More Star Wars talk today, none of it good.Gaijin Biker has a post about the “hidden” meanings inside Star Wars, Episode III. According to the way he tells it, the movie is a veiled criticism of George W. Bush. He accuses George Lucas of “Laying on the Anti-Bush message with a trowel.”
Some excerpts:
Gabriel Shanks at Mixed Reviews:
Lucas’ screenplay is his strongest in years, and even contains a few barely-concealed critiques of the Bush Administration and the Iraq War. The commentaries on democracy are offered in direct counterpoint to a government that is clearly overstepping its bounds, and the parallels are obvious to anyone looking for them. While Bush might not be an evil emperor (yet), it’s not that far a trip from Senator Palpatine to Tom DeLay.
Now me, I’m not sure I see the resemblance:
And here I thought he only looked like the Pope!
“How can I learn these powers?”
“Not from a Jedi!”
Then again, they have a lot in common: they like the trappings of power, they always fly in quality flying machines, and they feel the power of the dark side! Rumor has it they both voted to cut veteran’s benefits for retired Imperial Storm troopers too. Well, at least Delay has.
Gaijin Biker goes on to point out that other movies have been perceived to be about political commentary, “when Return of the King came out, some conservative commentators saw pro-Bush parallels between the battle for Middle Earth and the War on Terror. “.
Gaijin Biker let himself in for some heated arguments, after you read the post, read the comments, he gets pummled from all sides.
I’m not buying the inference though. It reminds me of the line from the Merchant of Venice: ” The devil can cite Scripture for his purpose. ” e.g. its reading too much into a story that was and is a morality play. After all if you look hard you can see the real influence behind Star Wars…..the Edo period of Japanese history:
As you go to the theater next week, just keep telling yourself, ” its only a movie!” You’ll enjoy it more that way.
Thanks to Willyshakes for the quote.
Skippy-san
