Ignorance in the Star Wars Galaxy

The following thoughts are asked from a fully assimilated, 'saga' perspective. I appreciate the convoluted history of the story, the improvised nature of which largely causes these questions. But I am thinking about these things in light of all material up to the present. 

The prequels and Clone Wars series establishes Anakin Skywalker as a relatively well-known war hero. The novelization of Episode III makes it sound like Anakin and Obi-Wan are two of the most famous Jedi around. Yoda is seemingly the prime member of the Jedi Council. The holonet seems to function like the internet does for us. 

The Empire suppressed information and spread propaganda, but a whole galaxy can't just forget what was so well known after 19 years. Vader's identity is not public knowledge, and I believe the official story is that Anakin was killed defending the Jedi temple.

Fast forward. Luke Skywalker is told that his father was a navigator on a spice freighter. Obi-Wan seems to bring Luke up to speed by giving him more or less the 'official' version of the story. Anakin was famous, so I wonder if Luke ever heard of him elsewhere. If so, would he have had the realization offscreen that his father was THAT Anakin Skywalker? If not, how did that information become to thoroughly suppressed? Obi-Wan was willing to let Luke know the seeming 'official' version of Anakin's story, but Owen dreamt up something much more mundane. 

The deleted scene with Red Leader, Biggs, and Luke that was partially reinstated for the SE references Luke's father. It seems like others in the galaxy know who Luke's father is by merely knowing his surname and Jedi status. Is the lack of knowledge that his father was a Jedi sufficient reason for Luke to be taken in by Owen's lies? Again, does this mean that he must have realized later, "Golly, my father was THE Anakin Skywalker?!"

Related to that, why does Luke not know what Yoda looks like? Is it because he simply did not have time to research it between hearing about him and leaving for Dagobah? Surely Luke would have done a galactic Google search about the Jedi and have seen (even propaganda-spun) information about some of the most famous Jedi. 

I'd like to see these issues addressed in the upcoming Heir to the Jedi novel. I've always found it confusing about who in Star Wars knows what. This issue was really driven home in the pre-prequel EU, because the prequel story had not been told yet so there was nothing for authors to have the characters know. Since the post-ROTJ EU was written in broadly chronological order, the time at which the prequel films were released coincided in-universe with discoveries of old information that had been lost. Now that the EU has been "rebooted," as it were, I'd like to see novels tackle this issue more directly. 

The logistics of running a galactic internet are... intense. Even at lightspeed, google searches would take from minutes (same solar system) to millenia (farther away). The only way it could work is if it was allowed to pass through the hyperspace portals or whatever, which I'm sure the Empire had more or less control of. Keep in mind, in modern China, North Korea, etc. most people don't know the truth about some historic events. It's actually somewhat likely that the Empire would censor this information.

In truth, however, this can be attributed almost entirely to Lucas's admittedly non-existent planning for the saga.

I never thought of it before but you're right HAL, it doesn't make much sense that a Fighter-Pilot fanboy like Luke would have never heard of the greatest pilot who ever lived.

It would be like a kid called 'Luke Senna' growing up living, sleeping and breathing motor-racing and nobody ever says "It's funny you should like cars and motor racing because there was this world famous Ayrton Senna dude!? He was the best driver ever". Then Luke replies "Oh really?? That's odd because my dad was called 'Ayrton Senna' too but he was just a bus driver".

Even on a backwater like Tatooine this unlikely what with Luke probably hanging round Anchorhead talking to pilots and hearing tales of far off worlds. If Luke had spent his whole life dreaming of being a moisture farmer then fair enough. If he'd spent his childhood reading 'Moisture Farmer Monthly', glueing together model Vaporators and collecting 'Moisture Farming Bubblegum Cards', then I could believe that he'd have never come across this famous pilot with the same name as him.

Ryan McAvoy said:

I never thought of it before but you're right HAL, it doesn't make much sense that a Fighter-Pilot fanboy like Luke would have never heard of the greatest pilot who ever lived.

It would be like a kid called 'Luke Senna' growing up living, sleeping and breathing motor-racing and nobody ever says "It's funny you should like cars and motor racing because there was this world famous Ayrton Senna dude!? He was the best driver ever". Then Luke replies "Oh really?? That's odd because my dad was called 'Ayrton Senna' too but he was just a bus driver".

Even on a backwater like Tatooine this unlikely what with Luke probably hanging round Anchorhead talking to pilots and hearing tales of far off worlds. If Luke had spent his whole life dreaming of being a moisture farmer then fair enough. If he'd spent his childhood reading 'Moisture Farmer Monthly', glueing together model Vaporators and collecting 'Moisture Farming Bubblegum Cards', then I could believe that he'd have never come across this famous pilot with the same name as him.

 It would be like that if it was just one planet, especially tatooine. But there are "countless" star systems in the galaxy. Tatooine, Alderaan, Coruscant just to name a few... Now imagine that at the same time... NONE of the other people in the galaxy were named Anakin? Or had the last name Skywalker? There are so many people named... Tom Cruise for example. In my town a guy named Tom Cruise runs a wheelchair store. If someone said their father was named Tom Cruise... No way would I assume it was either of those people. Also, who ever explicitly told luke his father's name was Anakin until Obi-Wan? Perhaps Owen and Beru told him Jeff Skywalker was his father.

DominicCobb said:

Tom Cruise, inventor of the hover-round?

 Ah! That's the one. I knew I remembered it from somewhere. I just remembered him saying his name and the wheelchairs. It just looked like an amateur-ish local commercial.

Luke's ignorance is understandable. HAN'S is something completely different.

Wouldn't the Empire be offering rewards for tips on Jedi/showing them being brought to "justice" on newsfeeds throughout the galaxy? One of the Rebels trailers shows a Jedi being captured, for instance. You'd think that Luke would have seen at least one of these things when he went into town, even on a backwater nothing planet.

Tobar said:

What doesn't make sense is why Obi-Wan can have a live conversation between Coruscant and Kamino which is described as being "beyond the Outer Rim." But then later has to relay a recorded message from Geonosis to Tatooine before it can reach Coruscant.

If I remember correctly, his long-range transmitter was damaged in the duel over Geonosis with Jango.

I do agree that in the OT, mass communication (at least beyond the outer rim) isn't a big thing. Perhaps that's due to Imperial sanctions on the news or just general information lockdown, which seems very evil Empire to me.

If you wanna really reach, in the Holiday Special, there's a lot of long-range communication, Empire-mandated viewing of certain programs, and even a live transmission directly from Tatooine. =P

And that's exactly it. I can find fun in finding in-universe explanations for oddities in stories, especially in Tolkien's world. It's strange to juxtapose ignorance and lack of media with FaceTime chats across half a galaxy's diameter.