That’s just the thing isn’t it? Most of the prequels’ production predates 9/11 and the ‘war on terror’ response. He’s already challenging the ‘moral authority’ of neoliberal order in TPM, before even the turn of the century. It’s not hard for me to believe that Lucas was not a fan of American foreign policy even back in the 70s, when it was popular among artists to be critical anyway.

I can agree that it’s not manifest in the OT in overt ways, but on paper it’s young people radicalized against hegemonic power and joining rebels. Think about how Luke indifferently lives under the Empire and even yearns to join the Academy as a banal escape at the start of Star Wars. A New Hope in that way is almost the fantasy of a 70s college protestor blasting “What’s Going On” by Marvin Gaye while picketing police brutality, or Watergate, environmental issues, etc, etc. (Stuff like the Biggs deleted scene makes this a lot clearer.) The World War II imagery just empowers that kind of youthful anti-establishment as noble a cause as those heroes in fable. Rebellion as a heroic war movie.

This does not mean Star Wars is commenting on or even being overt allegory for any specific issue. Star Wars is not “about” Vietnam. I just don’t think Lucas is “making it up” to sound cool or edgy, when he talks about what it means to him. We’re talking about a hippie cosmology-loving, anti-war film student here.