Obligatory Star Wars PostLike everybody else, I was blown away by the first three Star Wars movies (as they were released), and considerably less impressed with The Phantom Menace. I never did end up seeing the last movie, and from what I hear I didn't miss much. I doubt if I will end up seeing the new one, at least not until it's on DVD.
The movie is of course getting some attention for the political subtext, which James Pinkerton
describes here:
He compares George W. Bush to Darth Vader. In a line that the critics are raving about, Anakin/Vader says, "If you're not with me, you're my enemy." That's a clear play on President Bush's famous line from his speech to Congress on Sept. 20, 2001: "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists." So there you have it: In Lucas' imagination, America is the evil empire.Now of course the line isn't that specific to Bush (anybody remember the liberal mantra, "If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the problem"), but Lucas has gone ahead and stated that was his intent.
My take: It's just another part of the publicity machine. Lucas has got the political columnists and bloggers writing about his movie, which is the goal. He'll probably get better turnout from liberals because of the buzz and I suspect most Bush supporters will either go or not based on their existing degree of interest in the Star Wars franchise, not on the supposed political message.
