do you ever just think about how wild star wars are politically.
like, there is the neoliberalism of the old republic, with the textbook neo-marxist core-periphery model of the greater galaxy.
then there are the jedi, which are an enormously ancient and powerful institution that benefits from and enables the republican-corporate structure, but refuses to take direct involvement in its policy,
this leaves an enormous power vacuum which is happily filled by the super secret red glowstick cult of the sith.
and then dooku drags the jedi from his weird neoreactionary hereditary aristocracy ground, which is still somehow more refreshing.
same thing goes for the separatist confederacy, which is mostly a network of megacorporations and planets dependent upon them, which are somehow a less stiffening alternative for many.
and then there is grievous, ventress and others from worlds existing outside the dominant framework of republican politics, but ravaged by capitalism and conflict and stripped of an identity beyond their utility, becoming the eventual wildcards.
the entire worlds like mandalore, powerful and prominent enough to be of weight on the galactic scene, but ultimately uninterested in the galactic politics as framed by the republic, because their domestic problems are more pressing.
what ever the hell is going on in the hutt space and underworld, raw capitalism functioning outside the state system
then there is the extremely militarized administrative structure of the empire, which drives itself to autocanibalistic destruction trying to keep all of the above under control.
pockets of limited autonomy exist under the empire, mostly in places whose established hierarchical administrative system allows for easier management.
the super secret red glowstick cult of the sith becomes even more secret, as things do within the mechanism of authoritarian states, which creates another vacuum, as their power is not backed up by ideological representation.
our beloved farmboy goes to pick up some power converters from the toshi station, and stumbles upon the said ideological vacuum with a blue glowstick in his hand.
the rebel alliance, which is the oddest mix of generational royalty unhappy with the empire taking over the power they have over their individual planets, and straight up space anarchists from the worlds previously disfranchised by the republic and bombed by the empire.
the rebels politicize the jedi teaching as the core of old republican values, going off them as their platform (may the force be with you), even as the old jedi order pointedly stayed away from policymaking.
the sequel trilogy, which refuses to address any of this.
Not that I don’t love the guy, but where did this idea in fanfic come from that OBI WAN is the one who has strong moral feeling for the use of the clones? The character that we know outwardly refute the idea of the clones being objects through their behaviors or words are Anakin, Plo Koon, and Yoda. Depa Bilba mentions that the Jedi made a mistake becoming involved in the war, but she doesn’t explicitly discuss the issue of the clones. There’s a few others in the EU that are no longer canon, BUT OBI WAN IS NOT ONE OF THEM. In fact, he’s the one who gets told off by Yoda at the end of AotC after he calls the Battle of Geonosis a victory thanks to the clones.
What is it with tumblr and this black and white view they have of villains and heroes? Why is it that we can’t have PERSONALITY in our character??
I think part of it is RotS and the simple fact that Obi-Wan had a canon, named clone general before anyone else did. Named clones only became the norm via TCW.
Of course, reading RotS that way plays into the broader trend of flattening the good characters of the PT down into Good Guys whose flaws are primarily that they believe too much in democracy and just don’t see the bad stuff coming. Throughout the PT, we get acknowledgments of the corruption, stagnation, and indifference of the Republic from Padme, Obi-Wan, and Yoda. It doesn’t get put into action, except in TPM, and then as much as Padme is acting to save her people, she unfortunately falls directly into Palpatine’s trap. But they are not blind, they are not ignorant, and importantly, they are not weak. They all hold positions of power within the Republic.
Obi-Wan’s line in TPM regarding pathetic lifeforms may not be the guiding line of dialogue for his arc, but neither is it insignificant. He’s got a certain snobby air about him that was written very deliberately, in contrast to the rag tag heroes of the OT, in contrast to Jar Jar and the Gungan army, in contrast to former slave Anakin. He does not view droids as people and there is plenty of reason to think he is no particular advocate for the clones, whose purchase he discovered. Like, for real, when it comes to this kind of thing… he’s an asshole.
Many people tend to interpret Anakin’s black robe as a symbol of foreshadowing of his later identity as Darth Vader. I think that’s wrong. Since George Lucas said for himself that Anakin and the prequel story weren’t created to show how Darth Vader already appeared to be evil right from the beginning, it’s also rubbish to say, Anakin wears a black robe to demonstrate his later evilness. I think it means something different.
His first appearance in AotC already speaks for itself:
Anakin steps out of the shadow. First he is completely dark, like being the shadow himself, and then comes forward shyly and insecure as if he didn’t want to intrude. He stands behind Obi-Wan who appears brighter in his white-brown robe. Anakin seems to be a shadow of Obi-Wan, a slave to his master, always in the background instead of beside him. And you find that again in RotS:
Anakin’s position towards Obi-Wan doesn’t change, he is still his padawan, and Obi-Wan still Anakin’s master. Anakin is in a lower position, so he has to stand back while Obi-Wan is speaking up for them both. Anakin nearly seems invisible! If this show hadn’t been about Anakin Skywalker and his turn to the dark side, we wouldn’t even recognise him!
Being a shadow also means, you have nothing to say. Other people speak up for you. Anakin only follows and accompanies, so he also accompanies Padme when both face Count Dooku in AotC.
Like a bodyguard, only present for security, Anakin stands beside Padme, staring at Count Dooku but emotionless and without talking or reacting on anything they say. It’s not his job, he is just there to protect Padme and do nothing else.
The same you find in RotS. Anakin has to serve Palpatine now (the jedi gave him this order), and again we see him standing beside Palpatine, without a move, without any reaction or saying one word. He is Palpatines shadow. His job is again not to interfere into the matters of the masters, his only job is to stand beside them, to listen but not to give his own statement. It’s oppression if you ask me. And it’s one rare time of the films where you can not watch and follow Anakin’s emotional movements, in this time you’re shut out from what’s happening inside of him. But I’m sure he didn’t like it at all. How would you feel if you were treated like a servant, only present to play a little bit around with your lightsaber if some kind of attack happens? It fits pretty well to “We don’t trust you” (and he was born as a slave, so why should that change?).
Becoming a shadow of Palpatine, of course, means a lot already. Darth Vader becomes the shadow of his next master. In A New Hope you nearly believe he has some power, but by the second of the orignial films you already realise, Anakin is in the same lower position as he always has been before: He is a slave to his master, he has no power at all but is always used.
It all changes when Luke appears. Luke never was a shadow (his clothes were always bright, white at the beginning, then even yellow and brown) but he changes that for himself in the last of the films. He appears black. First you might think he is turning to the dark side now, to join his father perhaps. But he doesn’t join him in turning to the dark side, but simply in clothing himself black to be the same as his father. He wants to reach him, he wants to be able to communicate with him. Anakin is not alone anymore. He has someone beside him, someone who is on the same level as he is. He doesn’t feel like a slave or a shadow anymore. Beside Luke who wears black as himself he feels himself near to him as if nothing stands between them. So, Luke manages to erase Anakin’s existence as a shadow but forms one of a human being.
Many thanks to @adanwen who provided me with the gifs! 😀 ❤ They are amazing! 🙂
It’s Anakin’s inability to let go, that he’ll engage in reckless and foolhardy behavior to save someone he cares about, that will lead directly to his fall, his loyalty to those he cares about over the safety of the rest of the galaxy is exactly what leads to the death of the Jedi and the rise of the Empire.
This is why I love TCW so much–in pretty much any other story I’ve seen, the high-risk-high-reward type of behavior from the hero ultimately always pays off, that minor set-backs are eventually overcome and we’re meant to think that it’s the right thing to do. In and of itself, maybe we even should think that about Anakin’s style–I mean, who doesn’t want to get R2 back?? I love R2! Of course we should risk everything for him!
But TCW doesn’t exist in a vaccuum, we’re aware that we’re watching Future Darth Vader here and knowing that changes a whole lot about the context of Anakin being willing to risk the safety of everyone else for the one he wants to save. And Obi-Wan’s definitely not wrong to try to get him to see the danger that lies in that kind of thinking–usually, the one who tries to hold the hero back is wrong, ultimately risking everything for friendship saves the day!! And it will this time. But one day….
One day Darth Vader’s going to do the same and it’s going to fuck everything up.
Okay so one thing Pidge mentions in her analysis of Lance is he picks off ‘engaged targets’. Basically, Lance lets someone close-range- Keith, Pidge, or Shiro- get up in his enemies’ space and draw their attention- and then right when they might retaliate, oh, whoops, it’s Lance, thanks for ignoring him and standing there.
This is exactly what he does with Sendak in s1e5- Sendak’s under attack from Pidge, he turns his full attention towards her- bam, Lance hits him in the back.
And as I said about Shiro and his fighting style- Shiro is a harrier. Up against a foe that he can’t take down in a few hits, what he does is stick on them persistently and keep attacking, use his maneuverability and agility to stay with them, stay on them, block and parry and keep hitting their defenses. He’s the guy that won’t quit.
If you pair these two tendencies together, here’s what happens: you get two opponents. One of which, as soon as you take your attention off him, will shoot you with terrifying precision.
Okay, the natural thing to do is dodge your second opponent and come after him, take him out so you can focus on the other one without the sniping in the way.
Problem? Your second opponent is impossible to shake. He will follow you to the ends of the planet and he will not get tired. Hit him hard, toss him around, he’s back on his feet and back on you before you’ve so much as taken two steps towards his buddy. And he won’t let you breathe. You have to keep your focus on him because if you don’t he’ll probably take your head off with that thousand-degree knife hand, only you can’t do that because Lance is setting your butt on fire.
YOU WANNA KNOW ONE THING THAT MAKES ME FEEL BETTER ABOUT STAR WARS?
I was reading @forcearama‘s post about Obi-Wan’s death and her Snark Wars recap about how Obi-Wan’s all “I’m gonna cap this all off with physically becoming the Force right in front of you, which is something you’ve never seen anyone do and probably had no idea was even possible and is even funnier when you consider that you became a Sith in the first place because you wanted to cheat death;” at Vader during their fight and it made me think of Palpatine luring Anakin over to the Dark Side by promising that he could cheat death and how Sith are by word of god literally incapable of achieving this and
HA HA SUCK IT PALPATINE “NOT FROM A JEDI” MY ASS YOU CAN ONLY LEARN THIS FROM SOMEONE WHO KNOWS THE LIGHT.
Yes, Anakin wanted to save Padme’s life and this wouldn’t have been an option for her, plus he wanted to make her physical body stay alive, but that’s not the point, the point is that the only form of living beyond death we have in Immovable Objects of Star Wars History is through the light side, the Jedi and the Whills.
Just imagine me sitting in the booth off to the side at that performance of Squid Lake up there, my hands cupped around my mouth to better shout, “WROOOOOOOOOOOOONG” in the most jeering tone I can when Palpatine is all dramatic and wide-eyed about “Not from a Jedi.” and being smug that Palpatine is dead and my Jedi babies get to live on in the Force.
And this is actually the perfect thing to say to Anakin, who is desperate for a justification to save Padme, no matter what kind of deal with the devil he makes, but it’s okay if it’s not for selfish reasons, because it’s not for his own life, right? Right??
But I HAVE A THOUSAND QUESTIONS AND ANAKIN SEEMS TO ASK PRECISELY ZERO OF THEM.
WHO DID HE SAVE? WHAT QUALITY OF LIFE DID THEY HAVE? WHAT FORM WERE THEY IN BEFORE AND AFTER? WAS HE PHYSICALLY REPAIRING BODIES OR WAS HE CIRCUMVENTING FATE? IS THIS FORCE HEALING OR SOMETHING ELSE? DOES HE JUST ~*STOP DEATH*~ SO LIKE YOU’RE ALIVE BUT YOUR BODY STILL HAS ALL THE WOUNDS IT TOOK BEFORE THE DEATH? OR WOULD PADME JUST FULL ON STOP GROWING, FOREVER FROZEN IN TIME, AND PROBABLY SUPER PREGNANT FOR THE NEXT THOUSAND YEARS BECAUSE SHE WOULD NEVER GIVE BIRTH IF SHE WAS FROZEN AS SHE WAS??? WHAT ACTUAL EVIDENCE WAS LAID OUT TO MAKE HIM/YOU BELIEVE THAT HE ACTUALLY SAVED SOMEONE FROM DEATH???
Look, I don’t believe for one red hot second that Anakin Skywalker doesn’t watch a bunch of melodramatic holos, THESE ARE THE QUESTIONS HE SHOULD KNOW TO ASK.
Yes, Anakin should have totally asked, oh, literally ANY of these questions. TOO BAD HIS DUMB DOOFUS BRAIN COULD NOT GET THERE. He really should never have been let out of the house unsupervised. When Ahsoka left the Order the Jedi should have hired her back on as an independent contractor whose entire job was just babysitting Anakin whenever Obi-Wan had to go somewhere, including whenever he had to leave the room to pee.
ALSO, PLEASE CONSIDER SOMETHING THAT IS MAKING ME LAUGH OUT LOUD: I guess I’ve always assumed that Plagueis must have done SOMETHING related to “saving people from death” in SOME form, but what if Palpatine was just totally full of shit, and Plagueis didn’t know squat about saving anyone from dying, ever? WHAT IF ALL OF IT WAS COMPLETELY FABRICATED BULLSHIT. He knows what Anakin wants to hear, AND he knows he probably won’t ever have to deliver on actually giving that to him, AND by the time Anakin figures ANY of this out he’s going to be in too deep to back out anyways.
This Futurama mashup I made said it best, really:
ALL RIGHT LOOK I TRIED NOT TO GO TO THIS PLACE, I HAVE BOOKS TO BLOG ABOUT AND ALL THAT, BUT I HAVE A HEADCANON AND I WANT TO SHARE IT.
I know there’s Legends stuff from various other authors and such, that the Sith learned how to manipulate midi-chlorians and Sidious learned how to transfer his consciousness into the bodies of his clones, etc. I think, if nothing else, Sidious must have known that it was possible to revive someone through manipulating the Force, you can theorize that that’s what he did with Anakin at the end of Revenge of the Sith. (Though, I prefer that it was just simply that Anakin was so much a literal child of the Force that he survived things that SHOULD have killed him.)
Ultimately, though, I think this was a gamble on Palpatine’s part, that he had absolutely no intention of saving Padme’s life or that it would ever become an issue. I think he knew that she would die and so it didn’t matter if he could follow through on his promises or not, it would never come to that, because she’d be dead (whether by Anakin’s hand when he turned on her or simply forseeing that she was so broken-hearted she died or if you believe he drained her life force away to save Anakin), because Palpatine definitely wanted her dead. He would never have Anakin’s loyalty or have Vader under his thumb so long as Padme Amidala was alive.
So, if we’re going by Immovable Objects of Star Wars History only, PALPATINE MIGHT HAVE BEEN TOTALLY FULL OF SHIT ABOUT IT AND IT WOULD NEVER MATTER BECAUSE HE HAD ZERO INTENTIONS OF SAVING HER, OH MY GOD WHAT A MAGNIFICENT PIECE OF SHIT THIS TURD LORD IS.
DO YOU… DO YOU EVER JUST LOVE SOMEONE SO THOROUGHLY REPUGNANT AND HORRIBLE, BECAUSE THEY GIVE PRECISELY ZERO FUCKS ABOUT ANYTHING EVER EXCEPT BEING HORRIBLE?
konekorambles 