Star Wars: Despite The Name It’s Always Been Anti-War
Today let’s talk about why Star Wars is an anti-war story.
The past couple weeks I’ve been pretty excited about the new High Republic setting in Star Wars is going to start covering. It’s a big deal and I’ve written about it a few times now. I have noticed one interesting thing in a lot of the discussion around the new setting, though. Let’s take a look.
But its Star WARS…
As part of their announcement for the project, Lucasfilm put out a picture of what appears to be a brainstorming board from one of the writers’ meetings. It’s divided into three categories which, as best I can tell, are what makes good fiction. What makes Star Wars Star Wars and random wishes they have for Star Wars. The very first point under the Star Wars category is “not pro-war”. A comment I’ve seen come up a lot in relation to this goes along the lines of “How can Star Wars be anti-war, it’s called Star Wars, it’s about WAR!” Usually, the comment is in connection to a feeling that the writers here are pushing some sort of new agenda, twisting Star Wars to suit their own needs. Here’s the thing however, much to the surprise of some, Star Wars has been an anti-war story from the get-go. Need convincing? Here are some thoughts.
The OT- Wars Not Make One Great
For all the action and adventure it’s coated in the original Star Wars carries pretty strong anti-war sentiments. Lucas has often talked about how the movies were conceived as a loose anti-Vietnam film. This is, after all, a story about a bunch of ragged freedom fighters going up against a massive technologically advanced Empire. While the movie’s depiction of war can be necessary at times, it’s not seen as a good thing. This becomes really clear in Luke’s Jedi story. Not only do you have someone like Yoda saying “wars not make one great” (how you could think Star Wars was anything but anti-war after that I don’t know) but you have Luke’s ultimate victory coming only after he stops fighting and refuses to continue down the path of violence; it’s love not, war that wins the day of him.
The Prequels – So this is how liberty dies… with thunderous applause.
If the Original Trilogy was sometimes subtle about being anti-war the Prequels shout the message from the hover-roof tops. This a trilogy that is all about how war perverts democracy and even the best intentioned people and organizations can become tools of evil during war. This is a story full of nods to how warmongers use war as an excuse to take power and enrich themselves and how the innocent suffer as a result. I don’t think going into this too deep is necessary, the overarching plot is pretty clear here.
The Sequels – Not Fighting What We Hate
While the sequel trilogy doesn’t wear it’s anti-war message as openly as the prequels it’s still quite visible. Of the three movies The Last Jedi – for all its faults – has the strongest anti-war message. Here again, we go back to playing with the idea that war is just a cycle perpetuated by the military-industrial complex. Both Luke’s path and Rose and Finn’s storylines have strong anti-war elements. Luke’s downfall was due to him reaching for violence to answer a problem, while his redemption is finding a non-violent solution to saving the Resistance. Rose, of course, makes the argument that you should fight to save things, not to destroy things, a quote which both echos ideas from Empire Strikes Back and contrasts Anakin’s downfall when he tells Padme that love can’t save her.
Finn’s arc throughout all three movies is likewise full of anti-war messages. It’s the arc that shows the most about the horrors of war and deals with child-soldiers and brainwashing. Finn rejects the evils of wars and eventually meets up with others who have done the same. These stories aren’t necessarily pacifistic – but they are clearly anti-war.
The Other Stories – The war left its scars on all of us.
Star Wars has been in the hands of many different authors and creators over the past decades. Not all of them, or every story, has dealt with an anti-war message. It’s certainly not uncommon for the pageantry, the action, and the adventure to take over and carry people along for the ride. Still, a huge amount of Star Wars stories carry anti-war messages. Many episodes of the Clones Wars are pretty upfront about it, both in the senate storylines, the Clone storylines, and the Jedi storylines. Even in stories that don’t deal with it a lot the “bad guys” are almost always a large conquering Empire, the Evil Sith are about power and aggression and violence and the good Jedi are peaceful.
