Does the story change the act?
I was watching “Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones” (again) a few nights ago on Spike TV, blogging between the uninteresting fight scenes, eyes glued when the screen flashed with the evolving love story of Anakin and Padmé and warring rage of young man Anakin. By the end of the Star Wars prequels I was left with a haunting dilemma that I want to ask you readers about. We were introduced to Darth Vader as a full blown Sith, destroyer of planets, merciless killer, the Jungian shadow of the omnipotent patriarch. Darth Vader was a dark mystery. Human? Barely if at all, with his respirator and dark side powers. But in the prequels there is no Darth Vader yet (until the last scene). There is a story of a young man of impoverished background, fatherless, then motherless, and at one with a deep, soul-felt love that he soon looses too. The story of Vader is Anakin, a man who loved so deeply and so troubled by an intense connection to the force, he became an Angel of Death.
So how am I supposed to feel about Vader? Maybe if they’d casted an ugly actor for Anakin I’d feel less conflicted. Let’s ignore the outside then.
I have respect for someone so moved by love.
C-mixto pointed out that this love is clouded by selfishness. And Yoda (whom C-mixto says he relates too) would say that love is attachment, so of course all of this is selfishness. But is that putting limits on love? I respected Neo even more when he refused the Architect’s choice of saving the world or saving Trinity; he went to save Trinity. Maybe though he was just rejecting choice.
Taking innocents is no way okay. I hate to use a modern example to put us all in check. So if you can’t take the universe with you, then is the only way to fulfill a poetic ending to love through suicide, like many poets, novelists and literaries demonstrate?
C-mixto will complain that this entry is not relevant to an urban odyssey. But it is, it is… Outer space travel is an odyssey, Odesseus’s journey back home to Ithaca was fueled also by his love for Penelope. And as you’ll hear tomorrow from a reader, the game of love is all so relevant and interesting in how it plays out in the city.
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The reason why the episode III is my favorite although the darkest (no pun intended)and depressing, is that it really taps into the human side of the soon to be Darth Vader. I also like how we see the seeds of the future of this character introduced gradually in the episode you are referring to as well. I do see selfishness throughout the love story and alarming signs of hunger for power which is in contrast to the democratic ideals of Padme. I think that the real catalist of it all is Anakin’s love for his mother and how her tragedy impacts him. I totally agree that after learning Vader’s history his character appears in a different light. I feel sorry for him because he is trapped and doesn’t have the emotional intelligence to deal with his past. Both episodes feel like greek tragedy where everyone knows how the story will unfold yet nobody can avoid the ending not matter how hard they try. His love became more and more selfish to the point where he rejected everything else but his hate.
Yes, Episode III is my favorite too, by far the most intoxicating with the depth of the love, and hate. I am drawn to the last line of your comment. This is ultimately what matters, if indeed it is the consequences that matter more than our stories. “His love became more and more selfish to the point where he rejected everything else but his hate.” I am still thrown back in the dilemma of what constitutes love then, and what limits we place on it where it evolves into other words and conditions. Love and hate are so similar, some argue they are the same thing if you reach both areas of their polarities.
I think the loss of the mother just completes the absent father theme (major religious theme) that we see revisited with Luke. The turmoil was always there, his love of Padme already rooted, and when mom dies his thirst to master the force and life has evolved from simply being the best Jedi to wanting to command over death- to overcome it. It completely drives him to the dark side as a martyr to his love when he agrees to help the Emperor because he believes it will save Padme.