STAR WARS

The Darth Vader School of Management

So Kenobi's not the only one babbling about this "Force", it seems.
Vader sounds like a true believer.
Many years later when Phantom Menace was released, we found out why.
We're told that Anakin was found as a young slave and taken back to the Jedi council and indoctrinated with Jedi ritual and philosophy.
This story may not be true - we don't recieve any of this info from a living person in the original trilogy, and Ben fails to mention to Luke that Anakin was a SLAVE CHILD and a VIRGIN BIRTH.
What is agreed upon by both sides though, is that when Vader stood in opposition to the Jedi he used their own arts against them and bested them.
The Jedi pride themselves on being great warriors. Vader it seems, was even greater.
I suppose there's a nice little lesson in there about 'those who live by the lasersword...'

Vader is often wrongly paired with the Death Star in people's memory.
Grand Moff Tarkin is in charge of the Death Star and is ordering Vader around.
Vader openly disparages the Death Star, referring to it as something "you've constructed", distancing himself from the battle station and it's creators.
This is the Emperor's baby and considering that Darth does not approve, I smell a split (at least ideologically) with the Emperor.
Is this why Luke has been kept in hiding, for the day when Vader would have to stop the Emperor?

When Kenobi first mentioned the Force, the only evidence of a Jedi's 'power' was the lightsaber.
That's like using a sniper rifle to prove that the Green Berets are really tough.
When Vader first talks of the Force, though, we get a demonstration:

An important question came to light in January of 2006:
IS TARKIN ROGUE?
Is he breaking away from the Empire and striking out on his own, grabbing for power?
Well, in a word,
YES!
The only intel we get about the Emperor has granted Tarkin the authority to destroy worlds at whim is Tarkin's say-so.
Tarkin is the villain of this movie.
Tarkin is the madman loose with the most powerful weapon devised.
Vader, it seems, is the only one who can stop him.

In this scene Vader is the only one at the table who is not given a seat.
It's apparent that Vader is an outsider and is viewed with hostility by these conspirators.
Tarkin talks of regional goverors now having control of their territories and the Death Star instilling fear.
Motti suggests they use the battle station...
"Use" it? This is frightful talk
And there is not one scene, not so much as a still photo with a caption, to suggest the Emperor has actually signed off on this.
Just Tarkin's word

Vader is far enough out of Tarkin's inner circle that Motti taunts and ridicules him.
Enough is enough (Vader is the King, after all) and he settles Motti's shit.

In a crowded meeting room filled with high officials we get a very public display of ... well, something.
Is this the Force being used?
Vader is more machine than man, and the Star Wars universe is rife with field manipulation technology (fairly cheap and reliable stuff apparently).
The only time in this movie we see someone purportedly effecting something physical from a distance, it's a cyborg doing it.
Now, if this is indeed a demonstration of Vader's mental powers, then I postulate he is not effecting anything physically at all.
Note that Motti's neck is not visibly squeezed (lending credibility to the idea that this is some kind of mental action we're seeing), so it's Vader's 'force' of will that is keeping the man from breathing.
Charasmatic madmen often have incredible powers of self control and even the ability to control others, sometimes down to a cellular level.
Good examples include Rasputin, Charles Manson, and Jesus Christ.

Further, it's quite clear from everybody else in the room that this is not technology being used.
There would at the very least be some reprobation about using weapons in the workplace.
Vader does use the tech in his arm quite a bit - to move METAL.
This ain't metal, and that's why everybody is visibly unnerved.
I mean, there are protocols for what to do when people brandish weapons.
A little more difficult to call 'no using mind powers to choke people', even in the Star Wars Universe it seems.

Motti can only breathe after Vader turns away and relents out loud.
Jedi are powerful hypnotists, and Vader is one of the most powerful among them.
The scene ends with Vader staring Motti down from Tarkin's side.
Hardcore.

The dialog from the screenplay is accurate but the descriptions are sometimes wildly off.
Interesting, no?
Case in point, Motti most definitely does NOT turn blue.
Motti DOES end up quite disturbed by the encounter and avoids Vader from here on.

Motti's ploy was over the plans for the Death Star.
I'll suggest now that these stolen plans do not exist.
I don't Artoo has them - he gets them when he accesses the Death Star's main frame.