I Believe You Have Missed the Point, Sir

 I have a lengthy post about Acolyte planned--I haven't seen it yet, but some of the marketing reminded me of a trilogy I read years ago--but as I was cooking something today and listening to YouTube, one of my favorite reviewers posted a review of the first episode, and part of that review sent me off in a tailspin of a different direction. 

One of the actors in the show said something like, "There is no good or evil in Star Wars, it all depends on what side you're on; you're supposed to be able to see yourself in all the characters, from Darth to Luke."

Laying aside the misuse of the title "Darth", I wanted to break down this quote a little bit. 

First off--I grew up listening to my mother telling me how the years before Star Wars were the years of the anti-hero in movies. A lot of those movies, although well-done, didn't really have any good characters. The wealthy, established villains were corrupt politicians, or gangsters, and the protagonists were thieves, other gangster, etc. Sure, they may have been on the right side of that particular fight, or they may have been sympathetic, but there were no heroes. Then, along came Rocky, and then came Star Wars, when there were, indeed heroes. 

Then the prequels came along, and the Jedi order weren't shown to be perfect or flawless, even if they were a step above the Sith. Nonetheless, my point stands--the irony of saying that Star Wars had no good or bad side, when in reality, not only did it have a clear good and bad side, it was also one of the few movies at the time to have a good side. 

Having been a child during the release of Lord of the Rings and my early twenties during Phase II of the MCU, I can't especially relate to my mother's fondness for Star Wars. I must admit that I haven't heard this point of view corroborated by another source; but even so, the idea that there isn't a clear moral distinction in Star Wars is silly. 

But the real point, the especially amusing point that sent me here, is this: the way the actor said this quip, it sounded like he made "seeing yourself in all the characters" to be in tension with there being "evil" in Star Wars. In other words, he made it sound like you can't see yourself in evil characters. 

Which is a major, major problem, because that is one of the main points of evil characters: for you to see your dark traits and be warned about them, for you to understand how tempting it is go to down unrighteous paths, for you to see how tempting and close to you evil is. (I'm thinking of Princess Serra, a character in a book series that will figure prominently in my next post, but pause that for now.) 

You know how The Lorax has the Onceler never show his face, as a symbol that anyone and everyone could become him? Same idea. You should be able to see yourself in villainous characters as a warning. So how odd to say otherwise.