Thoughts on Star Wars Episode III
May. 23rd, 2005 11:14 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
willow_redI went to see Revenge of the Sith on Saturday with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
j_b, mackys, and a few others. As with the other movies, I went in expecting crap, and was pleasantly surprised because George Lucas did everything in this movie that he needed to do. IMHO, the music was perfect. Of course, I'm a John Williams fangirl, so this might be expected. Am wanting the score now. All of the melodic references were in the right place and told the story on a different level. Since it's George Lucas, the dialogue sucked Wookiee, except for a few lines here and there that are far too pertinent to the current political situation. Visually, it was good; musically, it was beautiful; the script was unfortunate, but the story was good.
Anyway, I've been ruminating on the story for a couple of days now, so prepare to switch Geek Mode to ON. (Warning: Here There Be Spoilers)
I've been thinking about this a lot, probably since Episode I: how does Anakin Skywalker, the "chosen one", the super-gifted Jedi become Darth Vader? What makes an innocent child grow up to become a mass-murderer? Here, I offer my hypothesis on the process, a bit of critcism on Lucas's characterization, and a little 20-20 hindsight advice for the Jedi Council.
Let me come at this from a few different angles. First, there is the character of Anakin himself. He is the ultimate gifted child: intelligent well beyond his age level, ridiculously mechanically inclined, and even has the prescient powers of the Force that he can make use of untrained. This makes him Different, and kids are excellent at determining who is Different. But since this is long ago in a galaxy far away, I will suspend disbelief and say that the culture on Tatooine shows respect for the gifted and encourages them to develop their gifts (though I would point out that Tatooine is presented as something of an underworld, run by the Hutts, where the major form of commerce is gambling and crime). At the same time, Anakin and his mother Shmi are slaves. Watto doesn't seem like the kind of slaveowner who would respect child labor laws. Maybe I don't understand how slavery works on Tatooine, but it seems to me that Shmi would have a difficult time giving her son the proper resources to develop his abilities. And I have to say, how is it that a little kid can build a podracer and a protocol droid with no money and no access to parts other than what (I assume) he can sneak out of the shop where he works? (As an aside: why would Anakin build a protocol droid for his mother? Is that terribly useful? And can you just download droid software from the internet? I should stop here before this turns into its own rant.)
I'm wandering too far, so I'll come back to the point: Anakin should be a slave, not a happy-go-lucky kid who builds what he wants in his spare time. Maybe there's a lot of mistreatment we don't see; maybe that's the fear Yoda sees in him. Being fair to the character's history, Anakin should have a decent amount of psychological problems, and these are the root of Darth Vader, but they did not have to be.
This brings me to my next point, when Anakin was first brought before the Jedi Council. Here is where Yoda makes his first mistake: refusing to allow Anakin to be trained. The Council relies far too much on their ability to foresee the future, and not enough on their own hand to influence it. Anakin is fearful because he is probably a bit damaged, and is intelligent enough to know that he is Different, see the possibilities around him, but he lacks the maturity to be able to deal with all this. A strong parental figure makes all the difference in the world at this point, and I think Qui-Gon sees that. Allowing Anakin to remain untrained is dangerous--he'll be a loose cannon. Bringing him into the Jedi order is the only way to ensure that his power will be used for the Light Side, rather than the Dark Side (even though this ultimately fails).
It is in Anakin's training where everything really falls apart. I think Qui-Gon, had he lived, would have done an excellent job of training Anakin. At least, he would have done better than Obi-wan. Of course, the ideal situation would have been for Anakin to come up through Jedi training in the same way as everyone else, but that is not possible. Given how strong the Force is with him, Anakin requires a strong, experienced Jedi Master to train him. Qui-Gon Jin may well have been this person, but he died. Qui-Gon was right to insist that Anakin be trained after the Council says no, but his mistake is in making the dying request that Obi-wan train Anakin. Obi-wan Kenobi is only just finishing his time as Padawan; he is not ready to take one himself. Obi-wan is young, inexperienced, and has no idea how to handle a Padawan that will rapidly become much stronger than he is. This shows up fairly quickly in Episode II. I doubt it took more than a few years before Anakin started asserting himself in a way that Obi-wan could not control. Obi-wan was in over his head, but was too inexperienced to know it. Also, I would claim that Obi-wan lacked the ability to deal with Anakin's psychological problems.
The Jedi Council then makes probably their worst mistake when they allow Anakin to become a full Jedi Knight without undergoing the trials (as seen in Clone Wars). Obi-wan's argument that most of the trials are irrelevant is fair due to the war, but Anakin should *not* have been able to skip the psychological trial. This might have revealed his tendencies in time for an older and wiser Jedi to make a difference (though it might have been too late at this point). Anakin has strong emotions, and little to no ability to control them. Put simply, he'd make a lousy Vulcan. Everyone sees this, but no one does anything about it. Perhaps Obi-wan tried to teach Anakin to deal with his emotions, but the lesson certainly didn't take. Obi-wan might have become a decent teacher, but he was forced into it before he was ready, with far too challenging a Padawan. (In some ways, I'm beginning to suspect that this was why he allowed himself to be killed by Darth Vader in Episode IV. Knowing that his only teaching experience had gone as wrong as humanly possible, he might have been doubtful about his ability to train Luke, so he only set him on the path, leaving Luke to find his own way before going to Yoda.)
Finally, in Episode III, we have Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, messed up in the head, and more powerful than all but a couple of Jedi Masters. It is this stage where Chancellor Palpatine is able to really get his hooks in. Granted Palpatine is manipulating nearly everyone and everything at this point, but that could easily be another rant. Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious) uses the Dark Side of the Force to amplify and warp Anakin's feelings of fear and love. Yes, I think Sidious is actively manipulating Anakin's mind. He sees the Dark potential and does what is required to bring it to fruition. Eventually, he plants so much doubt and paranoia in Anakin's mind that he is no longer able to trust anyone else. At every opportunity, Sidious uses Anakin's love for Padme and his fear of her death to ensure unquestioning loyalty.
It's downright scary, but it does make sense. Anakin has already shown that he is prone to snapping and slaughtering people who attack his family, as seen with the Sand People in Episode II. Frankly, if that didn't make Padme and Obi-wan think Anakin needed an intervention, nothing would. Through the manipulation of Anakin's warped mind, Sidious creates Darth Vader, who goes on to destroy the Jedi out of fear that he will lose Padme in the birth of their child. Vader's attempt to kill Obi-wan makes sense because his paranoia makes him think that Obi-wan is the traitor. (I wish that scene with Palpatine and Mace Windu had been done a little better, but that's the part that most makes me think that Anakin's mind was being actively manipulated.) His strong emotional outburst at Padme is only a symptom of the chaos in his mind, the sort of thing that leads to spousal abuse. Anakin was willing to deal with Padme's independent nature, but Vader could not. Still, Vader loved Padme as much as Anakin did, but in a very unhealthy way. When Vader learns that Padme is dead, there is nothing left to redeem him (not that she really could have by now). The only person in the galaxy he trusts at this point is Emperor Palpatine. It remains this way until he is redeemed by his son Luke, who reminds him of the love for his family he once had.
Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader is truly a tragic character. He has an unfortunate childhood and mangled training. On a less powerful person, this could have led to a boring life as an incompetent middle-manager. However, Anakin's power destined him from the beginning to do great things. Terrible as it turned out, but great.
If you did read my little essay, please let me know what you think.
In the words of Comic-Book Guy: "Oh, I've wasted my life!"
j_b, mackys, and a few others. As with the other movies, I went in expecting crap, and was pleasantly surprised because George Lucas did everything in this movie that he needed to do. IMHO, the music was perfect. Of course, I'm a John Williams fangirl, so this might be expected. Am wanting the score now. All of the melodic references were in the right place and told the story on a different level. Since it's George Lucas, the dialogue sucked Wookiee, except for a few lines here and there that are far too pertinent to the current political situation. Visually, it was good; musically, it was beautiful; the script was unfortunate, but the story was good.Anyway, I've been ruminating on the story for a couple of days now, so prepare to switch Geek Mode to ON. (Warning: Here There Be Spoilers)
I've been thinking about this a lot, probably since Episode I: how does Anakin Skywalker, the "chosen one", the super-gifted Jedi become Darth Vader? What makes an innocent child grow up to become a mass-murderer? Here, I offer my hypothesis on the process, a bit of critcism on Lucas's characterization, and a little 20-20 hindsight advice for the Jedi Council.
Let me come at this from a few different angles. First, there is the character of Anakin himself. He is the ultimate gifted child: intelligent well beyond his age level, ridiculously mechanically inclined, and even has the prescient powers of the Force that he can make use of untrained. This makes him Different, and kids are excellent at determining who is Different. But since this is long ago in a galaxy far away, I will suspend disbelief and say that the culture on Tatooine shows respect for the gifted and encourages them to develop their gifts (though I would point out that Tatooine is presented as something of an underworld, run by the Hutts, where the major form of commerce is gambling and crime). At the same time, Anakin and his mother Shmi are slaves. Watto doesn't seem like the kind of slaveowner who would respect child labor laws. Maybe I don't understand how slavery works on Tatooine, but it seems to me that Shmi would have a difficult time giving her son the proper resources to develop his abilities. And I have to say, how is it that a little kid can build a podracer and a protocol droid with no money and no access to parts other than what (I assume) he can sneak out of the shop where he works? (As an aside: why would Anakin build a protocol droid for his mother? Is that terribly useful? And can you just download droid software from the internet? I should stop here before this turns into its own rant.)
I'm wandering too far, so I'll come back to the point: Anakin should be a slave, not a happy-go-lucky kid who builds what he wants in his spare time. Maybe there's a lot of mistreatment we don't see; maybe that's the fear Yoda sees in him. Being fair to the character's history, Anakin should have a decent amount of psychological problems, and these are the root of Darth Vader, but they did not have to be.
This brings me to my next point, when Anakin was first brought before the Jedi Council. Here is where Yoda makes his first mistake: refusing to allow Anakin to be trained. The Council relies far too much on their ability to foresee the future, and not enough on their own hand to influence it. Anakin is fearful because he is probably a bit damaged, and is intelligent enough to know that he is Different, see the possibilities around him, but he lacks the maturity to be able to deal with all this. A strong parental figure makes all the difference in the world at this point, and I think Qui-Gon sees that. Allowing Anakin to remain untrained is dangerous--he'll be a loose cannon. Bringing him into the Jedi order is the only way to ensure that his power will be used for the Light Side, rather than the Dark Side (even though this ultimately fails).
It is in Anakin's training where everything really falls apart. I think Qui-Gon, had he lived, would have done an excellent job of training Anakin. At least, he would have done better than Obi-wan. Of course, the ideal situation would have been for Anakin to come up through Jedi training in the same way as everyone else, but that is not possible. Given how strong the Force is with him, Anakin requires a strong, experienced Jedi Master to train him. Qui-Gon Jin may well have been this person, but he died. Qui-Gon was right to insist that Anakin be trained after the Council says no, but his mistake is in making the dying request that Obi-wan train Anakin. Obi-wan Kenobi is only just finishing his time as Padawan; he is not ready to take one himself. Obi-wan is young, inexperienced, and has no idea how to handle a Padawan that will rapidly become much stronger than he is. This shows up fairly quickly in Episode II. I doubt it took more than a few years before Anakin started asserting himself in a way that Obi-wan could not control. Obi-wan was in over his head, but was too inexperienced to know it. Also, I would claim that Obi-wan lacked the ability to deal with Anakin's psychological problems.
The Jedi Council then makes probably their worst mistake when they allow Anakin to become a full Jedi Knight without undergoing the trials (as seen in Clone Wars). Obi-wan's argument that most of the trials are irrelevant is fair due to the war, but Anakin should *not* have been able to skip the psychological trial. This might have revealed his tendencies in time for an older and wiser Jedi to make a difference (though it might have been too late at this point). Anakin has strong emotions, and little to no ability to control them. Put simply, he'd make a lousy Vulcan. Everyone sees this, but no one does anything about it. Perhaps Obi-wan tried to teach Anakin to deal with his emotions, but the lesson certainly didn't take. Obi-wan might have become a decent teacher, but he was forced into it before he was ready, with far too challenging a Padawan. (In some ways, I'm beginning to suspect that this was why he allowed himself to be killed by Darth Vader in Episode IV. Knowing that his only teaching experience had gone as wrong as humanly possible, he might have been doubtful about his ability to train Luke, so he only set him on the path, leaving Luke to find his own way before going to Yoda.)
Finally, in Episode III, we have Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, messed up in the head, and more powerful than all but a couple of Jedi Masters. It is this stage where Chancellor Palpatine is able to really get his hooks in. Granted Palpatine is manipulating nearly everyone and everything at this point, but that could easily be another rant. Palpatine (aka Darth Sidious) uses the Dark Side of the Force to amplify and warp Anakin's feelings of fear and love. Yes, I think Sidious is actively manipulating Anakin's mind. He sees the Dark potential and does what is required to bring it to fruition. Eventually, he plants so much doubt and paranoia in Anakin's mind that he is no longer able to trust anyone else. At every opportunity, Sidious uses Anakin's love for Padme and his fear of her death to ensure unquestioning loyalty.
It's downright scary, but it does make sense. Anakin has already shown that he is prone to snapping and slaughtering people who attack his family, as seen with the Sand People in Episode II. Frankly, if that didn't make Padme and Obi-wan think Anakin needed an intervention, nothing would. Through the manipulation of Anakin's warped mind, Sidious creates Darth Vader, who goes on to destroy the Jedi out of fear that he will lose Padme in the birth of their child. Vader's attempt to kill Obi-wan makes sense because his paranoia makes him think that Obi-wan is the traitor. (I wish that scene with Palpatine and Mace Windu had been done a little better, but that's the part that most makes me think that Anakin's mind was being actively manipulated.) His strong emotional outburst at Padme is only a symptom of the chaos in his mind, the sort of thing that leads to spousal abuse. Anakin was willing to deal with Padme's independent nature, but Vader could not. Still, Vader loved Padme as much as Anakin did, but in a very unhealthy way. When Vader learns that Padme is dead, there is nothing left to redeem him (not that she really could have by now). The only person in the galaxy he trusts at this point is Emperor Palpatine. It remains this way until he is redeemed by his son Luke, who reminds him of the love for his family he once had.
Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader is truly a tragic character. He has an unfortunate childhood and mangled training. On a less powerful person, this could have led to a boring life as an incompetent middle-manager. However, Anakin's power destined him from the beginning to do great things. Terrible as it turned out, but great.
If you did read my little essay, please let me know what you think.
In the words of Comic-Book Guy: "Oh, I've wasted my life!"
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2005-05-23 07:40 pm (UTC)I am unsure on one point you made. You said . I did not think they let him become one. I knew that gave him his own assignment, but I thought he was still a padawan. In III, they refuse to make him a master. And I thought that was the same thing. Am I off? I very possibly could be, as I have not seen those movies very often.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-23 09:23 pm (UTC)As for that other point, have you seen the Clone Wars shorts that Cartoon Network did? I know the first half is out on DVD, and the second half should be soon. If you haven't seen it, I recommend it. A bunch of us watched it last Monday, since it's kind of Episode 2.5, covering the time between the two movies. They're a bunch of five-minute shorts, but string together into a full-length animated movie. Anyway, it was in that where Anakin becomes a Jedi Knight without undergoing the trials. He does, however, experience something similar to the psychological trial, with some very interesting results.
no subject
Date: 2005-05-24 02:35 pm (UTC)I still love it when you rant about spacial physics. It cracks me up!