What does Star Wars III say about Empire?

Did you see this movie, yet, Neo? I'm still digesting it after having seen it on the big screen a week or so after its release in the U.S. a couple of months ago.

Others have commented on the movie's prophetic capture of today's times. George Lucas claims he wrote the script in the 70's near the close of the Vietnam War, and if that's the case, then the man truly is a prophet, right up there with Orwell.

A number of scenes stick in my mind. How about the one where the Galactic Senate is meeting and the Supreme Chancellor has just announced that they are winning the war against the "Separatists" [substitute "terrorists" or "insurgents"] on the Outer Rim of the galaxy, a separatist movement the Chancellor has fueled to suit his own agenda? He also announces that the Jedi Council no longer has any power and brands them as aligned with the "Separatists." Through executive decrees, he basically declares that he is taking over. The Senate erupts in applause. Padme, who is Anakin Skywalker's secret wife and also a member of the Galactic Senate, stares in disbelief and says, "So this is how democracy dies -- with the sound of thunderous applause." Whoa, Nellie!

The movie depicted how the Galactic Senate allowed themselves to be duped into accepting a fascist government through the lies and propaganda of the Supreme Chancellor, soon to become Emperor. Those that went along with his plan I have referred to in an earlier post as "clappers," those who dutifully repeat the party line without a critical thought in their brains or those who reside in a permanent state of mind-controlled hypnosis, all Agents for the Architects to activate at any time.

Anakin, in the process of turning to the dark side and becoming Darth Vader, sounds very much like George Bush, as he tells his beloved mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, "If you're not with me, then you're my enemy." Obi responds with, "You Sith are all alike. You deal in nothing but absolutes." It's black or white. "You're either with me or you're with the terrorists." Oh my! Oh my! That does sound familiar, Dorothy.

The whole plot of Star Wars III has happened many times on this planet, each time on a larger scale. It happened in Nazi Germany, and it is happening in America today. First, an enemy is created, usually outside of the populace on foreign soil -- the "separatists" in Star Wars III rebelling on another planet, the "foreign terrorists who burned the Reichstag" (and later the Hitler-created internal enemy -- the Jews), the Islamic "terrorists" and "insurgents" of this very day. Next, the thinking, questioning and dissenting people are systematically ridiculed, discredited, compromised, eliminated, disappeared or thrown in prison -- the scholars, the activists, the progressives, the scientists who don't conform -- just as the Jedi had to be eliminated in Star Wars III. Finally, all you have left are the clappers, who will go along with whatever Draconian measures are put forth in the name of freedom, democracy and, above all, "security." (Oh, let's definitely don't forget security, Alice!)

The Architects are scaring us into submission with continued acts of terror that they themselves create. Why, Neo? Because they have an agenda. All good Architects have a blue print, everyone knows that. I've talked about some of the agenda in previous posts. Can you say "global domination," Dorothy?

Hitler thought he could rule the world, and so do George Bush and his gang of thugs. Absolute power, corrupts absolutely (forgot who said that, but I think it to be true). The more power the Neocons amass (now in control of all three branches of the U.S. government), the more corrupt they become. Their choice is to destroy the innocent, decent and creative in this world in their lust for power.

Yoda said it best to Anakin when he was trying to warn him that what he feared most to lose would be his downfall, and I'm paraphrasing here, "There are only two choices in this world -- to serve the self (like the Sith) or to serve others (like the Jedi)." Obtaining the power through the dark forces to save his wife (the one thing he feared losing the most) compromised Anakin completely. In the end, he brought about the death of his bride by the very actions he took to prevent her death. Had he stayed to the light and served the whole, held to his Jedi training, he might have prevailed in saving her (or not), but he still would have been serving the whole, rather than his selfish interest in not losing Padme. It's all just a little bit too ironic, don't you think, Neo?

The Architects' greatest fear is getting caught in their lies and losing their power, as they only hold power because of the lies. They continue to create lie, after lie, to cover more lies, and they become more corrupt with each and every lie.

Art imitates life. Life imitates art. Through the looking glass, Alice.