The Aluminum Falcon said:
I actually think Jonatello is onto something. "It" would affirm Ben's statement in ROTJ of Vader being more machine than man. It could also help to explain why Obi Wan did not hesitate in confronting Vader on the Death Star; he thought there was no one left to save, just a sort of reanimated carcass. To the audience as well, Vader seems completely distant and the last of sympathy, the human connection, has left him.
Yeah, the dominant impression of Darth Vader is meant to be that of a mechanical monster, not a human being. This is the reason for the helmet. It's why he is presented as a sinister robotic looking mask instead of a face. Its why he's made of blinking lights and wires among other things. Obviously, in the plot, there's practical reasons...but the practical reasons are there to serve the more important artistic reason.
And generally, this is how the audience came to view him. Some people even called him a robot. It's part of whats so shocking about the reveal of him being Luke's father.
Vader no longer recognizes his human nature and uses that quality to distance himself from moral judgment. He serves himself now and only later in ESB when Luke shows up, do his human qualities and his capacity for "human" moral judgment resurface. "It" may not be just Padme but his entire human nature.
Exactly, exactly, exactly. This was the next thing I wanted to say and you took the words out of my mouth. The fact that Vader finally begins to get broken down and renewed as Anakin little by little ONLY when he becomes aware of his children...the fact that it's his son (his son who is probably nowhere near as powerful or gifted) who looks into this mechanical monster and determines to love him out of the empty 1-dimensional hatred of the dark side is what makes the whole thing so powerful in the end. He's a machine to most people before that point. Probably even to his daughter.
And the time when it is most crucial to express such emotionless machinery is when it is first introduced in that chamber where he's just been reassembled.
Exit: screaming anakin, Enter: beeping slave.
In any case, maybe I am reading too much into it. The Cutter's work really is very good and uncovers much depth in the ROTS story I previously thought not possible.
EDIT: In response to Tobar's comment, Vader's unemotional and self-serving quality make him "evil." With no moral nature, he is unconnected with the force (life's representation) and what Obi-Wan would consider evil. Vader has changed into a machine which is driven only by the need to survive and better its own conditions; therefore, it cares for no one: evil.
Bingo. Vader becomes a symbol of that cold unfeeling type of evil. It's the reason for the outfit. It's what gives the redemption power.