So Trump's pick for CIA director is a veteran torturer. Feminism in the 21st century - now women too can be clear-cut villains.
In Star Wars, how
is it established that the Rebels are the “good guys” and the Empire are the
“bad guys”? That is, what shortcuts are taken over the length of feature film
that allow the audience to identify the morality of each side of the conflict?
Oh, certainly we are inclined by mere familiarity to sympathize with Luke, a
humble farmboy from a backwater planet dreaming of the stars. But Imagine if
you will that you were watching the film de
novo, (difficult I know). Luke casually remarks that he is thinking about
becoming a pilot for the Empire! If the villainy of the Empire isn’t
immediately obvious to Luke, our sympathetic protagonist, how is obvious to us?
First
is the style of the empire, meant to evoke the Third Reich. “Stormtroopers” and
cleanly cut grey uniforms – the assumption being that the audience would make
the association with fascism, and with fascism to plain evil. Another trick for
managing our sympathies are the face-concealing masks of the stormtroopers,
meant to dehumanize the antagonists.
But it
is in the conduct of the Empire that its essentially villainous nature is laid
bare. The audience is expected to immediately and unambiguously look at the
actions of the Empire and go: “They are the bad guys, only bad guys would do
things like that”.
So,
what does the Empire do? In the pursuit of vital intelligence, the Empire kills
innocent civilians, tramples on civilian authority, and tortures suspects. With
the aim of intimidating its enemies it a weapon of mass destruction and
demonstrates it on a target of limited military value. It tramples on
democratic rights and institutions in the name of peace and order.
But
save the last, the United States has done all these things. The secrecy of the
security state, warrantless wiretapping and mass-surveillance, the absurdly
broad war-making powers in the post-9/11 AUMF altogether seem to constitute, if
not trampling, then at least walking, on civilian authority. The drone war – in
Pakistan, Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria, and other places, may or may not keep America
safe, but it certainly sheds a lot of innocent blood. And of course the United
States used – perhaps is still using, for such things are kept secret – torture
with the aim of obtaining vital intelligence. We developed nuclear weapons and
used them on targets of limited military value (Nagasaki and Hiroshima were
chosen precisely because for that reason they had been only lightly damaged in
previous bombings). And after demonstrating our power, we used our to advance
ourselves at the expense of others. And the American government has in the
past, and continues in the present, to be much more talk than action on human
rights – even the rights of its own citizens.
Now,
all of these things, it is argued, were done from necessity. Perhaps so. But I
am somewhat concerned that the American people did not, do not, balk at these
acts, that we do not turn our heads and go: “No that is not us, we’re the good
guys, the good guys don’t do that”. It suggests that, at least for some, the
reason why the Empire is the villain of Star
Wars is not because the Empire is bad, but because the Empire opposes the
protagonist. That because of the choices of the storyteller we do not
sympathize with Luke because he is the “good guy”, but rather he is the “good
guy” because we sympathize with him. That the same story could be told as a
tragedy, with Empire doing everything it has to, yes, even unpleasant things,
to protect itself, but despite its sacrifices is still overthrown. That you
could easily make Vader the hero, and Luke the villain – and that people would believe it.
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