How I would have written the Star Wars prequels...
a.k.a. If George Lukas wasn't such an unimaginative hack standing on the shoulders of giants
A basically good guy
with a distorted sense
of justice? A victim of
his own passions?
While you can detect some of what I'm about to write in the prequels that have been released (but only if you walk in looking for it - it's not sufficiently emphasized in the films as released), I've always liked the idea that Darth Vader is basically a good guy who has fallen prey to his over zealous/exagerated sense of justice, and his own wanton passions.
I remember reading an article by Gore Vidal (the famous/infamous liberal author/controversialist) in which he described Timothy McVeigh (the "Oklahoma City Bomber") as afflicted with an "overdeveloped sense of justice." The article was surprisingly mature and non-jingoistic in it's appraisal of McVeigh, taking for granted that you as a reader have the intelligence and development to understand that when all is said and done you understand that killing innocents is wrong (though an "irritating" S.O.B. like Vidal would have no qualms about keeping you honest, by reminding you frequently that western governments do precisely this on a regular basis). He corresponded with McVeigh while he was on death row, and has provided us with perhaps as accurate a portrait of this man as we will ever have.
Having read these thoughts of Gore Vidal a couple of years ago, I soon came to ponder this as the most perfect explanation for how the Star Wars archvillian Darth Vader ends up as he does...falling from the lofty status of Jedi prodigy, to a dark warrior responsible (in the end) for enabling the rise of an evil warlock dictator to power.
This notion of someone with an "overdeveloped" or "exagerated" sense of justice, combined with the immoderate nature of undisciplined human passions, and what we can discern from the dialogue of the original Star Wars Triology, really struck something deep in me. In some ways, it reminds me of my one time attraction toward Islam. It's very easy for someone like me (who feels like an "outsider" looking into this ridiculous madhouse we call "western civilization") to become disgusted by the goings on of our society, and just groan "f*ck it!", give up on it, look for the nearest machete, and want to start striking off heads. I strong suspect this is a big (and often overlooked) reason as to why Islam has spread so much amongst African Americans, prison inmates, and (now days, increasingly) amongst Latin Americans; these are all groups which on a large scale can be characterized as people who have been often "left out" on the "American Dream" for one reason or another. They're angry, they're frustrated, they're sick of playing by the rules. Islam, in it's purer, more "fundamental" forms, is an entire way of life. Not simply a religion, it's also a political system. Shariah is the legal framework flowing from Islamic "sources of revelation", and strictly speaking, to recognize as truly valid any form of law other than Shariah is a form of "shirk" (idolatry) as far as the Muslim religion is concerned.
Hence, Islam ultimatly proposes an overthrow of the existing political systems, and their replacement by something entirely different (both in it's methodology and basic premises.) Hence, why more heartfelt forms of Islam (unless they labour under heavy qualification) not only see bloody jihad with western powers as inevitable for the latter's injustices in the Middle East, but also as inevitable irregardless (since the whole of humanity is "supposed" to be submitted to Allah; the very meaning if "Islam" being "submission".)
I think such thoughts as a background would have made an incredibly interesting write up for Darth Vader. Perhaps some sort of crisis (both personal and social) could have made the young Jedi Anakin Skywalker "fed up" with "the system", and instead look to a more radical guru, with a more radical (if bloody) set of solutions. The path of the Sith could have been his "fundamentalist Islam", a way which seems good to his desire for order and justice, but in the end representing a far greater evil than what he was seeking to reform/overcome?
This would make for a far more convincing "fallen hero" than the existing prequels are portraying - so far all we have is a whiney brat, pissy that his "brilliance" isn't adequately appreciated by his teacher (Obi Wan Kenobi) who I at least feel zero sympathy for. This for me doens't make compelling drama. OTOH, I think the scenario I put forward would speak on a far more universal level - because I think all of us have had those anti-social moments, where we either wanted to go dissappear and live in a cave (or pick up a paddle and start bludgeoning people) in the face of the absurdity and inequity we have experienced at some point in our lives.
Or perhaps I'm just a nut...these anti-social feelings are not common, and I ought to be watched closely. Either way, I think my ideas would have made for better cinema than the steaming-turd scripts Lukas has been churning out recently.
A basically good guy
with a distorted sense
of justice? A victim of
his own passions?
While you can detect some of what I'm about to write in the prequels that have been released (but only if you walk in looking for it - it's not sufficiently emphasized in the films as released), I've always liked the idea that Darth Vader is basically a good guy who has fallen prey to his over zealous/exagerated sense of justice, and his own wanton passions.
I remember reading an article by Gore Vidal (the famous/infamous liberal author/controversialist) in which he described Timothy McVeigh (the "Oklahoma City Bomber") as afflicted with an "overdeveloped sense of justice." The article was surprisingly mature and non-jingoistic in it's appraisal of McVeigh, taking for granted that you as a reader have the intelligence and development to understand that when all is said and done you understand that killing innocents is wrong (though an "irritating" S.O.B. like Vidal would have no qualms about keeping you honest, by reminding you frequently that western governments do precisely this on a regular basis). He corresponded with McVeigh while he was on death row, and has provided us with perhaps as accurate a portrait of this man as we will ever have.
Having read these thoughts of Gore Vidal a couple of years ago, I soon came to ponder this as the most perfect explanation for how the Star Wars archvillian Darth Vader ends up as he does...falling from the lofty status of Jedi prodigy, to a dark warrior responsible (in the end) for enabling the rise of an evil warlock dictator to power.
This notion of someone with an "overdeveloped" or "exagerated" sense of justice, combined with the immoderate nature of undisciplined human passions, and what we can discern from the dialogue of the original Star Wars Triology, really struck something deep in me. In some ways, it reminds me of my one time attraction toward Islam. It's very easy for someone like me (who feels like an "outsider" looking into this ridiculous madhouse we call "western civilization") to become disgusted by the goings on of our society, and just groan "f*ck it!", give up on it, look for the nearest machete, and want to start striking off heads. I strong suspect this is a big (and often overlooked) reason as to why Islam has spread so much amongst African Americans, prison inmates, and (now days, increasingly) amongst Latin Americans; these are all groups which on a large scale can be characterized as people who have been often "left out" on the "American Dream" for one reason or another. They're angry, they're frustrated, they're sick of playing by the rules. Islam, in it's purer, more "fundamental" forms, is an entire way of life. Not simply a religion, it's also a political system. Shariah is the legal framework flowing from Islamic "sources of revelation", and strictly speaking, to recognize as truly valid any form of law other than Shariah is a form of "shirk" (idolatry) as far as the Muslim religion is concerned.
Hence, Islam ultimatly proposes an overthrow of the existing political systems, and their replacement by something entirely different (both in it's methodology and basic premises.) Hence, why more heartfelt forms of Islam (unless they labour under heavy qualification) not only see bloody jihad with western powers as inevitable for the latter's injustices in the Middle East, but also as inevitable irregardless (since the whole of humanity is "supposed" to be submitted to Allah; the very meaning if "Islam" being "submission".)
I think such thoughts as a background would have made an incredibly interesting write up for Darth Vader. Perhaps some sort of crisis (both personal and social) could have made the young Jedi Anakin Skywalker "fed up" with "the system", and instead look to a more radical guru, with a more radical (if bloody) set of solutions. The path of the Sith could have been his "fundamentalist Islam", a way which seems good to his desire for order and justice, but in the end representing a far greater evil than what he was seeking to reform/overcome?
This would make for a far more convincing "fallen hero" than the existing prequels are portraying - so far all we have is a whiney brat, pissy that his "brilliance" isn't adequately appreciated by his teacher (Obi Wan Kenobi) who I at least feel zero sympathy for. This for me doens't make compelling drama. OTOH, I think the scenario I put forward would speak on a far more universal level - because I think all of us have had those anti-social moments, where we either wanted to go dissappear and live in a cave (or pick up a paddle and start bludgeoning people) in the face of the absurdity and inequity we have experienced at some point in our lives.
Or perhaps I'm just a nut...these anti-social feelings are not common, and I ought to be watched closely. Either way, I think my ideas would have made for better cinema than the steaming-turd scripts Lukas has been churning out recently.
posted by The Rambler at 11:33 PM
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