This post is the beginning of a new, irregular feature at the Eye. I am going to let my inner science fiction nerd run on an even longer leash than before by spotlighting characters, actors, creators, concepts, and just about anything else that might be considered an iconic part of science fiction. Consider the new tag an excuse to geek out. Luke Skywalker gets the initial post. He is the first science fiction hero I can remember seeing. I have the vaguest memory of my mother taking me along with her friend and her slightly older son to see the re-release of Star Wars shortly before The Empire Strikes Back. I was one mesmerized tyke in quiet awe of what I was seeing, which I fortunate for everyone else in the theater. I was only three years old.
It was not until I got older that I appreciated the character as an archetype of the traditional mythic hero. Here was a farm boy who got the chance to go off on a grand adventure, guided by an old wizard, to save a princess and eventually, the universe. To do so, he has to learn an appreciation for spiritual forces while determining the difference between good and evil.
As a bonus, I was educated in a Christian school which believed the Force promoted new age philosophy, and therefore Star Wars was a sinister, subversive force--deliberate word choice, that--to turn kids on to metaphysics. I never bought into that ifea. Later on, I discovered two things that confirmed my skepticism in this regard. One, George Lucas had been urged to promote the Force as a religion in the same manner L. Ron Hubbard had had done Scientology. Lucas refused, though that may only be because he was not completely the money-grubbing crook he is now. Two, learning more about Christianity beyond the Bob Jones University fundamentalism shoved down my throat for years allowed me to see the, albeit weak, Christian allegory. Star Wars is not Pilgrim’s Progress, but it is not the Kabbalah, either.
I will confess the character of Luke Skywalker has lost some luster over the years. I have a difficult time buying into the idea I am supposed to fear luke’s turn to the Dark Side in Return of the JedI. Lucas attempted to make us fear Luke’s possible conversion by dressing him all in black, having him use his powers to control others, and note his concern with how his bionic hand was a part of his ebbing humanity. Alas, Luke was too good a good guy for that to be plausible. Maybe it is the lost idealism of my youth making me think that way. Not that holding on to some old fashioned idealism is a bad thing. It is probably the reason I like Luke Skywalker so much.
1 comments:
As hamhanded as the prequels were, Luke's not succumbing to the dark side is nicely paralleled by Anakin's fall. The same fears that were used to successfully turn Anakin to the dark side were tried again with Luke and they did not succeed.
This is the joy of watching Episodes VI and III back to back because the lil resident was picking the order of the movies.
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