First, allow the Lost One to apologize for what is really a rather self indulgent little piece of fluff. On the other hand...It is his blog so...
So the Lost One recently read Star Wars on Trial, which was an interesting piece of (semi) academic discourse on the impact of 40 plus years of *Star Wars* on our world and culture.
What was most fascinating (besides the reams, and reams of actual Venom that was produced against *Star Wars*[Who knew that many hated it, that much?]) was the "testimony" of defense counsel, Matthew Stover (Yes, yes, procedure Monkeys, the Lost One knows Counsel is not supposed to give testimony. However, the Lost One has reason to believe...wait for it...it wasn't an actual trial.) Mr. Stover was hired by Lucas Arts Limited to do the novelization of *Revenge of the Sith* which apparently required many, long conversations about George Lucas' vision of what the *Star Wars* saga should have been. Huh.
Jedi Prophesies, Or "was Anakin chosen to do that?!!??!!!"
Turns out, the answer is yes, yes he was. The interesting thing about the prophesy in *Star Wars* was that it was actually kind of obviously bad, if you just looked at it with clear eyes. "The chosen one will be born of the Force, and bring balance to the Force." The first part of the prophesy is easily dispelled. Virgin birth, boom, done. It's the second part that's interesting. Balance to the Force. Did it never occur to any of the Jedi, that when the Jedi outnumber the Sith Hundreds to 2, balance is the last thing you want?
Of course, the actual reason behind the epic fail with the prophesy had to do with the whole Eastern Philosophy that pervades the films. It is this belief that life is to be a balance of both good and evil forces that so puzzles, and confuses those of us with a Christian worldview. See, in the Christian world view evil is to be avoided, we call it sin. But in the Eastern world view, good and evil must be balanced in one person. This leads to some obvious contradictions (like when Obi-wan says only a Sith speaks in absolutes...Well, I guess he hasn't been trying to kill every Sith he came into contact with since the first film...), but it also leads to an unexpected out come: the Jedi are evil.
Overly good = bad, or "Why I learned to stop worrying and love the pain."
Well, not evil, just too good. As the series intimates, the Jedi have been losing their power for centuries. The implication that Lucas wanted to create was that the Jedi's very attempt to resist the dark side, by cutting themselves off from the lives of family and permanent relationships, has left them de-powered and vulnerable to the dark side. They are so weakened that the Force needed to create Anakin, to kill them, kill the most powerful Sith, and leave his son a clean field to restart the Jedi.
Which is interesting. If you look back at the films, some strange things begin to pop out. First, is the character of Qui-gon Jin, a character that sees the potential in Anakin, but is a bit of a trouble maker. The first to see the danger and the potential of Anakin, but his rebellion from Jedi Orthodoxy has left him outside the group's power structure. The only one who sees clearly is the bad boy of the Order. In the second, we have the very creation of the Clone army, though the Republic has never needed a standing army to maintain peace, the loss of Jedi power have necessitated its creation. (On a side note, isn't their an argument to be made that had the Republic had a standing army, when Order 66 came down, a non-clone trooper would have told the chancellor were to go and what to do upon arriving, rather then gun down his general, but I digress. . .)
Seeing the films from Lucas point of view actually makes them better. *Phantom Menace* becomes a watchable film, "Attack of the Clones" becomes a decent movie, and "Revenge of the Sith" is a crime against nature. Still, that's up from a crime against God, so...
Until next time friends.
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8 months ago
