STAR WARS

The Darth Vader school of management

So Kenobi's not the only one babbling about this "Force". Vader sounds like a true believer. As well he should be. In Phantom Menace 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...'

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, we get a demonstration:

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 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 are Rasputin, Charles Manson, and Jesus Christ.

Vader is often blamed for the Empire's atrocities, wrongly perhaps. Clearly he is far from the top of the Imperial heap. Grand Moff Tarkin is in charge of the Death Star and is ordering Vader around. Just something to keep in mind as I think a lot of people view Vader (I certainly did for a long time) as being second only to the Emperor. He ends up there, but he isn't there yet. Also Vader does not like the Death Star. He refers 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?

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.

Skipping ahead a scene, let's check out the interrogation of princess Leia. The floating droid is called a "torture robot" in the screenplay. Torture? Looks like they're juicing her up with some sort of truth serum. We're led to believe that something really awful happens here, but when next we see her there's no bruising, her clothes are not disarrayed, her hair isn't even mussed. She doesn't flinch at Vader's approach - she seems altogether well composed. With the stakes involved, she's being handled with kid gloves. Compare this with the Jedi version of 'trade negotiations' in Phantom Menace.