STAR WARS

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...

We commence with the first movie, Star Wars (or A New Hope, as it has been re-named). Let's take a look at the opening scroll:

It is a period of civil war.
Rebel spaceships, striking
from a hidden base, have won
their first victory against
the evil Galactic Empire.

During the battle, Rebel
spies managed to steal secret
plans to the Empire's
ultimate weapon, the Death
Star, an armored space
station with enough power to
destroy an entire planet.

Pursued by the Empire's
sinister agents, Princess
Leia races home aboard her
starship, custodian of the
stolen plans that can save
her people and restore
freedom to the galaxy...

The first we hear of anything as the audience is this 'first victory' by the Rebel forces against the 'evil' Empire. Strong term, 'evil'. The Rebels don't seem to be calling themselves 'good' except by implication. They use the socio-political term 'Rebel' for themselves, but use the moral qualifier 'evil' for their opponents. A textbook propagandist technique, this mixing of terms, as well as trying to play to our emotions with the words 'sinister' and 'evil'.

We also get the impression that the Empire is a long engrained social structure that is only now being torn down by a civil war. We find out later that that's not really the case. In fact the Empire is quite new, while the Old Republic lasted for 'a thousand generations'. An important note to make here is that Leia is indeed a 'princess', a member of royalty. She is trying to get BACK into power.

This is not a rebellion. The rebellion already happened; the royalty was deposed. Ever hear of a case where royalty was deposed by an actual system of government NOT based on hereditary rule that didn't benefit everybody except the royalty and their lackeys? Me neither.

What this princess is involved in is a Counter-Rebellion; very different indeed. Imagine if Marie Antoinette and Louis had lived and started organizing to regain the throne. Would the French peasants rally behind them (this is a good example as it turns out because Napoleon was no peach either, but he sure as hell was better than the royals)?

Very seldom in these movies are the people who are to be ruled by one or another of the fighting factions ever mentioned or considered. Neither side is 'good' in that regard, but there are a few clues as to their general politics.

The last line is revealing, as we are told that by saving 'her people', freedom will be restored to the entire galaxy. Since the rest of the galaxy doesn't seem to be racing to back her up, one has to wonder what freedom for 'her people' really entails.