The politics are Star Wars…wait don’t groan!
Many people hate the politics on display in the Star Wars prequels,
calling them confusing and boring. I’ve never felt this way. I like political
theater and I find the fall of the republic a very interesting topic. The Clone
Wars covered this issue in depth, but it was not all that it could have been.
While some episodes or parts of episodes offer smart insights and commentary on
politics, over all the politics of the Clone Wars were simplistic and
moralizing.
The politics of the clone wars are ham-fisted. I really have
no other way of putting it. This is due to a number of factors; the need to
make the material digestible for audiences of all ages is one. But if the writers
were trying to break down complex political ideas into easily digestible bits,
then they did a disservice to many. While they pay lip service to the
complexity of politics and war, they present a very black and white picture.
Senate episodes of the Clone Wars are among the most
painful to sit through. Padme and her friends--a group of good looking
aristocrats--are the champions of justice and peace fighting against the
usually unattractive, and mostly alien corporate interests who are corrupting
the Republic. Setting aside the rather absurd notion that the people’s
champions are a group of Politian’s from patrician families—this set up makes
politics seem like a one sided fight between good and evil. Many of Padmé’s
opponents are not just corrupt but actively taking orders from Count Dooku. We
learn though these episodes that the Republic--a very decentralized federation
which until the events of the clone wars did not even possess a standing army
and left individual systems to basically run their own affairs-- never the less
guaranteed basic social services like healthcare. It doesn’t seem to be a stretch
to say that rather than good writing this was an attempt to comment on
political debates happening in the US at the time, and not a particularly good
or subtle one. We also hear mention of bills such as the “enhanced privacy
invasion act”. Now I have my doubts that any legislator no matter how corrupt
would pass or even consider a bill with a name like “the enhanced privacy
invasion act”. They would at least give it a more benign sounding name.
The interesting thing about these episodes is Palpatine. The
way he manipulates both the well intentioned and the greedy to further his own
ends is an excellent commentary of authoritarian leaders. Also important is the
way he cloaks his ill intentions in thoughtful rhetoric. He uses his closest
rivals like Bail Organa to important ends while secretly undermining there position. He feigns love for democracy while quietly moving technocrats and
militarists like Willuff Tarken up the ranks. He pretends to respect the Jedi
while spreading the idea that they were the root cause of the war. It is ironic
that a character meant to embody pure evil is the most complex political figure
in the series—all the while the good guys are two dimensional caricatures of
what a good politician is supposed to be.
The lack of complexity in the Republic’s politics carries
over to the war. With few exceptions Separatists are portrayed as ugly, morally
deficient and sadistic. For the most part their soldiers are not people, but
disposable droids. In practice these factors serve to dehumanize the bad guys.
Dehumanizing the enemy is a long time practice in war and propaganda. In a
fictional setting it trades complexity for a simple morality quite at odds with
the real world. Perhaps to would not be good family friendly viewing to show Jedi
killing a bunch of humanoid soldiers, but if the clone wars was supposed to be
a tragic turning of the galaxy against itself it would make sense that at least
some of the separatist officers the Jedi faced would not be pure evil.
Star Wars has always been about the clash of good and evil. It
tends to present moral options in stark terms. There is a clear line between
good and evil, and it’s clear which side is which. Politics is not like this.
People on both sides of issues tend to believe they are fighting for what is
good and right and you can find people with weak and strong moral standards on
both sides of the political spectrum. Sanitizing war by dehumanizing the bad
guy is also not a real reflection of the world. In attempting to stay true to
the central message of the series The Clone Wars ignores a chance to show how
strict morality can be applied in a worldly situation.
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