George Lucas and the Inconsistency of Star Wars
July 11, 2009 Posted by Aaron Snell
OK, first a quick observation and thought: I find it interesting that if you are my age and go to the boys toy aisle at your local Wal-Mart or Target, you are struck with a serious experience of déjà vu. Virtually every type of toy you see is exactly the ones that you remember from when you were a kid: Star Wars, GI Joe, Transformers, DC and Marvel superheroes, and even an occasional Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle. I think that the reason is timing, and long-term timing at that. I’m sure many helplessly nostalgic dads (like myself) walk into the toy section, think, “Hey, I remember this stuff!” and buy it for their kids so they can have the same cool toys. I think the toy manufacturers see the kids’ dads as a marketing target just as much as their kids, and are capitalizing on the fact that all those boys who played with lightsabers and staged huge GI Joe battles back in the 80s now demographically have boys of their own at just that age.
But that’s not really what this post is about, though it is loosely connected. It has been fun to see my two boys discover and enjoy Star Wars. Though they haven’t seen Episodes 2 or 3 yet (and won’t until they’re older and more mature), they’re hooked, and it is almost like seeing my own childhood replay before my eyes. Of course, they have something I didn’t (the new Prequels), and watching them as an adult with this new information has helped me to realize something interesting.
It is no secret that the Star Wars mythos is Eastern in orientation (no pun intended). This is easily seen in foundational concepts like an impersonal Force that binds the universe together, or an emphasis on calm, passivity, intuition and non-attachment as the good way and anger, fear, aggression and attachment as the evil way. This interpretation is attested by George Lucas himself, who intentionally patterned much of his galaxy far, far away after Eastern ideas, to the point that he originally planned on an all-Japanese cast.
What struck me is that George Lucas couldn’t stay consistently within this worldview. One of the Eastern ideas present in his mythos is what happens to a person when they die – their life energy becomes one with the Force, and they lose their individual identity. For Lucas, however, this must not have been satisfactory. For his story to work, he had to figure out a way for some key figures to retain their identity after death (like Obi-Wan Kenobi). But if the goal of life is to become one with the Force in the end, why should you want to continue to exist as yourself? Moreover, how should you even be able to do so?
It’s interesting to me to see this very Western concept being used inconsistently within an otherwise Eastern worldview. Lucas reflects a common tendency in today’s popular culture – find the beliefs that work for you, and throw them together, regardless of how consistent they may or may not be with each other. This should be a telltale sign that something is amiss – a true view of the world should be consistent and not in tension with itself.
Related posts:
- Movie Review: Star Wars- Revenge of the Sith (NO Spoilers)
- Link Wars: A New Hope
- Discernment and Fiction
- Links
- Inconsistency
- Star Trek (2009)
Posted in Aaron's Posts, Culture
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July 11th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
How dare you question Star Wars! This entire post is rubbish!
Just kidding. This is actually a really good point. If I can attempt to salvage the consistency of Lucas’s world for a moment, perhaps he could say that you have to learn a special skill in order to keep yourself from merging completely with the Force at death, and even then it’s only temporary. I’m thinking of the very end of Episode III, where Yoda tells Obi-Wan that Qui-Gon has returned from the “nether world of the Force” to teach him the skill he will need to communicate with the living after death. If we were to ask why he would want to learn to do that, Lucas could say that he needs to temporarily so that he can help Luke and Leah succeed in defeating their father and the Emperor.
Now, there are still some holes. For example, if this is the reason, then why would Yoda or Anakin need to do this? After all, they don’t need to “stay behind” to help anyone.
July 14th, 2009 at 8:23 am
Great post Aaron!
It might be good to even point out the inconsistency within the Pantheistic worldview itself, if all is one, then how is evil bad and Good, good???
Really enjoyed it
July 14th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
David,
I knew I was treading on thin ice with fanboys everywhere when I posted this…and I know this because I am one.
If I can attempt to salvage the consistency of Lucas’s world for a moment, perhaps he could say that you have to learn a special skill in order to keep yourself from merging completely with the Force at death, and even then it’s only temporary.
That’s exactly what he says (except, I think, the temporary part – see below for me geeking out on that) but I still think it is internally inconsistent. Attachment (as we learned in the Prequels) is to be avoided, and this “good” seems in his system to be due to the ultimate end of life (a loss of everything that makes you, you as you become one with the Force). If flying in the face of the law of the universe and maintaining your identity after death isn’t attachment, I don’t know what is.
OK, now here’s my speculation: I don’t think (though I could be wrong) that Lucas intended the dead Jedi’s persistence to be temporary. I suspect he intended for that to be the way that Luke would continue to train and learn in order to rebuild the Jedi Order (Luke really knew very little after his short time with Ben & Yoda).
I guess Lucas can’t be faulted too much for not working this all out…he’s just trying to tell a good story. I just found the parallel to how nearly everyone these days puts together a worldview to be interesting.
July 14th, 2009 at 5:11 pm
Thanks, Gabe! Blog on.