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You are here: Home / Cease and Desist

Cease and Desist

by John Cole|  May 19, 200510:13 am| 9 Comments

This post is in: General Stupidity

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Everyone stop politicizing this damned movie. Now. Stop it. First, most of you who are trying to make something out of nothing don’t know what you are talking about- as an example, I give you Prof. Bainbridge’s lame-brained assessment of Lucas betraying his storyline that we discussed here.

Star Wars is neither Republican or Democrat. It is not left or right. It is neither. If it is anything, the core of the movie, the Jedi and their code, is eastern in origin, resembling Shaolin monks or some sort of pious warrior-monk.

But Reagan used the phrase ‘evil empire’ to describe the Soviets, you say.

True. But it was a metaphor, an apt one, and the Soviet Union, by chance, was both evil and an empire.

But no domestic political analogy is useful. So just cut it out.

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Reader Interactions

9Comments

  1. 1.

    Stormy70

    May 19, 2005 at 10:21 am

    Word. Going today at 1:00. Can’t wait even one day to become one with the Force.

  2. 2.

    M. Scott Eiland

    May 19, 2005 at 10:47 am

    I’d be inclined to agree with you, John–Lord knows I’d have a hard time being a “Buffy” fan if I was too hung up on the politics of its creator. However, someone pointed out that one of the baddies in either “Phantom” or “Clones” (I forget which) was named “Nute Gunray.” I mean, come on–if you’re going to be that ham-handed about slipping slams on your political enemies into your ostensibly non-political art, you deserve to be looked at with a somewhat jaundiced eye.

    That being said, I expect to watch and enjoy this movie in the near future, even if I probably will be denied the blessed sight of Jar-Jar being blown into flaming chunks by random stormtrooper fire–for that, I’d forgive Lucas even if he ran a commercial for “F9/11” over the ending credits. :-)

  3. 3.

    KC

    May 19, 2005 at 11:52 am

    As I recall, Lucas is fairly conservative, although that doesn’t make a him a Bush Republican. Either way, I hated the Salon review because it delves into politics. John’s right, this movie should be enjoyed for being what it is–a movie, not a political statement.

  4. 4.

    JWeidner

    May 19, 2005 at 12:05 pm

    Seen it. It rocked. And Lucas injects only enough politics into the story to explain how the Republic takes the final steps in becomming the Empire. No more no less. And I certainly never felt like the movie was providing commentary on US government.

    “This isn’t the controversy you’re looking for”

    “This isn’t the controversy we’re looking for”

    “Move along”

    “Move along, move along”

  5. 5.

    Simon

    May 19, 2005 at 1:34 pm

    You want politicization? Check out the photoshopped images over at http://www.shapeofdays.com. Funny/scary shots of Bush/Palpitine and Nixon/Vader. Proudly embracing the new American empire.

  6. 6.

    Stormy70

    May 19, 2005 at 4:58 pm

    Movie’s bad ass, and I saw no politics, other than what applied to the story. I feel the need to move along for some unknown reason. Is that a shiny droid?

  7. 7.

    Gary Farber

    May 19, 2005 at 6:09 pm

    “However, someone pointed out that one of the baddies in either “Phantom” or “Clones” (I forget which) was named “Nute Gunray.” I mean, come on–if you’re going to be that ham-handed….”

    How “hamhanded” can it be if “someone” had to “point [it] out” before you noticed?

  8. 8.

    Gary Farber

    May 19, 2005 at 6:14 pm

    “However, someone pointed out that one of the baddies in either “Phantom” or “Clones” (I forget which) was named “Nute Gunray.” I mean, come on–if you’re going to be that ham-handed….”

    How “hamhanded” can it be if “someone” had to “point [it] out” before you noticed?

  9. 9.

    M. Scott Eiland

    May 19, 2005 at 6:46 pm

    “How “hamhanded” can it be if “someone” had to “point [it] out” before you noticed?”

    Hadn’t heard the character’s name before–must not have been paying attention at that point in the movie. When I was made aware of it, it came off as ham-handed.

    Come on, Gary–“Nute Gunray”? How lame can you get? If, say, Sean Hannity wrote a novel where the villian was a drunken, overweight trust fund slacker who commanded a submarine and went by the name “Captain Teddy,” wouldn’t you be in the front of the line to mock him for it if you became aware of it? Lucas doesn’t get a pass for felonious dispersal of cheese just because he’s made an obscene amount of money at it.

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