Well, it wasn't as shit as Episodes I or II. OTOH, it showed how completely and utterly redundant those movies were; the story of Anakin's (and the Republic's) fall could have been told without nearly so much crap or computer-game ads. Throw in a serious bout of prequelitis (the need to wrap everything up / set the scene neatly) and you have a film which is just a little disappointing. OTOH, after all the hype, how could it not be?
I'm also somewhat amused by the American right's desire to detect anti-Bush memes in the movie. Oh, you can see the fall of the Republic as a warning about the possible future of American democracy - but this isn't "anti-Bush" so much as showing an awareness of history. Look at the rise of Augustus. Look at the fall of the Weimar Republic and the passage of the Enabling Act. Democracies do die in times of crisis "with thunderous applause" - and this is something that every citizen of a democracy should be aware of. And anyone who thinks that people should be ignorant of that fact, or that it is an implied criticism of their political faction, clearly has a guilty conscience.
5 comments:
I gave up on Star Wars way back when "Return of the Jedi" came out, and it could have been better titled "Muppets in Space".
Posted by Anonymous : 5/29/2005 09:16:00 PM
you might want to add athens at the height of it's power, and the butchering of milos. the athenian league had the entire male population killed and the women sold into slavery.
these were hellenes who refused to participate in the athens-lead governance system.
meanwhile, athens was largely run by a rich and powerful demagoguery, not democracy.
Posted by the other 'Che' : 5/30/2005 07:32:00 AM
Who is it that "thinks that people should be ignorant of that fact"?
The anti-American Left also seems to have been keen on seeing something anti-Bush in the movie. Findlay McDonald in the SST for example.
Posted by Sock Thief : 5/30/2005 12:57:00 PM
I thought the better analogy was with the UN/league of nations. An organization neutralized by beurocracy, sadly incapable of dealing with the threats it faces and ridiculously easily tricked by a little smoke and mirrors.
It seems an odd strech to compare the empire/republic to a single country since it was pretty close to identical to the UN.
Sure Kofi may not be a evil sith but he could be the incompetent administrator that leads to the sith taking over.
Go wild with hte rest of hte potential metaphores
Posted by Genius : 5/30/2005 11:14:00 PM
I thought the best recent overt commentary on world politics was "The Interpreter". I'm no fan of Holly Lib Sean Penn or of Kidman's acting but the overall pro-UN messsasge was at the same time clear and managed to avoid falling into Michael Moore agit prop.
Posted by Sock Thief : 5/31/2005 09:16:00 AM
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