The reversion-back-to-“good” is a central tension to the read I’m putting forward here. To tie it back to the OT Vader discussion, in this perspective it’s a performance. Not even necessarily a mask on his true self, but a desperate grasp on to his better self. Gradual or abrupt, linear or nonlinear - is beside my point, I think it’s just supposed to be a struggle. And I do think that has interplay with ROTJ’s portrayal of Vader’s redemption. It’s playing with the question of ontological good/evil. Can someone fundamentally be “just” a psychotic killer? [is it] too late for me son
He wants to believe he has the morals not to kill Dooku, he buries the memory of the Tuskens because that’s not what a good Jedi [master] does. I think the amount of time spent in ROTS of him angsting about his responsibilities vs desires makes it relatively intuitive that he is performing, deferring to doctrine and procedure harder than ever before. (“Not the Jedi way” “against the Jedi code” “never been done in the history of the Jedi”) Compensating for his failure and disappointment in himself into rigidity
This especially when that’s not how he was characterized in AOTC. It’s basically Catholic guilt, sin motivating piety. The Tuskens being evoked early in ROTS as a response to Anakin’s performed morals is functional in that lens.
I do think you’re right about the weirdness of Padme being super cool with the massacre in AOTC, though.
The other things that muddle it is stuff like the Padme death anxiety simply making no sense, and yet being given central focus. The fascism that peeks out also generally just makes Anakin unsympathetic. It’s odd because these explain motivations for different parts of his arc - but they barely if at all synthesize with one another.
- Padme is cool with Anakin killing those Tuskens because they need to be in love
- The nightmares of Padme’s death motivate the deal with the devil
- Anakin’s failed search for absolution explains the upfront costs
- The fascist side of Anakin gives him something to stay around for when it all goes bad
It’s all a mess BUT i think can be kinda compelling to think through
Sure, I can accept that reading as one way to slightly salvage Anakin’s downfall. I do think it warrants emphasizing though just how bizarre the whole Tusken thing really is, considering that presumably the movie wants us to still have some sympathy for Anakin in Acts II and III of AoTC and then Act I and II of RoTS. The weirdness of it all is partially masked by the sci-fi/fantasy setting. But imagine a (non sci-fi) historical drama where “Anakin Skywalker” walks up to a Bedouin encampment somewhere in Tunisia, pulls out a machine gun, and just murders every single person in the camp, including children. Then he goes back to his girlfriend and confesses, and she’s just like “well we all get angry sometimes” or whatever. Then the rest of the movie frames “Anakin Skywalker” as a standard protagonist engaging in often light-hearted, swashbuckling action-hero fare like nothing happened.
It’s like the script was written by someone with Bronze Age sensibilities - I can imagine an ancient Greek or Mesopotamian hero murdering an entire village for revenge, and being celebrated by poets and playwrights retelling the story to a Bronze Age audience. But for a 21st century space opera, this is pretty unorthodox. Man, George Lucas really is something else.