Identity Crisis in Star Wars

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Identity Crisis in Star Wars

Introduction

Star Wars is a 1977 American epic space-opera multimedia franchise that was created by George Lucas. The film, which started with eponymous film that was showcased in 1977 quickly renowned as a global pop-culture phenomenon. The first-ever Star War Series opening points to the fact that movies the sequel will be about more than lightsaber fights and space chases. Eventually, the movie turned out to be a multibillion-dollar franchise that spanned several decades across various multimedia platforms. The inspiration behind Star Wars was the post civil landscape of the 1970s and the movie Westerns and samurai films. Over the years, there have been claims of identity crisis in Star Wars. This essay discusses the identity crisis that is evidenced in Star Wars.

Today, the issue of identity crisis in Star Wars is relevant now more than ever. Star wars are not just about the political crisis; it also brings into perspective the microcosm of American politics that is best described as exhausted, tribal, and fractious (Campbell and Gigi, 37). It points to a perfect picture of the culture wars of the 21st century. The most recent three Star War Films are viewed as the final acts in the saga opera taking place in mainstage space. The three films have presented a confusing message about mainstream primary candidate from the Democratic Republic Party. The film is ambivalent concerning technology, just like a millennial that is stuck in a love-hate relationship with her iPhone or an old-timer in a cap writing “Make America Great Again” and hoping that factories get reopened any day. All these instances mirror the reflection of democracy issues that reflect identity issues. What makes Star Wars lack coherent narrative more than everything else is the absence of a coherent narrative. This is what has made the film subject of meta-commentary on matters pertaining to politics for the past five years.

Some of the action scenes in Star Wars have been inspired by combat from real-life combat encounters such as tank warfare, samurai sword battles, and high-flying dogfights occurring at a close range. Star Wars swayed from its initial narrative that it has always employed at a time when pop culture was also becoming increasingly popular (Guynes and Dan, 15). Pop culture became the lens through which political altercations took place. Some political conflicts are personal, and fandom is viewed as a religion. With the release of a new Star War Film comes a pan of breathless twitter-sourced stories about problematic fans threatening to boycott the fandom. At times the fans go to the extent of buying cast members from minority groups on social media. The new trilogy showcases proxy for America during the age of President Trump. Luke Skywalker, who is appointed the leader of the new generation of Jedi, is in another planet on a self-imposed exile for not living up to expectations. Hillary Clinton settled for Chappaqua woods without a spaceship. Ben Solo, son of Leia and Han, is pushed towards the First Order by the mentor. The mentor feared the dark side of his dreams and was the first patron saint of the pop culture. Disaffected young men saw themselves as unfair demons of the progressive left. Star Wars: Rise of the Skywalker has a plot twist where the Admiral Hux of the First Order is revealed as a secret mole for no other reason besides that he had lost total confidence in the temperamental Kylo Ren. The only thing that was missing was an op-ed reassuring the galactic public that the administration of the first order still had adults within the room.

Worth noting, the political identity crisis is not just about conservative vs. liberal, right vs. left, or dark vs. light sides. Both the fictional galaxy in Star Wars and society’s current political landscape seem to be trapped between wallowing in the previous nostalgia and finishing the lures of the progressivism concept of burning it all. While the concept of burn-it-all-down progressivism encountered a disastrous trial in the Last Jedi, the past nostalgia was not working either. The uneasy relationship with the franchises that followed and the advances in technology was a sign that the present political landscape is not working. The thrilling spectacle of rebels navigates the X-wings in the turny and twisty trenches of the deaths Star before the well-timed torpedo incinerates at its centre. After 40 years, the opening sentence in the Last Jedi, resistance bombs close in on the First Order in closing in a planet that houses a rebel base hence losing countless resources and lives in the process.

While combat technology has not evolved a great deal in the Star Wars world, the rest of the world has been revolutionized by unmanned drones and targeted missiles. This makes the kick off The Last Jedi less out of place essentially because it seemed like a suicide mission. A few centuries back, in 1977, it seemed impossible to detonate enemies from numerous thousands miles away (Canavan, 14). It was only something that seemed possible in the movie game. However, in the current 21st century it is all about how Former United States President and Nobel Peace prize winner decided to wage war. American military operations no longer took the form of countable plucky pilots that are standing up against organized, massive and military-industrial machine. Society is the machine, a uniformed leadership wits its finger on the button, waiting to obliterate enemies from space.

Despite Star Wars ignoring modern drone warfare, it does a great job of dramatically swinging in the opposite direction in matters pertaining to anxieties raised on the internet. In the current world, bots ignite chaos in social media platforms and the use of artificial intelligence sex dolls also raises consent controversies. The film also showcases the inconsistencies in the treatment of droids which is rather distasteful. In Star Wars; Rise of Skywalker plotline, C3PO denies the resistance critical information due to a problem with his programming (Wetmore Kevin, 29). The droid is not able to translate inscription drafted in Sith. It almost feels like a warning concerning the issues with suppressing speech. Silencing their enemies is not an option as it leaves heroes ignorant of how they can beat them. The only way to recover critical information is a hack that also wipes clean the memories of C3PO and decades worth of relationships with comrades he once had and information that the memory has.

In closing, Star Wars is the perfect example that showcases the identity crisis that exists in society. Starting of a movie about spaces chases and lightsaber fights, Star War slowly evolves into a multi-billion dollar franchise that spans decades. Inspired by postwar landscape of the 1970s, Star Wars showcases identity crisis in governments and historically perfectly.

Works Cited

Campbell, Joel R., and Gigi Gokcek. The final frontier: International relations and politics through star trek and star wars. Rowman & Littlefield, 2019.

Canavan, Gerry. “Hokey Religions: Star Wars and Star Trek in the Age of Reboots.” Extrapolation (2017).

Guynes, Sean A., and Dan Hassler-Forest. Star Wars and the history of transmedia storytelling. Amsterdam University Press, 2017.

Wetmore Jr, Kevin J. The Empire triumphant: Race, religion and rebellion in the Star Wars films. McFarland, 2017.