The fangirl is happy

I saw "Revenge of the Sith" and after that went back to watch "Return of the Jedi" on DVD. After the snif-snif-WAAAAAAAAAH! moments of "Sith," I really needed to remind myself that the story ultimately has a happy ending. The good guys win; the bad guys lose; love conquers all. Anakin ultimately finds redemption, thanks to his son, the only person in the galaxy who could possibly believe he was worth saving.

When "Sith" came out, people drew parallels between the movie and current events. Maybe, on a political level, some parts of the movie do hit home--a senate that grants more and more power to the evil Chancellor Palpatine, for example. Would've liked a couple of scenes with Padme and the other senators standing up to Palpy--which forms the basis for the Rebel Alliance. In the novelization of "Sith," we do see Padme meeting secretly with other senators and putting together a petition of two thousand senators critical of Palpatine's administration. Kinda wish we'd seen a bit of that. Padme was way underused in "Sith," and her death? Lame. Just lame.

Anakin, of course, is a well-meaning young Jedi with more power than he can really handle and without the discipline to control himself. He's ideal prey for Palpy, who's had plans to sink his claws into young Skywalker all along.

Sometimes, I wonder if Anakin himself is meant as a symbol of the blindly trusting "red state" Bushite, who invests so much hope in a corrupt leader and his slimy administration that they can't understand what's being taken away from them. As Anakin comes to see the Jedi as his enemies and the Sith as his salvation, John Q. Redstate comes to see Bush as the embodiment of America and his critics as traitors. (See the flap over Durbin's comments re Gitmo for evidence of this.)

As Anakin is consumed the dark side of the Force, as John Q. Redstate is consumed by hatred of whomever his enemy is supposed to be (Democrats, liberals, CNN, Arabs). John Q. Redstate knows these people are his enemies because Bush, or Faux News, or Limbaugh, or some other messenger from the right-wing echo chamber said so. Like Anakin, John Q. Redstate relinquishes personal responsibility and independence. By the end of "Sith," Anakin is Vader, a Sith Lord under the thumb of the Emperor Palpatine. (Remember in "Return of the Jedi," he tells Luke, "I must obey my master.")

I guess the challenge now is to turn John Q. Redstate back from the abyss. Question is: how? Anakin ultimately stands up to the emperor, saving his son's life and ending Sith rule. Does John Q. Redstate have that same inner strength? For that matter, who's willing to pull him away from the edge?

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