HUMANNESS IN THE FORCE
Those that know me know that Star Wars is my best franchise and fictional universe. Even if Marvel movies are awesome, and even if DC comics stories blow my mind, I pick Star Wars over them any day. I remember first encountering Star Wars when I saw the trailer for Episode III: Revenge Of the Sith on TV as a child, and I’ve been hooked ever since. Episode III in particular is my best out of the movies, and Anakin Skywalker is my best character. I don’t care much for criticism of the movies, especially the new ones, because I see that even if they are not doing it perfectly, they are taking the franchise in an interesting direction, a direction that is more grey than the usual black and white, good and evil trope, and you can see it everywhere in Star Wars, whether the new comics, animated series or the movies.
For this post I wanted to focus on the most famous part of Star Wars, The Force. The force is an energy field that permeates all living things, at least according to Master Yoda. You could call it the “life force” of the Universe of Star Wars, and it is what makes the special characters, called “force sensitive” people, do those awesome feats, like telekinesis, lightning projection, and clairvoyance (seeing the future).
These special characters manipulate and are attuned to the “flow” of the force, and because of this, they do things and have access to information about their surroundings no normal person has. The two main force wielding factions for most of the franchise are the Jedi and the Sith. To cut it short, the Jedi are the good guys and the Sith are the bad guys. The Jedi, with all their flaws, strive to help their galaxy, using their abilities for the benefit of others, and study the force to know how to better use it for good. The Sith are totally opposite to this, they use their powers selfishly, often craving power for the sake of power, and will do anything for it, often killing a lot of people on their way to acquiring and holding power. Nowhere is this contrast starker than in their pledges:
The original Jedi Code went like this:
Emotion, yet peace.
Ignorance, yet knowledge.
Passion, yet serenity.
Chaos, yet harmony.
Death, yet the Force.
The modified Code (Flawed in my opinion), went thus:
There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force. [1]
Meanwhile the Sith Code went thus:
Peace is a lie, there is only passion. Through passion, I gain strength. Through strength, I gain power. Through power, I gain victory. Through victory, my chains are broken. The Force shall free me. [2]
I’m sure you can see the contrast, and this contrast affects the way both factions approached things. Star Wars uses the force as an explanation for life, as a sort of divine impetus behind creation. In a sense, the force is the Star Wars Universe’s logic of life. This logic is mostly followed by the Jedi and opposed by the Sith. The logic is the same there as here: Life is good, and life prospers in giving, life grows by sacrificing itself for the good of life, seeds die for trees to grow, it’s life is passed on to the tree, death is life’s servant. Life is self-giving, life tends toward death for the sake of life. That’s why the Jedi can give their lives for others, they see that their life’s sacrifice enables other lives to continue to prosper, and in sacrifice the Jedi are truly themselves.
The Sith rebel against this logic, they rebel against life, although they may not realize this, in selfishly withholding their life at the expense of others, they cause death, both for themselves and others, their use of death is not life giving, for they make death master over life, perverting the way the universe is supposed to work.
This is even seen in the way their use of the force affects them. Jedi, barring being premature death caused by unseen circumstances, tend to live long natural lives, often being very healthy, even till old age. The Sith however, may live long lives, but it is a forced life, they often look old or sickly. For example, Darth Sidious, a very powerful Dark Lord, looked like a decrepit Old man even when he was middle aged, his dark use of the force had twisted their body and mind. He may have been powerful, but this was gained at the cost of his humanity.
I believe Star Wars can teach us a lot about being human. Its characters and story reminds us of ourselves and how our decisions affect our lives. The greatest tyrants in history may not have had magical powers that turned them into ugly animals, but they might have well have been animals with the way they treated their subjects. Same for us, how do we treat other? Are people just pawns to us, things we can use to gain something, do we seek power of whatever kind at the expense of others, or do we live life with our neighbor in mind, this is a critique for all of us, me included, I’m not perfect, we’re not perfect, and it’s always good to examine oneself once in a while.
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