May the Force be with U
Last summer, the end of the wars of the stars, shook the United States. In the summer of year the 2005, the long expedition of Star Wars was finally finished by the release of the last sequence Star Wars Episode 3: The Revenge of the Sith. Star Wars maniacs waited day and night just to see the release of the film, and due to this phenomenon where workers have their work places and watch the movie instead, the United States had a loss of millions of dollars in their economy. The last series of Star Wars was released in this hyper atmosphere. This happening reflects that the Star Wars sequence is not like the other movies.
I’ve met this tremendous movie, Star Wars, quite a long time ago. I was in 5th grade in elementary school when my mother first recommended that I watch the movie. The movie she showed me was Episode I of Star Wars which is the Phantom Menace. I watched it because it was on Sky Premiere which usually had good movies; also partially because I was getting bored from doing homework. However, the movie wasn’t so impressive. First, I didn’t even understand the story and second, I didn’t really like the little creature Yoda. As a consequence, when my mother asked me to watch another sequence of the movie some months later I wasn’t that pleased, but I joined her because once again, I wanted to escape from my homework.
After watching that movie, which was the sixth episode, Return of the Jedi, I was amazed. Even though the graphics weren’t so well-done and the actors weren’t that great, I was just amazed by the fact that such a movie existed.
When the movie ended, I was just stunned. I even liked the look of Yoda! Likewise, I started searching the catalogue of the Satellite and watched all the sequences of Star Wars. I watched them over and over and over again until I memorized the words. In the end, I recorded every single series and watched them whenever I wanted to. As a result, when I heard the news about the release of the second episode I was thrilled and filled with excitement. I cannot forget myself jumping around the whole house.
The problem was, however, that I was too young then to understand the inside philosophy of Star Wars. I just had fun and enjoyed the movie as it was and had the excitement of watching a sci-fi action, movie. When I was old enough to understand the inside meaning of Star Wars, the meeting with the interpretation was a fresh shock which grabbed me like an unbearable force. I can still remember the flow of that force which went through me that night. The philosophy, the knowledge, the religion and the force surrounding all living things…this force is even surrounding this term paper, and it is also the term paper itself.
Taoism: the energy surrounding all living things; the force
Throughout our daily lives, we sometimes give and take the quote “May the force be with you” as a simple joke or as a meaning of good luck. Then what is this force? F=ma? Maybe so, but that is not the exact force from the movie. According to the great Jedi, Obi-wan Kenobi, “The Force is what gives the Jedi his power. It’s an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.” This Sounds very powerful, but this force that seems to let Yoda foresee and feel the future, makes it possible for the skywalkers and the Jedies to lift things without using their hand and use the powerful light sabers, is inside all of us (Decekr 1-2). This mysterious and attractive force described in the movie is very much similar to that of the eastern philosophy Taoism.
Taoism is one of the two most ancient religions that were followed in China for more than 2000 years. This religion was found by a Taoist named Lao-Tzu after he wrote a series of poems called Tao-te Ching. Tao(道) is the unutterable, eternal and creative reality that is the source and end of all things. It is often translated as “the way” or “the path.” Te is what shows Tao through all livings. Anne Collins Smith of Susquehanna Univ. in Selinsgrove, Penn, defines the Tao as “a force that pervades the universe.” She says, “It is the source of universe, but it also IS the universe.” According to the professor, Tao can have three different but related meanings: the nature of the universe, the essence of oneself and also the way to lead one’s life. In Taoism, it is said that the main principle is wu-wei or creative inaction. Wu-wei basically means to do things that are so very well attached to other things that to notice what's been done is impossible. To put the explain more easily, in Taoism, everything will go wrong and have the opposite result if one tries to interfere with the natural order of things.
The interesting fact is that to find the elements of Tao in the movie is not so difficult. One example is a part in episode 4, where Luke, Obi-wan, Han solo and Chewbacca ride the Millennium Falcon to go to the Death Star to save Princess Leia. Inside the Falcon Obi-wan Kenobi trains Luke how to use the light saber and help him learn the way of the force by using a remote to blast lasers; the Skywalker fails miserably to avoid the lasers. Ironically, when Obi-wan puts a helmet on Luke so that he does not depend on his eyes, the Skywalker confidently deflects the lasers. The flow of the force is what made Luke Skywalker able to have such ‘luck’, as Han Solo describes it after watching.
Another example is in the battle scene where Luke blasts the Death Star. Many of the other rebels try to target the exact point of the Death Star by using the computer program, but all attempts miss the target and nobody succeeds. As Luke gets closer and closer to the point where he is supposed to fire, Obi-wan Kenobi or the phantom of him, keeps telling him to “believe in the force.” Luke wisely listens to his master and ignoring all the complaints of the rebellions, he turns off his device, and successfully accomplishes his mission. The advice of the great master Obi-wan Kenobi, to “believe in the force”was right.
nbsp There is another part of Taoism that can be sighted in the movie. In one of the poems of Tao-te Ching, there is a profound verse that goes like this: “The Tao is like a bellows: it is empty yet infinitely capable. The more you use it, the more it produces; the more you talk of it, the less you understand.” In this verse, we can see that doing is more important than understanding. The wrinkled Yoda, who surprisedd me because of his looks, explains this vague theory through teaching Luke skywalker. The scene for making this theory clear is in episode V. Luke’s spaceship got stuck in the swamp nearby Yoda’s home and Yoda teaches Luke to use the force to lift it out. When Luke tries really hard to raise it up and fails, Yoda says this striking quote; “No…try not. Do or do not. There is not try” (Decekr et al 55). And then, as we all know, Luke raises up the ship without very much effort.
Nevertheless, there are some parts in the movie that go against Taoism. First, in Taoism, it teaches to tune in with nature and it is against the idea of conscious manipulation of the environment. The tremendous technology is definitely not in harmony with nature. Second, the force of good and evil, which will be discussed more deeply later; in Taoism the symbol yin yang represents this good vs. evil. Yin yang is the symbol for representing the unity of apparent opposites in Taoism. Yin symbolizes the dark, death, winter and female whereas yang represents the light, life, summer and male. Unlike the theme of one side of the force coming over the other, in Taoism both forces are equal and needed. The two sides of the force are equally respected and Taoists insist that they should be balanced.
Manichaeism in Star Wars: the Light and the Dark
In every episode of the movie, Darth Vader, Yoda, Obi-wan Kenobi and many other characters keep talking about “the power of the Dark side” or “the Dark side of the force.” What exactly is the movie trying to say about the two sides of the force, light and dark?
Nowadays, people define the ‘good’ and the ‘evil’ by the Christian way of thinking. Christians normally define ‘evil’ or ‘bad’ as the absence of ‘good’ (Rowlands 227) This way of describing good and evil didn’t really start from Christianity but goes far back to the time of Plato. According to the ancient Greek philosopher, Plato, everything exists inside the pure and perfect ‘good.’ Obviously, the things that are less ‘good’ are things that exist less. His theory is that the ultimate purpose of living is to achieve the knowledge of the shape and the model for what he called ‘the idea of good’ (Rowlands 229). Basically what Plato insisted was that he saw the dark side only as the absence or the lack of the light, and the perfect ‘good’ is what the Christians call heaven. That is why Christians try to go into that perfect place by eliminating all evil forces inside them. Their teaching was to cut off their arm or take out their eye if it was the root of evil, at least during the middle Ages. They believed that to stop more evil was to eradicate any single drop of darkness inside them.
If George Lucas supported this idea of Plato, Darth Vader, who went to the path of evil from good, would have had to exist less or become more unreal and less perfect. However that’s not what’s shown in the movie. In the movie, as Darth Vader turns to the dark side of the force, he becomes stronger with the force, more real and clearer. He becomes the core of the movie. Even behind his black mask, he is more real than any other character. Then this must mean that Lucas is not on the side of Plato. Lucas, in a way, shows that the light and the dark must go together in harmony.
“Star Wars” very much owes its idea about light and dark to the old religion, Manichaeism. The most important part of Manichaeism is the ‘dualism.’ The dualism that Mani, the founder of Manichaeism, postulated is the two sides of the force, good and evil. The good or the realm of light, the spirit, lives in peace whereas the evil or the realm of darkness, the body, keeps struggling. According to Manichaeism, the universe, especially human life, is basically a war between the good and evil. This war goes on forever until the victory smiles upon one side. Traditionally, Manicheans accepted that the side of the light is the winner rather than that of the dark (Rowlands 223).
The major principle of Manichaeism is that there is no omnipotent power of the good, in contrast of the belief of perfect goodness by Plato. Manichaeism define good and evil as an equal and opposite power; light is our spirit and dark is our body. Manicheans claim that the human being is a battlefield where the two powers fight; the good power is the soul and the bad part is the body (Rowlands 222). The soul is what identifies the person and it is pure, but the soul is dominated by an external power, which is what they call the problem of evil (Decekr et al 69). A human is said to be able to be saved from the dark force if they come to know who they are and identify themselves with their soul. Then how does this relate to the movie?
In episode 6, the Return of the Jedi, Luke Skywalker says to his father, Darth Vader, "Search your feelings, Father. You can't do this. I feel the conflict within you. Let go of your hate." Until Darth Vader's death, Darth Vader let his realm of darkness take over his spirit and suddenly his son comes up and duels with him. When he tries to kill his son he senses the goodness left in him and he feels great turbulence. In the end he finally defeats the dark force and finds his true spirit. At the end of the movie, Anakin Skywalker, who comes back from being Darth Vader, tells his son to leave him and escape. Luke Skywalker refuses to do so and insists that he must save him. In response to this, Anakin Skywalker says, "You already have, Luke. You were right, you were right about me. Tell your sister you were right..." The powerful Darth Vader was finally saved by his son, Luke, from the fear, hate and anger he had fallen into and now he finally returned to his true self. This is probably the victory the light gained from a long term of fighting.
Generally, besides Darth Vader defeating the dark force and becoming light again, the whole movie is basically how people (?) struggle to achieve the ultimate “peace.” Human can be saved from the dark force by coming to know oneself and knowing to harmonize the force. The scene in episode I when Qui-Gon Jinn said to Anakin Skywalker, “Your focus determines your reality”reflects this truth. The whole process of becoming a Jedi is what Manicheans call the battle between the good and evil (Rowlands 223). When Luke skywalker finally overcomes the dark force, the Skywalker finally becomes the Jedi who lives in the realm of the light, in other words: peace. All the Jedies are always in peace, especially the ultimate master Yoda, because they have already defeated their dark force.
Looking at Darth Vader in the view of Nietzsche; overman
In episode I, Yoda speaks to Anakin at the Jedi Council some words that I still cannot forget. "Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger; anger leads to hate; hate leads to suffering. I sense much fear in you." Surprisingly, like Yoda had said, the fear that Anakin had during his training term leads him to anger and this anger lead him to hate and that hate actually resulted in him suffering. What are these elements of fear, anger and hate that lead Anakin into becoming Darth Vader?
There was a philosopher named Friedrich Nietzsche who viewed the dark force as something that can make a person into an overman. In his first published book, “The Birth of Tragedy,” he explains how the Greeks were able to flourish to such a high degree of culture (Rowlands 233). According to his theory, the Greeks were able to blossom into such a culture that is still praised to be very splendid because of the dark essence that flows in the nation. In his book, he described the famous art, music, architect and etc, as the noble victory of human feelings.
Nietzsche introduced an intellectual dichotomy between the Dionysian and the Apollonian instead of dividing the force into dark and light. The Dionysian is the reality undifferentiated by forms and like distinctions whereas the Apollonian is reality as differentiated by forms. Similar to Manichaeism, Nietzsche claimed that life is always struggling between these two elements, each of them battling for the control over the existence of man. The philosopher said, “Wherever the Dionysian prevailed, the Apollonian was checked and destroyed… Wherever the first Dionysian onslaught was successfully withstood, the authority and majesty of the Delphic god, Apollo, exhibited itself as more rigid and menacing than ever.” Yet, the two forces to do not overcome each other but rather they are just in a conflicting relationship to keep the balance.
Another key idea of Nietzsche’s philosophy is that his theories are highly anti-Christian. If one told Darth Vader to destroy all his hate or rather the desire to become strong, on the base of Platonism thought, Nietzsche would have disagreed greatly. He disapproves of the way the Christians eliminate their evil or bad sprit; eradicating the root of evil completely (Rowlands 233). He disagrees with this belief because of two elements. One, he believes that if we eradicate the root of the sinister, we will lose our golden chance to improve ourselves. Two, he also believes that one needs to have such desire to become great (Rowlands 235), which means in Nietzsche’s view, Anakin was lucky enough to follow his desires or maybe fear.
Let’s go back to the Greeks. Nietzsche described the Greeks as the people who were full of Dionysian spirits or feelings. The nation very often had celebrations to praise the god Dionysus, and the parties held for this was full of merrymaking entertainment, sex and drinks. They knew how to party and like Darth Vader, the citizens were grateful to their dark forces. Until the Greeks collapsed, they were just great in so many areas; architecture, art, music, philosophy and so on. Then how did such dissipated and demoralized people like the Greeks accomplish those illustrious and skillful works? Nietzsche’s answer is their dark force; the dark force is the motive rather then the obstacle. He said "‘nevertheless’ the insane, heretic people’s achievement in art” but “the art was made ‘because’ they were insane and heretic” (Rowlands 234).
Darth Vader, like the Greeks was full of the dark desires, impulses and forces that even he did not exactly know of. Besides everything, probably the desire to gain the most powerful force to protect himself and his love for Padme was the biggest and the most powerful desire; the desires actually lead to conquering the entire universe or the whole galaxy. This dark desire he had can be dealt with different ways.
First, in a Christian way of thinking, Darth Vader should ignore the dark instinct (Rowlands 234). He should crush and exterminate the desire to love Padme. He has to ignore the feelings for her because it is what will lead him to the dark force. If he chose to do this, he would be sitting in his room in pain because of his bad thoughts instead of destroying some planets like the movie. He would do anything to destroy the malevolent ideas. However, Nietzsche will oppose to such a Christian-like idea because, as mentioned before, in that way Darth Vader would loose the opportunity to become better and also it is useless and not good for his health. If he keeps denying the desires inside him, Nietzsche believes Anakin will not be able to terminate them but express this desire in a different way. Especially if ceasing his desire fails, he will try to suppress the great desires making him to earn physical and mental diseases. The idea of oppressing oneself from ungrateful desires was first popularized by Freud. Freud describes the concept where one restrains the shameful desires or feelings releases itself in another way as a hysterical disease. Hysterical diseases mean to look normal on the outside or physical looks but having disorders mentally (Rowlands 235). The concept of denying, the disorders in body and soul and advice like “do not repress the desire” of Freud, both actually have their roots from Nietzsche.
In the view of Nietzsche, Darth Vader was at least blessed in one way; he did not repress the dark desires and feelings. He may have been the incarnation of evil but he was not hysteric. Then if Darth Vader cannot choose the prior choice what should he do? Just let anything happen? Follow all the desires and destroy every planet in the galaxy? Apparently, Nietzsche’s response is again, no. If Anakin chose to become Darth Vader, he might not become hysteric and painful but he does looses his fortune to make progress. According to Nietzsche, in either way, repressing or accepting, one cannot become great. Greatness actually requests for something more; sublimation (Rowlands 236). Nietzsche says that one can become great if one can sublimate the great dark desires into something else. Nietzsche used the expression, overman for explaining the process of sublimating desires. The reason why Nietzsche says it is useless to eliminate the desires is because the desires are needed. We should sublimate them into a greater form. The idea he is arguing is that instead of repressing, oppressing, following or accepting the desire, one should turn and sublimate it into another greater form. Become the master of the desire than decreasing the desire (Rowlands 238). Then one will reach the status of an superman.
Darth Vader was not an overman. Anakin Skywalker had full potential to become an overman since his forces were very strong. At least he had the potential to become the greatest. However, Anakin Skywalker stopped at the process where he just expressed and let his desires control him. Because Anakin did not sublimate his dark forces he became a megalomaniac instead of the ultimate overman. When Anakin changed to Darth Vader, he missed the chance to sublimate his desires. He was like Napoleon. Nietzsche portrayed Napoleon as someone who was half overman and half inhuman. Napoleon was over man and under man (Rowlands 241). Napoleon was great not because he gained victory in many wars but because he was able to train, discipline and most importantly sublimate his desires and inclination into something greater than just desires. However, because the process was incomplete, Napoleon left many traces of his inhumane acts. The process of sublimating does not have a reward. It does not give comfort in conquering Europe. That is why Napoleon’s great desire to dominate the whole world just stopped as a desire that has not been sublimated.
Darth Vader is very similar to Napoleon. He was the compound of overman and inhuman, like master Yoda said: Anakin was full of fear. This fear leads him to anger which lead to hate. Finally this hate leads him to desire domination. And this desire to dominate was what stopped him from becoming an overman!
On the other hand, if George Lucas had made Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker) to not destroy planets but had made him to sublimate that desire into paint or to write classics and produce great art works like the Greeks, I probably would not have watched the movie. If he can be an overman by doing so, I would prefer Darth Vader as the way he was, since the movie is much more fun this way.
I believe Star Wars was more an inspirational movie than a science fiction. As a matter of fact, Star Wars has so many scientific matters that it ranked in third place as the movie with the most faults! Star Wars may not be such an insightful, interesting movie to everyone. However, Star Wars is a great part of my life and will always be. The series has ended, which is very hard to believe, but the force of Star Wars will probably never wear out in my life, because the force will always be with those who feel and believe in the force.
Works Cited
Books
Rowlands, Mark. The Philosopher at the End of the Universe: Philosophy Explained Through Science Fiction Films (Read the translation). London: Ebury P, 2003
Decekr, Kevin S., Jason T. Eberl, and William Irwin. Star Wars and Philosophy. Peru, IL: Open Court Publishing Company
Periodicals
Kim, Jaeyoung. “스타워즈 개봉일 미국이 총파업을?...6억달러 생산성 손실 예상(Star Wars Release Date, USA goes into strike?...6million dollar of loss)” Dong-A Daily 17 May 2005
Park, Ilhan. “스타워즈 에피소드3 "긍정적 리더는 탐욕하지 않는다(Star Wars Episode 3 “A bright leader is not avarious)” Economic Review Weekly News Magazine May 24th 2005
Internet Resources
"Star Wars." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 30 Apr 2006, 18:12 UTC. 3 May 2006, 12:30 .
“Star Wars.” Wikiquote, The Free Encyclopedia. 2 May 2006, 14:23 UTC. 3 May 2006, 12:30
"Friedrich Nietzsche." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 30 Apr 2006, 08:57 UTC. 3 May 2006, 12:35 http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Friedrich_Nietzsche&old id=50865462>.
"Manichaeism." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 26 Apr 2006, 02:07 UTC. 3 May 2006, 12:37 .
"Tao." Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. 18 Apr 2006, 21:05 UTC. 3 May 2006, 12:38 .
Choi,DaeHwan. "‘Star Wars’ boom…shakes the US” Heraldbiz.com 21 May 2005. Star City. 20 Apr. 2006. .
The Tao of Star Wars. Ed. Chang Gloria. 1999. The Discovery Channel Canada. 20 Apr. 2006. .
Films
“Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace” by George Lucas 2000
“Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones” by George Lucas 2002
“Star Wars Episode III: The Revenge of the Sith” by George Lucas 2005
“Star Wars Episode IV: The New Hope” by George Lucas 1977
“Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back” by George Lucas 1980
“Star Wars Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi” by George Lucas 1983
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Another example is in the battle scene where Luke blasts the Death Star. Many of the other rebels try to target the exact point of the Death Star by using the computer program, but all attempts miss the target and nobody succeeds. As Luke gets closer and closer to the point where he is supposed to fire, Obi-wan Kenobi or the phantom of him, keeps telling him to “believe in the force.” Luke wisely listens to his master and ignoring all the complaints of the rebellions, he turns off his device, and successfully accomplishes his mission. The advice of the great master Obi-wan Kenobi, to “believe in the force”was right.
