#politics and Star wars

[high-mackrels-musings]

Populism and Demagoguery in the Star Wars Prequels

Star Wars has always been a political film, from the beginning the original trilogy was influenced by the political situation of the time, George Lucas has stated that he was influenced by the Vietnam War which was happening at the time. Lucas has stated the following regarding Palpatine in 1981 showing that Lucas was taking influence from some real-world events happening at the time.

he was a politician. Richard M. Nixon was his name. He subverted the senate and finally took over and became an imperial guy, and he was really evil. But he pretended to be a nice guy.”

Indeed, many who saw the Star Wars prequels when they were first released saw parallels and criticisms against the Bush administration at the time, Lucas himself came out to say the following about that:

"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."

As such, one can reason that Lucas always wanted there to be a message against war, against empire building, against autocrats. But there is an underlying message that I think warrants some thinking as I feel it often gets overlooked. That is Lucas’ forewarning against populism and demagoguery as seen in the Star Wars prequels. Lucas forewarning in the prequels is about the fall of democracy, and how easy it is for people to replace a system for promises.

First of all populism itself can have multiple meanings by multiple people, and the term has been in use since at least the 19^(th) century, to avoid squabbling over terms and definitions for the purposes of this piece, I shall use it in its description from the Encyclopedia Britannica that is:

A political program or movement that champions, or claims to champion, the common person, usually by favourable contrast with a real or perceived elite or establishment

But Populism also often comes with the accompaniment and is indeed often conflated with demagoguery, following the definition from Merriam-Webster, a demagogue is a leader who makes use of popular prejudices and false claims and promises to gain power. Both tend to go together and in recent days they have been used together, either way I shall try to examine the Star War’s prequels and how they examine both.

I should also note that I am not a political scientist nor am I a scholar on the subject, so should certain inaccuracies present themselves it is through my own ignorance of the subject.

Using this definition though, we first see the elites in the form of the corporations, the Trade Federation in The Phantom Meance is the elite, a powerful force with a seat in the senate that has successfully blocked Naboo, a mid-rim planet with much less influence than perhaps some core worlds. The Republic is hopeless in ending this through public debate painting it as ineffective, the opening crawl tells us the Supreme Chancellor must secretly dispatch Jedi to hope to resolve the incident.

While the Congress of the Republic endlessly debates this alarming chain of events, the Supreme Chancellor has secretly dispatched two Jedi Knights, the guardians of peace and justice in the galaxy, to settle the conflict.

Of course, we the audience know the Sith are secretly pulling the strings to make the republic weaker, slowly weaking key institutions that could have otherwise resolved such incidents.

A populist and indeed a demagogue, will often point to the failings of institutions and systems to show that the will of the people is being ignored. Queen Amidala herself is young, and we often hear of the people of Naboo. Which leads us to our next display of Lucas’ warning against populism, Palpatine’s whispering into the ear of Padme. His influence on her is clear, especially as he rails against the Republic.

The Republic is not what it once was. The Senate is full of greedy, squabbling delegates. There is no interest in the common good. I must be frank, Your Majesty, there is little chance the Senate will act on the invasion.

Key words being used here by Palpatine such as the interest of the common good, and while Padme has faith in Valroum, Palpatine’s words quickly dissolve this trust with this as seen in the scene in the senate chamber:

Enter the bureaucrats, the true rulers of the Republic. And on the payroll of the Trade Federation, I might add. This is where Chancellor Valorum's strength will disappear … Now they will elect a new Chancellor, a strong Chancellor. One who will not let this tragedy continue.

Palpatine himself might have a point, the Republic is stagnant and rife with corruption, but the usage of half-truths, the promises of a stronger leader, and of course he is positioned as the replacement for a new chancellor himself. Lucas shows us the dangers of such leaders who will use real dangers and problems to gain power for themselves.

Of course, the problems of the Republic don’t come to an end because of Palpatine’s rise, by the time of Attack of the Clones the separatist movement has grown to include attempted murder of Padme, who’s first intent is to blame Count Dooku. Dooku himself might be seen as an example of a populist, his desire to reform the Republic was born out of a genuine place of concern, but it is easily manipulated by Palpatine evolving him into something much worse. Lucas foreshadows the dangers of political ideologies with populism by showing us how populists and demagogues might manipulate otherwise good meaning people.

Manipulation is something at the forefront of Attack of the Clones, Palpatine certainly has cultivated a sort of cult of personality that often comes with populist leaders as seen by real-life populists. Anakin shows signs of accepting the sort of populist message as well, as seen during the conversation with Padme at the lake. The two discuss democracy and when pressed on his beliefs on the subject answers:

 Padme: You really don't like politicians, do you?   Anakin: I like two or three, but I'm not really sure about one of them. (smiling) I don't think the system works.  Padme: How would you have it work?  Anakin:  We need a system where the politicians sit down and discuss the problems, agree what's in the best interests of all the people, and then do it.   Padme:  That is exactly what we do. The trouble is that people don't wlways agree. In fact, they hardly ever do.   Anakin:  Then they should be made to.   Padme:  By whom? Who's going to make them?   Anakin:  I don't know. Someone.   Padme:  You?   Anakin:  Of course not me.   Padme:  But someone.  Anakin:  Someone wise.   Padme:  That sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship to me.  Anakin:  Well, if it works…

The slow acceptance that for change to be made a strong leader must emerge, that only a strong leader can make such changes, we see it with Palpatine’s manipulation of Jar Jar, in the discussion with senators regarding granting the chancellor emergency powers, Jar Jar told that someone brave like Padme would propose such measures is quick to action, his emotions played on just like many populists do. Palpatine of course accepts the powers, with the clear vocal approval of most of the senate, he has gotten this far by manipulating people into giving him even more power now.

When discussing democracy George Lucas had the following to say:

All democracies turn into dictatorships—but not by coup. The people give their democracy to a dictator, whether it's Julius Caesar or Napoleon or Adolf Hitler. Ultimately, the general population goes along with the idea …

It should come as no surprise then that the third film continues this theme of this erosion of democracy, despite the continuing granting of powers to Palpatine he is still highly respected in the republic, this is further expanded in the novelization where Matthew Stover writes:

Palpatine of Naboo, the most admired man in the galaxy whose unmatched political skills have held the Republic together. Whose personal integrity and courage prove that the Seperatist propaganda of corruption in the senate is nothing but lies … Palpatine is more than respected. He is loved … Without Palpatine, The Republic will fall.

Revenge of the Sith has painted a picture for us of how well-beloved Palpatine is that he is essentially unopposed. Such is his power that only Palpatine can decide when the emergency is over and when he needs to give up the power, leading even the Jedi to worry about the state of the democracy, Ki-Adi to state:

If he does not give up his emergency powers after the destruction of Grievous, then he should be removed from office.

Of course, this is all part of Palpatine’s plans, as Lucas wants to show us the fall of democracies, Palpatine uses the Jedi’s attempt to arrest him to monger fear, he destroys his last opposition and gives a rousing speech to the senate:

In order to ensure the security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society, which I assure you will last for 10,000 years. An Empire that will continue to be ruled by this august body and a sovereign ruler chosen for life. An Empire ruled by the majority, ruled by a new constitution.

Palpatine has now successfully stoked the fears of the galaxy and of the senate to grant himself more power than any other being in galactic history. Leading Padme to say the following:

So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.

The people and the government have accepted the stoking of fear by a demagogue and populist.

In a conversation with George Lucas, fellow director James Cameron discussed the aforementioned line about the fall of democracies and how George Lucas had contextualized the fall of democracies in a science fiction setting. Certainly, we see Lucas’ condemnation of populist messages.

I have stated before that the prequels are about greed, as opposed to the failure of the Jedi as is often believed by some. Lucas warns us of Anakin’s greed and of the greed of politicians, and corporations. But his condemnation of populism and the embrace of it by the masses might hint at a deeper greed, a greed for safety, a want to sacrifice liberty and democracy for the sake of safety, as Palpatine was always promising.

We perhaps never see Palpatine as a breathing fire branding populist, nor a conspiracy-laden demagogue, but the signs of a sly and well-spoken politician are something that Lucas wants the audience to be wary of and that is how easily such people may exploit the weaknesses of our democracies.

[stealingpotatoes]

Did cal ever realize anakin is vader? Cause I can just imagine him excitedly talking about the hero with no fear from his childhood and then the other 3 just looking at each other deciding who’s gonna tell him

i think you're forgetting one important fact about cal...

(commission info // tip jar!)

[prokopetz]

Weirdly, the Star Wars prequels compressing the hell out of the previously implied timeline in order to make everything all about the Skywalker family actually made the Empire more plausible. It's "unrealistic" that the Empire has existed for less than twenty years at the start of the Original Trilogy and it's already in the process of fragmenting into a loose affiliation of regional warlords paying lip service to a distant and ineffectual imperial core? Buddy, do some reading on real-life Fascism – the fact that they managed to piss away the Galactic Republic's institutional legitimacy in under two decades is literally the only thing that's realistic about the Star Wars timeline.

[mysharona1987]

[rochenn]

Actually. The rarely touched-upon political implications of Coruscant's weather being man-made.

"Don't rain on my parade" is a very literal phrase among the Senators because honey, whoever has the best connections WILL rain on your activists in particular if they don't like what ur doing

[animentality]

[columboposting]

OK not to Foxpost on main but as much as I appreciate the trope of the coruscant guard being like woefully underfunded and undersupported by the senate because they’re “not front line troops” and therefore “don’t need things like bacta or rations etc” and like I get where you’re coming from, but like…. they may not be on the front line but they are the most significant and final line of defense for the capital of the republic and more specifically the senate, who — and I cannot stress this enough — are the people who decide whether or not the coruscant guard gets money. The corries do the work of cops AND the secret service, and maybe throw in the national guard — imagine if the united states defunded the cops (seriously, imagine…), specifically all the cops that work in DC, AND the secret service because oh they’re purely concerned with domestic affairs and the security of the most essential elements of our republic, they don’t need resources. You’re talking about fucking upside down banana world and certainly not about the political priorities of a fading republic succumbing to nationalism, militarism, and fascism.

If I were a late era galactic senator, I would have funding the coruscant guard as my top fucking priority. I’d be signing off on building fucking cop city overtop of coruscant’s last nature reserve, i’d be giving them experimental bazookas and tanks and shit up the wazoo. Twelve types of alien police dog and two models from Space Boston Dynamics. Horses. Fox keeps trying to find a weapon they won’t finance for him and it’s not working, at this point he’s considering asking for a lightsaber just to see what happens. I’m not saying the coruscant guard should live in the lap of luxury or anything but they should probably have ample if not excessive access to the military resources they need to do their jobs — medical supplies, armaments, armor, etc. Because if politicians are one thing, that thing is interested above all in their own security, and the coruscant guard is literally their personal protective army, why would they not want their personal protective army to be well funded. “I’m chancellor palpatine and I’m going to deprive my slave gestapo of medical supplies so that their limbs fall off when they try to murder my enemies” come on man be serious.

[cheekios]

Eviction

I did not make rent, I’m no where near it. I still have $750 to raise. Out of desperation I charged my card just to attempt to pay. The 3rd is the absolute last day to pay. The office is closed, so on Monday the leasing office will see whether I paid or not. If I don’t raise the remaining $750 the transaction will decline.

Goal: $750

CA: $HushEmu

PP: emuslayter@gmail.com

If my payment declines I will be charged an additional $100 for processing fee. Not only that I will pay for the late fee which is $100 + $10 everyday rent is late. This is still in effect even if they are evicting the tenant. Evictions take 1-3 months every month I reside in my apartment they will charge me if I don’t vacate. The $100 + late fee will still resume even in eviction. I processed the payment despite not having enough to pay rent to buy time. I am lucky that rent fell on the weekend and not during the week.

This is my final plea to staying housed. I have exhausted all options. If payment does not reflect by Sunday Midnight. I will be issued a notice to vacate Monday.

[jedi-order-apologist]

Mourn but do not give into despair.

It's hard to find things to hope for but you must. It's the only way we keep going, and giving up on hope only helps those in power.

[originalleftist]

Harrison Ford has never endorsed a candidate for President/Vice President before.

But today, he endorsed Kamala Harris and Tim Walz.

"These two people believe in the rule of law. They believe in science. They believe that when you govern, you do so for all Americans"

THANK YOU HARRISON FORD!

[stealingpotatoes]

luke who do you think you're hiding this from

(donation doodles! // tip jar)

[radiosummons]

I'm literally on my knees, begging and sobbing for the Mandalorians to have a normal fucking government. The sequel here

[mysharona1987]

[skelet-bone]

[renmoonlight]

Pretty much how I’m feeling rn

[allthecanadianpolitics]

The original Star Wars film, Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, has been translated into over 50 languages. Norwegian, French, Icelandic, Navajo — and now Ojibway. Dennis Daminos Chartrand, a member of Pine Creek First Nation who voices Darth Vader in the film and helped translate the original text, says he hopes having his language incorporated into the "iconic" film will promote it — not just within his community, but beyond. Chartrand spoke with Day 6 host Brent Bambury ahead of the film's release on the national Indigenous broadcast channel APTN next month, and just days after the death of original Darth Vader actor James Earl Jones. He spoke about his hopes for the film, challenges translating the story into Ojibway and why Star Wars resonates so much with him as an Indigenous person. Here is part of their conversation.

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Tagging: @newsfromstolenland