Film, as a medium, could be defined as a series of still images shown in succession in order to create the illusion of movement. Its goal is often to use this manipulation of vision to relate a narrative story, but within any character-based narrative and the images and shots that comprise it will always be elements that convey a deeper meaning about relationships between people. Science fiction and fantasy films are faced with the task of being able to transport viewers to other dimensions and mystical realms through the stimulation of the audience’s imagination, while at the same time relying on the viewer’s ability to make connections between our personal everyday observations and those we consciously or subconsciously see in a film. Despite that the story is set in a completely fictional time and place, the narrative of George Lucas’s Star Wars saga is driven by characters confined to a social hierarchy deeply rooted in the transitional American values of the 1950’s and 60’s, established onscreen through the film’s mise-en-scene. Many elements of the Star Wars narrative represent a universe constructed around a conservative ideology, masked by more liberal themes of freedom from an evil oppressor and an unseen harmony binding all things, established as the Force.
Before further analysis of some of the deeper themes and meanings of the films, it is important to understand the political and social conditions that preceded the original release of Star Wars in 1977. In ten years, America had witnessed the assassination of President Kennedy, the Watergate scandal and Nixon’s impeachment and resignation, the Vietnam war which many citizens were divided on and some saw as imperialistic, the Kent State shootings, and the rapidly growing feminist movement. To say that the baby boomers had witnessed a loss of
American innocence would be an understatement. These rapid changes are very visible in Star Wars, personified in the form of Anakin Skywalker who later becomes Darth Vader through the sacrifice of his own personal good side in what he sees is an exchange for systematic control to end a universal conflict. The original Star Wars film, later retitled A New Hope as the fourth episode in a six part saga, presented Vader as the ultimate villain, the absolute ruler clad in solid black armor who used the cosmic energy of the Force selfishly for his own dominion of the universe. A New Hope mentions the Emperor only once through dialogue, and Vader’s immediate onscreen presence seems a much greater threat to the film’s heroes than a far off Emperor. Numerous scenes in the film depict hundreds of stormtroopers marching single file, standing perfectly shoulder to shoulder within the Death Star. This theme of a mechanized system of rank and file control draws visual parallels to images of Nazi occupation of Germany during World War II, but also resonates the bitter distrust towards politics of American government at the time. In a way, although the war torn universe in A New Hope is a completely theatrical creation populated with stylized characters, the hidden analogies between the film’s worlds and our own nation’s past create a familiar but fictional setting.
Many of the human characters in A New Hope share a common speciesist attitude, ranking humans above all else and treating the film’s other species in an often condescending manner. The film itself often adopts this ideology in its portrayal of various characters and its “suspiciously racist representation of aliens in an overly stereotypical fashion” (Kapell 163). The first human settlement shown on the desert planet Tatooine reveals the home of the film’s blond-haired, blue-eyed hero, Luke Skywalker. Small indigenous creatures called Jawas wearing brown hooded robes with beady eyes are selling their stolen droids to Luke and his Uncle Owen. When one droid malfunctions, Owen grumbles loudly, “What are you trying to push on us?” in a very disdainful, almost racist manner. Later, when Luke pulls into the spaceport of Mos Eisley, several Jawas approach and begin pawing at his landspeeder, while the droid C-3P0 comments, “I can’t abide those Jawas; disgusting creatures,” as Luke shoos them away. Ironically, a few minutes later when Luke attempts to bring 3P0 and his other droid R2-D2 into the Mos Eisley Cantina, the human bartender tells them that they’ll have to wait outside because he doesn’t serve “their kind,” even though subsequent shots establish that the bar is populated with dozens of other species. However, because 3P0 is programmed for etiquette and service for humans, he immediately agrees and submissively leaves the bar.
At another point in the film, Luke is pursuing his droid R2-D2 when 3P0 warns of “several creatures approaching from the southeast.” These “creatures” wear goggles, wrap themselves in strips of cloth and ride hairy mammoth-like animals established to be called Banthas. Luke refers to them as “sandpeople,” because apparently, they are so ostentatiously less than human that it would be implausible to refer to them without using a speciesist term expressing his superiority to them. After they attack Luke, a mysterious figure in a brown robe comes climbing over a hill, and the “sandpeople” quickly run away, obviously perceiving him as a threat. The viewer is unaware who is clad in this brown robe, and tensions build as he approaches the unconscious Luke until a human hand emerges from the robes, and he unhoods himself to reveal a bearded old white man underneath. Not surprisingly, the music swells into a mystical melody signifying that the danger is gone as our protagonist is now in the company of a fellow human. The man reveals himself to be Obi-Wan Kenobi, and makes a comment about how they should leave before the “sandpeople” return. The human residents of Tatooine have assigned a status of the “other” to this indigenous group, rooted deeply in the “western traditions of eugenics, racism, and justifications for discrimination here on Earth” (Kapell 164).
The “sandpeople” are not the only group assigned a status of the “other” in A New Hope. The basic conflict between the Empire and the Rebels is based on a hatred of one group against another, justified by the Empire’s desire to control the galaxy and the Rebels’ mission to defend it. The film’s opening scene depicts a group of stormtroopers boarding a small Rebel spacecraft, initiating a battle between the two sides. Stephanie J. Wilhelm, in her article “Imperial
Plastic, Republican Fiber,” notes that “the
homogenized imperial oppression is represented by identical plastic body armor,” while the earthtones of the Rebels’ uniforms, in addition to their exposed hair and faces, identifies their army as the oppressed side, forced to fight in self-defense (182). This opening scene encourages the viewer to identify and side with the Rebels, as their social blocking around the entrance to the ship allows the viewer to see their individual expressions and reactions of fear and nervousness, as opposed to the intruding troops whose faces are masked by their indistinguishable helmets. The stormtroopers are led by Darth Vader, whose “visual presence as a mechanism, and the quantitative reports that he receives from his commanders, are meant to make him a visual manifestation of the rationalized military-industrial complex that Lucas and those of his generation opposed” (Williams 240). Vader and his commanders, also dressed in solid black, provide a stark contrast to the blues and oranges of the Rebel uniforms or the organic browns and tans of a Jedi’s robes, but define the absolutism of the Empire’s rule when juxtaposed with the solid black and white armor of the stormtroopers.
The Empire’s superiority complex is spearheaded through Vader, who in The Empire Strikes Back, reveals himself to be Luke’s father, Anakin Skywalker. The six-film Star Wars saga is a Classical Hollywood narrative in that it is focused around the temporal experiences of an individual character through a linear series of events, and the consequences of characters’ actions are responsible for driving the narrative. As a young boy in The Phantom Menace, Anakin and his mother are slaves who have been gambled around, and through his connection to the Force he wins his own freedom in a race. Although young Anakin is offended when he is referred to as a slave, he later ironically volunteers himself to be Emperor Palpatine’s unquestioning servant in Revenge of the Sith, and has no qualms about destroying other species or entire planets as Darth Vader. His justification for embracing the Dark Side of the Force is to try to save his love interest Padme from dying in childbirth, influenced by his inability to save his mother from dying at the hands of the “sandpeople” in the previous film, Attack of the Clones. By becoming a Sith, the religion of one who follows the Dark Side of the Force, he initiates the series of events that eventually cause Padme’s death and his own disfiguration and reliance on a mechanical body.
Anakin’s overconfidence and desire to use the Force to shape his environment “shows the hubris of the desire for one individual to control the galaxy and the tragic state of the figure who dreams such dreams,” for “in order to exert such control, one must cease being human. One becomes caught up in a machine of dominion, no matter how good one’s intentions are” (Williams 245-246). Vader’s position as the all-powerful villain from A New Hope begins to falter in The Empire Strikes Back, as established through a hologram conversation in which Vader unwillingly submits to the Emperor, and must face that the Emperor knows that the child he thought had died with Padme is still alive. Anakin’s importance in all of this is that he is “the Chosen One,” the offspring of his mother and the Force itself. His disposition destines him to have natural abilities, but it is the circumstances of politics, the limitations of the Jedi Order, and the influence of Palpatine which set the stage for his destruction.
The entire story of Star Wars is driven by characters who can use the Force, and their desire to control or duty to defend the rest of the galaxy, with Anakin at the pivotal center. It is explained by Qui-Gon Jinn in The Phantom Menace that the Force is more present in some organisms than others, determined by the presence of a microscopic life form in one’s blood. Obi-Wan Kenobi explains in A New Hope that the Force is at least somewhat present in all things and binds them together, and Yoda furthers this explanation in Empire by telling Luke, “Remember, a Jedi’s strength flows from the Force.” However, Luke’s ability to use the Force in the Star Wars narrative is solely determined in that “the story links them directly to his parentage: a queen for a mother, and ‘the Chosen One’ as a father” (Kapell 167). This representation of inherited leadership presents the conservative idea of a biological class system, in which an individual’s abilities are not determined by training or enlightenment, but simply by being born with the right genetic material.
In his essay “Eugenics, Racism, and the Jedi Gene Pool,” Matthew Wilhelm Kapell points out that Plato held a similar philosophy in which he labeled people into classes of “gold, silver, brass and lead” and sorted them based on their importance and value (170). He believed that it was necessary for the classes to remain segregated to prevent a destabilization of the system. The gold class had the most important responsibility of leading and educating the other classes to do more menial tasks. Of course, throughout history the leading classes of nobility and royalty have almost always believed themselves to be put in that position by a greater power rather than simply by chance. Although the Jedi use their Force abilities to liberate those who do not have the same capabilities, the way that this plot device is used in the films presents a conservative ideology of destiny and biological superiority rather than a more liberal theme of enlightenment and achievement.
The representation of gender roles in the Star Wars films is even more contradictory than the religion versus science paradox. Princess Leia is introduced in the first few scenes of A New Hope wearing a pure white gown with her hair in tightly wrapped buns on either side of her head. She is the only female in the entire opening battle, and is the only Rebel with the courage to confront Vader without fear. Both of the royal females, Leia and her mother Padme “satisfy the requirements for screen heroism. They are dedicated to larger ideals, physically courageous, skilled in combat, and athletic” (Simpson 115). In this sense, Leia is an analogous image of the 1970’s feminist movement. However bold Leia may be, she is ultimately treated by her master status as a female rather than by her ambition or resolve. The first thing Luke notes about her is her physical appearance as a female, exclaiming, “Who is she? She’s beautiful!” She is simultaneously being held captive by male characters and being rescued by other male characters. When Luke arrives in her detention cell, “she reposes languidly,” with her “rounded thighs and curves in contrast to the ninety degree angles of the technology around her” (Simpson 119). Her first response, however, is to insult his masculinity, questioning, “Aren’t you a little short for a stormtrooper?” Han presents an even more generic male attitude about Leia, discrediting her specifically because of her role as a female, and constantly referring to her as “princess” or “sweetheart.” At the same time, Han is the “one character to challenge her authority but is converted to her cause due to her dedication” (Simpson 116). Social blocking plays an important role Leia’s appearance, as she is consistently placed between Han and Luke, escalating tensions in the competition between the two for Leia’s affection, solely based on her inseparable identity as a female.
As her character develops through The Empire Strikes Back, she begins abandoning her tough side for her more feminine side. When Han is being taken away to be frozen in carbonite, he tells Chewbacca, “The princess - you have to take care of her now.” He then kisses Leia, to which she responds with, “I love you.” At this point Leia’s character has been subordinated
from the no-nonsense stubborn freedom fighter to the position of the helpless girlfriend of the one male character who constantly attacks her status as a female. Leia’s commitment to the Rebellion is compromised even further in the introduction of Return of the Jedi, when she has neglected her position in the greater galactic crisis for an intimate rescue of Han. The abandonment of her cause for her personal life reveals the turnover of her character from a leader to a lover, signifying the suppression of her stronger side by her feelings for Han. This transition is subsequently represented onscreen when she is captured by Jabba the Hutt and forced to wear a metal bikini, a striking contrast to her modest costuming in A New Hope. Leia’s inability to separate her identity from her sexuality suggests an ironic connotation between the progression of the women’s rights movement and the image of the female body in American pop culture. Leia’s determination is not sacrificed, as she is the character who eventually assassinates Jabba, but the incongruity of her doing so in a metal bikini induces a definite statement about gender roles and their evolution through the 20th century.
From a certain point of view, the Star Wars films could be simplified into nothing more than a science fiction adventure with aliens, blasters, and spaceships. Further inspection may even reveal a complex narrative about the tragedy of an individual faced with the choice between family and loyalty, and the repercussions of the choices that individual must make between the two. But Star Wars also makes some very unique statements about the world that we live in and how society can influence human nature and vice versa. The Star Wars films, laden with characteristics of both conservative and liberal ideologies, essentially provides an account of how 20th century Americans viewed the rest of the world, whether through the fearful eyes of the Empire who need to control what they don’t understand in order to be at peace, or through the eyes of the Rebels who believe that peace can only be achieved at the sacrifice of control. Star Wars may reflect multiple doctrines in its mise-en-scene, ranging from fear of the “other” to the subordination of females due to the presence of gender roles in our society, but the narrative it delivers offers the promise that hope can vanquish fear despite one’s place in our world’s unavoidable social hierarchy.
Works Cited
Kapell, Matthew Wilhelm. “Eugenics, Racism, and the Jedi Gene Pool.” Finding the Force of
the Star Wars Franchise. Ed. Matthew Wilhelm Kapell. New York, NY: Peter Lange
Books, 2006. 163-170.
Simpson, Philip L. “Thawing the Ice Princess.” Finding the Force of the Star Wars Franchise.
Ed. Matthew Wilhelm Kapell. New York, NY: Peter Lange Books, 2006. 115-134.
Wilhelm, Stephanie J. “Imperial Plastic, Republican Fiber.” Finding the Force of the Star Wars
Franchise. Ed. Matthew Wilhelm Kapell. New York, NY: Peter Lange Books, 2006.
181-182.
Williams, Doug. “Not So Long Ago and Far Away: Star Wars, Republics and Empires of
Tomorrow.” The Science Fiction Film Reader. Ed. Gregg Rickman. New York, NY:
Proscenium Publishers, Inc., 2004. 229-247.
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