Monthly Archives: May 2011

My Gradual Acceptance of Star Wars

I have always been a late bloomer, socially and culturally speaking. I often find myself replaying events in my mind that happened years ago, only to say…oh, now I see what I missed.

For example, I often don’t like music until after years after it goes off the radio. My sense of fashion is at least five years behind. And I was the last person I knew to get a cellphone or send a text. I have yet to understand why Facebook and Twitter are so popular.

The same holds true for Star Wars. People have loved this movie for decades, organizing fan clubs, attending sci-fi conventions, and writing numerous fan fiction novels in honor of Lucas’s epic work. It is part of our culture.

But I never got it. I never understood why everyone was so impressed with Mark Hamill or cheesy special effects or a fairly weak story line. Star Trek, on the other hand, offered a much more developed writing style that yielded thought-provoking plots and characters that you could actually identify with. Why did everyone like Star Wars?

I now believe that it’s something they all saw that I did not.



A few years ago I purchased the Star Wars DVD box set (Episodes I-VI) and have watched them all many times. At first it was just for the sounds and visual effects (which have been seriously upgraded over the last 30 years). After all, Skywalker Studios is almost unbeatable when it comes to audio-video editing. I mean, honestly, who doesn’t love the sound of a light-saber? But I quickly realized that there is a much deeper story than what I initially gleaned.

The first movie back in 1977 took a chance with the American audience. Star Wars was really the first sci-fi movie to make a serious profit in theaters. There was a delicate balance that Lucas had to walk between action, story, and audiences not steeped in sci-fi culture. How far could Lucas go before he lost the audience’s interest?

As such, the first movie was shy on plot details and back story, which is why I was never impressed. When the second and third installments came out, Lucas delivered more depth to the characters, but by that time I had lost my appreciation.

Since then, Lucas has become a legend and audiences have become experts in sci-fi lore. If movies like The Matrix and Jurassic Park could boast massive box office numbers, Lucas should have no qualms about how far he could go with Star Wars.

And he didn’t. In Episodes I-III, Lucas finally provides the entire story…and something at the core was revealed to me. This movie is not about Luke…not at all. It’s about Anakin/Vader. It always has been.

This sits well with me. Not only is Anakin a much more interesting character (compared to Luke, the whiny little farmboy), but Hayden Christensen is a much better actor than Mark Hamill. You can really see the inner turmoil on Hayden’s face in Episodes II and III. Hamill never showed a single emotion in IV, V, or VI. I’m sure he tried, but he failed miserably.

We see Anakin go from momma’s little boy, to husband and father-to-be, to dark evil overlord, and back to proud papa. What did Luke do during his trilogy? He went from cocky little know-it-all to cocky older know-it-all. Not a great transformation.

In the end, Star Wars is really a tragic love story. Despite all that happens throughout the six movies, it really boils down to this…all Anakin ever wanted was his mother and a girl who loved him. Everything wrong he did, he did for them…out of love. His path to the Dark Side was solely caused by the death of his mother and the fear of losing his wife. His love caused his agony. And in the end, it was his love for his son that turned him back.

I can now truly appreciate Lucas’s genius in transforming a Greek tragedy into a modern, action-packed sci-fi film. I can’t wait until the Blu-ray box set arrives in September (which I already have on pre-order).

Thanks, George!

Hawking’s Morals

In a recent news article from Reuters, Stephen Hawking stated that heaven is a “fairy story for people afraid of the dark.” He believes that the human mind is nothing more than a complex computer that stops working upon death. He also argues that science is increasingly able to explain our origins and, as such, there is no need for a divine force in the creation of the universe. I agree with him on all points.

However, comments posted after the article lash out against his position and attack his moral character, questioning how “he would know right from wrong.” (What that has to do with the article is beyond me.)

As an atheist myself, I find this to be a curious, yet common statement. Until a few years ago, it never occurred to me that people associate morals solely with religion. But indeed they do. They also hold that atheists must be immoral, criminal people with no foundation to their character.

I suppose it was naïve of me to believe that people used more than religious texts as a standard of measure for their actions. I mean, you can certainly find moral teachings in the Bible, Qur’an, Vedas, Tao Te Ching, Book of Shadows, and even Dianetics. But you can also find moral guidance in War and Peace, Hamlet, Marley and Me, The Da Vinci Code, and Harry Potter. Why limit yourself to just one book…or to just a single source?

Morals are both innate and synthesized; but they are not delivered from above. Basic moral actions are a genetic result of being social creatures. We must innately know how to work towards the survival of our species. Advanced morals are developed over a lifetime from many sources, such as our experiences, our education, our family and friends, the things we watch and read, the law, our survival and protection, our internal logic, and so forth.

So when people ask how Hawking knows right from wrong, I say…smack!! Being an atheist has nothing to do with morals.

As for being criminal, I can say that social statistics show no correlation between spirituality and criminal behavior. This means that faithful believers are criminals just as often as atheists. Or put another way, given that about 10% of Americans are atheist (Wikipedia, 2011), 90% of American criminals are Christian.