Rise Lord W!

Remember a few days ago on this weblog when I posted an article entitle ‘The Anti-Bush Star Wars?’ in which I brought to your attention the accusations made by certain individuals who claimed that the latest and final installment in the epic galactic series, Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, was in fact a vitriolic propagandist rant against the Bush Administration? Well, it seems as though the New York Times has decided to finally get in on the act as well, publishing an interesting article which takes a full overview of the arguments within the situation from both sides of the political spectrum. And while I did argue last summer that 20th Century Fox’s The Day After Tomorrow was a propagandist piece for the environmental wackos of the world who wished to see the United States be turned into a Third World country in order to prevent the extinction of ‘itchy green algae’ through the destabilization of our industries, I have serious doubts that anyone, let alone the most dedicated Star Wars fanatic, is searching deep within the context of the film to decipher the subliminal political message series creator George Lucas has planted into his science-fiction saga. I even have my reservations that Lucas’ inspiration for the Star Wars series was based on the Vietnam War as he claimed during his question and answer session following the premiere of the film at the Cannes Film Festival. Lucas could very well be doing all of this just to drive up the publicity for the film. If Fahrenheit 9/11 and The Passion of the Christ taught us anything last year about the box office, controversy breeds success. Some would argue, however, that the film is already a guaranteed success, so why would he risk the reputation of the film with a certain group of potential ticket holders? Why did he have to guest-star on the crappy OC television program on the Fox Network this past week? Any further publicity he can get for the final installment in the series, the happier he and his checkbook will be. But the bottom-line, at least as far as I can see, is that this whole ‘political message’ controversy should be put aside and not be taken seriously. Those who are going to see the film this weekend should simply enjoy the last episode of the Star Wars saga as I will and leave it at that.

Here is a short list published within the article of the New York Times which indicates what specific groups of individuals have made use of the political controversy swelling around the release of The Revenge of the Sith this Thursday, or at least attempted to do so ...

• The liberal advocacy group Moveon.org was preparing to spend $150,000 to run advertisements on CNN over the next few days - and to spread leaflets among audiences in line at multiplexes - comparing Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee, the majority leader, to the movie's power-grabbing, evil Chancellor Palpatine, for Dr. Frist's role in the Senate's showdown over the confirmation of federal judges.
• Conservative Web logs [myself included] were lacerating Mr. Lucas over the film's perceived jabs at President Bush - as when Anakin Skywalker, on his way to becoming the evil Darth Vader, warns, "If you're not with me, you're my enemy," in an echo of Mr. Bush's post-9/11 ultimatum, "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."
• A little-trafficked conservative Web site about film, Pabaah.com - for "Patriotic Americans Boycotting Anti-American Hollywood" - added Mr. Lucas to its list of boycotted entertainers, along with more than 200 others, including Jane Fonda, Susan Sarandon, Sean Penn and the Dixie Chicks.
• Even the Drudge Report Web site got into the act: beneath a picture of Darth Vader, it compared the White House press corps to the vengeful Sith, after reporters peppered a press secretary for pressing Newsweek magazine to "repair the damage" in the Muslim world caused by a retracted report about desecration of the Koran.