises.

PALPATINE: It is with great reluctance that I have agreed to this calling. I love democracy… I love the Republic. But I am mild by nature, and I do not desire to see the destruction of democracy. The power you give me I will lay down when this crisis has abated, I promise you. And as my first act with this new authority, I will create a grand army of the Republic to counter the increasing threats of the separatists.

Hmmmm….a leader is “temporarily” given an extraordinary level of power in response to an outside threat by a legislative body nearly crippled with fear. That sounds sooo familiar…

I’m not saying that Bush is a step away from becoming the Emperor or anything³, but it’s a damn good idea to be reminded from time to time that unchecked democracies are often only a tyrant away from becoming dictatorships. When you can keep the people in a constant state of fear, it’s pretty easy to chip away at liberties until there aren’t any left. That’s the real lesson of the new Star Wars movies. Sure, Lucas is hardly breaking any new ground here, the political themes are still 100x more interesting than the pretentious horseshit in the Matrix movies.

^{1 : Not that he actually read it or anything, but the Wired article is here and the accompanying Q&A is here.}

2 : Though I’m sure the right-wing blogosphere will quickly jump on him and demand an apology any moment now the way they did with the Hitler commercial produced for (not by) MoveOn.org

3 : In Star Wars, the Emperor is behind the threat in question (the Trade Federation). In the real world, the only people who think Bush is behind lunatics are conspiracy theorists (like that dickhead who won’t stop emailing me).