Star Wars - Politically Fuelled?

Today, I received a message from a friend with a link to a news article. This also belong in the Politics section, but since this is about a movie, so automatically, I put it in the Entertainment section. It's an article on the upcoming movie, Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith. I have to say that I'm surprised to see some people making comparisons between the movie and the Iraq war. Even though the plot was developed years ago before President George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush were voted into the White House. But of course, there is a war going on right now, so some people are bound to make accusations and point fingers at everybody.

"This is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause," bemoans Padme Amidala (Natalie Portman) as the galactic Senate cheers dictator-in-waiting Palpatine (Ian McDiarmid) while he announces a crusade against the Jedi.

This was one of the two lines that people were led to believe that there was a hidden message in the movie and I can see where they're coming from on this. Now, the next one is even more suspicious.

"If you're not with me, then you're my enemy," Hayden Christensen's Anakin soon to become villain Darth Vader tells former mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). The line echoes Bush's international ultimatum after the Sept. 11 attacks, "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."

I remember President George W. Bush making the message loud and clear on terrorism shortly after 9/11 struck the U.S.A. However, must one jump and quickly assume that George Lucas is up to something fishy? Be careful where you point that finger, people are perfectly entitled to their opinions and shouldn't be skinned alive for it. George Lucas is an independent filmmaker and he fund the movies himself. That's something not many filmmakers can and would do. He is famously known for going against some film unions with his early Star Wars films. He's considered a hero among many independent filmmakers. I did enjoy his early films that he directed even though he didn't direct Episode V and VI. THX 1138 which was released back in 1971 and was recently given a great DVD treatment is a brilliant film. American Graffiti was a big hit in 1973. It's one of my favourites to this day. Though his directing skills is kind of rusty these days, but I hope to see a great comeback in a movie of his in the short future.

Lucas said he patterned his story after historical transformations from freedom to fascism, never figuring when he started his prequel trilogy in the late 1990s that current events might parallel his space fantasy.

What he just said makes sense, the original trilogy has a very strong vibe that reminded me of the Nazi era and several Empires that went ka-boom in the last few hundred years. Good will always overcome evil, period. People has to use their strength in fighting it, but there are some wars that will never be justified and were for political reasons which is just plainly wrong.

"As you go through history, I didn't think it was going to get quite this close. So it's just one of those recurring things," Lucas said at a Cannes news conference. "I hope this doesn't come true in our country.

"Maybe the film will waken people to the situation," Lucas joked.

Glad to see that George Lucas has a sense of humour. He's right, it's just one of those recurring things. There has been so many wars on Earth and many of them had a lot in common.

Unlike Moore, whose Cannes visit came off like an anybody-but-Bush campaign stop, Lucas never mentioned the president by name but was eager to speak his mind on U.S. policy in Iraq, careful again to note that he created the story long before the Bush-led occupation there.

"When I wrote it, Iraq didn't exist," Lucas said, laughing.

Very true, we knew the basic facts about what had happened prior to storylines in the original trilogy. Therefore, the prequels came and gave us tons of juicy details on why and how it happened.

"We were just funding Saddam Hussein and giving him weapons of mass destruction. We didn't think of him as an enemy at that time. We were going after Iran and using him as our surrogate, just as we were doing in Vietnam. ... The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we're doing in Iraq now are unbelievable."

George Lucas has a point, they did help Osama Bin Laden and supplied him a bunch of weapons to fight the Soviets. In the end, he turned around and went against the U.S.A. Of course, the Soviets were the bad guys too as well. So it made perfect sense to help them fight the Soviets, but it turned out that the fighters didn't think too much of the Yankees either. It echoes the expression, keep your friends close but your enemies closer. Something people keep forgetting.

Of course, this isn't either a Pro-Bush nor an Anti-Bush bit. Everybody are entitled to their opinions, and learning to agree to disagree wouldn't hurt. Hostility doesn't help but enables negativity and wars. I've seen so much hostility coming from both Democrats and Republicans, sometimes one is worse than the other. It's bad enough that the word, Liberal is used as a four-lettered word while one use Conservative as one.

Lucas began researching how democracies can turn into dictatorships with full consent of the electorate.

In ancient Rome, "why did the senate after killing Caesar turn around and give the government to his nephew?" Lucas said. "Why did France after they got rid of the king and that whole system turn around and give it to Napoleon? It's the same thing with Germany and Hitler.

Obviously, George Lucas did his homework before making the original trilogy and the prequels. That's what I love about freedom of speech, people are able to speak their minds and some of these great minds pave the road to making a country that is already great to become even greater. But the more restrictions, the bigger the potholes in the road becomes which is what I believe is happening in some countries that I consider to be great including Canada and the U.S.A.

"You sort of see these recurring themes where a democracy turns itself into a dictatorship, and it always seems to happen kind of in the same way, with the same kinds of issues, and threats from the outside, needing more control. A democratic body, a senate, not being able to function properly because everybody's squabbling, there's corruption."

Source: Yahoo! News

It already happened in Canada which is such a shame. The Canadian government is badly corrupted which is enough to make me angry and sick to my stomach. Neither the Liberal party nor the Conservative party can be trusted in the federal government. In the Saturday edition of Toronto Sun newspaper, there was a great page that made a satire out of Star Wars by using Canadian politicans.

Dark Side of the Farce
A short time ago in a scandal far, far from over...

Chancellor-turned-Emperor
Jean Chretien, Former Prime Minister

Long ago presided over these sinister events from his evil throne.

Obi-Wan Kenobi
Justice John Gomery, Inquiry Judge

Powerful, wise, fair, outspoken and unafraid to take on any and all Darth lords.

Evil Apprentice I, Darth Maul
Alfonso Gagliano, Former Cabinet Minister

Did a lot of damage before suddenly getting sliced in two.

Evil Apprentice II, Count Dooku
Chuck Guite, Sponsorship Bureaucrat

Silver spooner at first out-duelled Obi-Wan, but is about to his match.

Evil Apprentice III, Darth Vader
Paul Martin, Current Prime Minister

More machine than man now. Has finally succumbed to the Dark Side, yes... but how long ago?

General Grievous
Gilles Duceppe, Bloc Quebecois leader

Leader of Separatist Alliance. Good brain but heartless. Is attacking capital to destroy republic.

Clone Army Commander
Stephen Harper, Conservative Leader

He and his legions are formidable, but can they be trusted?

Jar Jar Binks
Jack Layton, NDP Leader

Was easily manipulated into bolstering the evil regime.

Queen/Senator Amidala
Adrienne Clarkson, Governor General

Avoided this scandal thanks to endless trips to the Outer Rim.

C-3P0
Scott Brison, Cabinet Minister

Wimpy, apologist robot. And fluent in more than six million forms of communication.

Chewbacca
Tony Valeri, Cabinet Minister

Cries wolf all the time and no one ever understands a single word he says.

Han Solo
Jean Brault, AdScam Middleman

Was only in it for the money until Obi-Wan and The Force compelled him to do good.

Jedi Knights
Ontario Voters

The only ones who can save the galaxy from evil.

The Death Star
The Liberal Party of Canada

Jedi shots are away... just waiting for the explosion.

The Useless, Ineffective Senate

The useless, infeffective Senate.

Source: The Toronto Sun - May 14, 2005 (Page 22 - News)

What did you think of the piece the Toronto Sun did? I thought it was great because I'm so sick of the Liberal party even though I consider myself to be a moderate Liberal and is quite a conservative at times. But will I vote for the Liberal party in the next election? Nope, and the Conservative party? Hell no!

Neither can be trusted, and the NDP already had walked into the trap the Liberals setted up a while ago by making a deal with them. So... I'll have to look into different parties and see who the best choice is. The Canadian government need to be reformed.

Feel free to express your opinions here on my blog.