Originally posted by: Scruffy
As long as we're on this kick, the whole point of the Star Wars Trilogy is to show a younger generation not making the mistakes of their elders. The conflict is intergenerational, but it is also optimistic. On the one hand, you have the old people:
Darth Vader
Emperor Palpatine
Governor Tarkin
Ben Kenobi
Yoda
On the other hand, you have the young'ns:
Luke Skywalker
Princess Leia
Han Solo
The old geezers are vying for the loyalty of Luke, who represents the young generation. There are two geezer factions: the Dark and the Light. The Dark Side represents the real-world establishment: they control the government and the military, and they have all the real-world power in the universe. The Light Side is sort of an idealistic paleoconservative group: they represent the "good old days" of the Republic, elegance, knighthood, and a desire to destroy evil. Each side attempts to indoctrinate Luke into their way of thinking. As the protege of the last Jedi, the son of Darth Vader, and a military hero, he is perfectly positioned to legitimate either point of view.
Luke creatively chooses a third way. He adopts much of the discipline and techniques of the Light Side, but not its harshness. He is not so much interested in destroying evil, which he probably views as hypocritical in light of the Light Side's peaceful philosophy, as he is in reaching out to the lost. Against the ardent advice of his two Jedi tutors, he obeys the love and hope in his heart, and is ultimately rewarded when that love is reflected from his father's heart.
Love, hope, these are the keys that both camps in the geezer faction lacked. They Dark Side sought control through fear and mass violence. The Light Side, from what little we know of it, sought control through direct if somewhat judicious violence. Luke, given the power of life or death, declined to exercise it and merely sought rapprochement with his enemy. The Republic fell, the Empire fell, but a young idealistic man lived to enjoy the company of his friends surrounded by tall trees and the smoky songs of their celebration.
As long as we're on this kick, the whole point of the Star Wars Trilogy is to show a younger generation not making the mistakes of their elders. The conflict is intergenerational, but it is also optimistic. On the one hand, you have the old people:
Darth Vader
Emperor Palpatine
Governor Tarkin
Ben Kenobi
Yoda
On the other hand, you have the young'ns:
Luke Skywalker
Princess Leia
Han Solo
The old geezers are vying for the loyalty of Luke, who represents the young generation. There are two geezer factions: the Dark and the Light. The Dark Side represents the real-world establishment: they control the government and the military, and they have all the real-world power in the universe. The Light Side is sort of an idealistic paleoconservative group: they represent the "good old days" of the Republic, elegance, knighthood, and a desire to destroy evil. Each side attempts to indoctrinate Luke into their way of thinking. As the protege of the last Jedi, the son of Darth Vader, and a military hero, he is perfectly positioned to legitimate either point of view.
Luke creatively chooses a third way. He adopts much of the discipline and techniques of the Light Side, but not its harshness. He is not so much interested in destroying evil, which he probably views as hypocritical in light of the Light Side's peaceful philosophy, as he is in reaching out to the lost. Against the ardent advice of his two Jedi tutors, he obeys the love and hope in his heart, and is ultimately rewarded when that love is reflected from his father's heart.
Love, hope, these are the keys that both camps in the geezer faction lacked. They Dark Side sought control through fear and mass violence. The Light Side, from what little we know of it, sought control through direct if somewhat judicious violence. Luke, given the power of life or death, declined to exercise it and merely sought rapprochement with his enemy. The Republic fell, the Empire fell, but a young idealistic man lived to enjoy the company of his friends surrounded by tall trees and the smoky songs of their celebration.
I liked that analyisis.
