[Essay + Review] The Case for the Star Wars Prequels
Star Wars, a galaxy full of many races, worlds, ideologies, and droids, has affected most of our lives at some point (mostly in the western part of the world). We all heard the (wrong) line "Luke, I am your father" before and most of us know what a lightsaber is even if we haven't watched any of the movies. This world had a cultural impact on us and so it's no surprise that passion runs hot for every little bit of it, be it Canon or Legends, tv shows or movies, comics or books, computer games or toys.
How I came to love Star Wars
I was eight when The Phantom Menace came out, the right age for these movies. I saw a bunch of toys marketed towards kids in the magazines I read (mostly the Sailor Moon comics which were a comic version of the anime) but as the only "girly" thing I saw was a blow-up arm chair made to look like Padmé and had the name "Queen Amidala" on it I never cared much. I didn't care for these princesses and queens back then. And all I saw were boys my age bringing their lightsabers to school to play with during recess. So I didn't care and I didn't watch any of the prequel movies as they came out.
The older I got the more I heard what people thought of the prequels, that they are bad, that they destroyed the legacy of Star Wars, and many more things. But that wasn't much of an influence on me when I was about 13 and finally watched the original trilogy. My brother had gotten the DVDs for Christmas or his birthday and I was at that age when things were a lot more interesting to me because I tried to find out who I am, as many do at that age when you are somewhere between childhood and being a teenager. So I eventually decided to watch them myself.
Being thrown into this world, seeing Luke turn from farmboy to fully-fledged Jedi, seeing how the galaxy is being freed from the Empire, it was absolutely magical. The spaceships, the worlds, the relationships, every thing worked in beautiful ways and I couldn't stop myself from rewatching ROTJ shortly afterwards. I really loved that movie the most back then. And then it took me about 2 to 3 years to finally watch the prequels which - as I said - I had heard about, especially what people thought of them.
My opinion on the prequels was always strongly influenced by what I knew people thought of them, I can't deny that, and even after rewatching them a few times around The Force Awakens I still hadn't changed my mind a lot because I still heard people referring to them in negative ways. So after I hadn't consumed any Star Wars content since The Last Jedi (which I have many problems with but that's something for another post, if I ever do one), I finally got back into the Star Wars spirit thanks to the Star Wars Celebration in Chicago this year.
This led to me rewatching the PT and the need to make a case for them. There are so many interesting and great things about them that people love to forget. Either because they weren't exactly the target audience, had too many emotions about the OT, or just plain simple were influenced by the opinions of others. I always wondered why many Millennials around my age didn't have as much hate for the PT as others, unless they got swayed by other people's opinions. Rewatching the prequels now after taking such a long break from Star Wars did help seeing why.
The Phantom Menace
People love to ignore this movie in their rewatches and I used to agree but I think people will miss out on a few key parts that influence how Anakin develops. This movie is the official beginning of the Skywalker Saga. It was supposed to explain the state of the universe back then, how the Jedi worked, how the politics were, and show us where Anakin comes from. Something that circles back to the state of the GFFA during that time. TPM had a lot it had to deal with to open up this world for what's to come, as well as make new fans interested, which were children around my age.
I could talk about the problematic aspects, the not-that-thinly veiled racism in certain character designs, but that's another story. I want to talk about the first impression seen through fresh, young eyes and what one can see when you know where this story goes.
TPM introduces as to the job of the Jedi, the political elements of the story, and the Gungans in the first twenty minutes. It is a lot and I guess for a kid these minutes might have been slightly boring if not for the, for children entertaining, battle droids and some lightsaber action by Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. As an adult knowing where the story will go and who is who, this moments are a great way of introducing us to the very important politics of the PT.
Politics are a central part to this part of the Saga. We see Darth Sidious and Palpatine - which we both still consider two different people at this point as children - playing the game to influence the Senate to achieve certain goals. Knowing where this goes, it's fascinating to see Palpatine play these two parts and playing people out against each other. It might seem ridiculous at first how he does it but he knows that certain elements of his plan will move certain ways for him to become the Chancellor of the Republic. He explains what action would achieve which outcome to Padmé during the Senate session, which here is a great way for us to see his political proficiency. It's something he needs to have to reach his goals aside from his Sith abilities.
The politics of the GFFA have a strong grasp on the Jedi as well. We mostly see this later on in The Clone Wars but even in TPM there are elements of it. Jedi are used as ambassadors to negotiate, a position given to them by the Senate. This way we learn early on that the Order has less control over themselves than they probably would like. It shows us why it will be possible to play the Jedi so they will fall to Order 66 in ROTS, it also shows us a certain complacency the Jedi have at this point as they became tools for the politicians. This will be even more interesting later on in TCW and most likely also in the new TCW season because it has an influence on the way the general public perceives the Jedi. Those who met them can sometimes be not as favorable towards them, and those who haven't met them might think them to be immortal beings able to achieve incredible things, like Anakin does in this movie. Something we can see in him saying "No one can kill a Jedi.".
"No one can kill a Jedi" also will be something to have Anakin's story go full circle in this trilogy. I will go into more detail at a later point but now I can already call this a form of foreshadowing. It also feels heartbreaking during this rewatch because this is an optimistic boy who hopes for better things despite what he had to suffer already and he will turn into someone completely different as the story continues. Now, the only things hinting at possible problems are that he misses his mother towards the end of the movie as well as what Yoda says: "Clouded this boy's future is."
Here we come to something that always fascinated me. Yoda and the others on the Jedi Council have their fears about having Anakin trained as they can't fully see what might happen to him, as well as his age. Both aren't exactly the best excuses in my opinion. We could blame this on the writing or the mentioned complacency. They have enough Jedi, they don't have to train everyone even if that person might be the Chosen One. But this is also the first time Anakin is dismissed by the Jedi Council, a continuing occurrence in his life, and at this age when you feel your hopes and dreams slip away from you it will break your heart to hear something like this. He does become Obi-Wan's Padawan later on but not everyone is happy about that.
Constant rejection is an element of this story not just for Anakin but also for Jar Jar Binks and even to Padmé Amidala to some degree. We see these three characters deal with it in different ways. For now Anakin accepts it, Padmé works against it in the political frame she can, and Jar Jar is still more comic relief.
We all know the hate Jar Jar gets but something that is important to note is that George intended for him to be a lovable character for children. And if you watch TPM you can see that. All the jokes with him are for children, the way he talks is funny and likable in the eyes of children. Even all fecal humor with him is funny for children. And if someone names people who think it's not: I've seen people talking about this not being funny for children or anyone but still making jokes like that themselves. So in some cases this is just influenced by other people's opinions. For children it's amusing. Many still love these, as well as fart jokes. And so it doesn't matter if an adult doesn't like Jar Jar. He wasn't created with them in mind!
Something we could also criticize is the editing but that's more the fault of time and the things that were possible. These movies are extremely saturated, which I would interpret as a way to show us that this a prospering world we look at with riches and great lives for many. Especially in Naboo that's the case. There are some things like composition of pictures which don't hold up well but I will ignore this. It's a product of its time.
The writing is a bit on the cheesy side but that's to be expected. This is a fantastical story and George, while having good ideas, isn't the best writer. But it still works in the context of this series. We understand what's going on, we see how people think and interact, we see the story going somewhere and actually adding something to the overall story of the Saga. To dismiss this movie because the writing isn't as good as it could have been means dismissing the important aspects of it for the continuation of the story.
Attack of the Clones
While I feel like people are right about AOTC being the weakest of the three prequels it still offers a lot of insight into the world and Anakin's development. As he's the main character of the prequels how he changes over the course of these movies is important and something we should focus on.
AOTC manifests the first signs of the dark side in Anakin as well as reasons for him becoming Vader in ROTS. The first important signs are that we see Anakin as being bad at following orders from Obi-Wan and the council. While this isn't exactly uncommon - just look at Qui-Gon in TPM - it is a base for what is to come and especially the strain this might bring to Anakin and Obi-Wan's relationship.
One reason for Anakin not working well with the limitations of the Jedi Order (especially his feelings for Padmé) is that he was taken in later in his life than people usually are. That's also why the council had been worried about taking him in during TPM. They even said that he was too old at first. This now comes back to haunt them a bit as Anakin's attachments to people outside of the Order are made clear throughout this movie. Be it his feelings for Padmé (which Obi-Wan tells him to be mindful of) or for his mother - they influence his way of thinking in a way the Jedi don't agree with.
We can see here the problems that arise from what the Jedi think they have to do in order to stay on the light side. They deny attachments which is why they take in children when they can barely walk on their own so they won't have any to people outside of their order, but then they do have attachments to their teachers, their masters, and the Order itself. This in turn creates a world in which the Order's opinions are absolute to some degree and also makes us as the viewer understand why they are so reluctant to be a part of whatever the Republic wants them to do. This also plays into Yoda saying that arrogance is becoming more and more common among the Jedi. Their attachment to the Order and the resulting thinking that they are in the right is what's fueling this arrogance. And arrogance leads to the dark side which already is clouding the Jedi's senses at the beginning of the movie.
The arrogance of the Jedi is also underlined by the first thirty minutes or so of the movie when we have the "car chase" scene with the changeling and Obi-Wan and Anakin. It shows how reckless Jedi are because while Obi-Wan doesn't like flying a lot he still is the one who jumps out of the window to cling to the probe and Anakin's flying is reckless in general. It also seems to be a common occurrence for Jedi to fly like Berserkers or fall from the sky in Coruscant as every other being we see during the chase seems to be more annoyed than frightened and even cursing the Jedi. To those people Jedi might seem arrogant as well.
What's definitely a weak point of this movie is the romance at first glance. I always wondered why I preferred this movie from the moment they are on Tatooine but couldn't deal much with the parts before (except maybe for the chase). It's the tonal difference that is the issue. While most of this story is about politics and especially the politics of war the romance has a very different tone to it as it is built around the way a Historical Romance might be written (just compare with most costume dramas out there. They have a similar level of cheesiness to them). As I said before George had good ideas but isn't the best writer and this is sadly one of this points where we can see that again. It also doesn't help that he had to push the romance for it to have an arc that leads to the conception of Luke and Leia before the beginning of ROTS. Also, George did tell others to see the PT as period pieces. Doug Chiang (art director for the Star Wars movies since the PT) said that again during his panel from this year's Celebration (not to mention that strictly speaking Star Wars isn't even Scifi so it's not surprising George didn't consider it that. But that's another thing to talk about for another post).
On the opposite of the romance we have the politics which are the integral part of the prequels. We get painted a picture of a prospering world, as I said before, but as expected even that world got its issues and George shows us in great detail how little things move in the senate and outside to lead to the rise of the Empire.
In one of the early scenes of the movie we already find out that Anakin has a close connection to Palpatine. This underlines the connection between the Jedi and the Senate as well as creates a base for Anakin becoming Darth Vader later on. His connection to Palpatine now is a way of Palpatine keeping an eye on all movements he needs to see to fulfill his plans, as well as a way for him to figure out if Anakin might be a good choice for a new apprentice, as he seems to always be looking for a new one with greater power than the one before. This I will explain later as it plays more importance in ROTS.
It also plays into the fact that Anakin hasn't been raised by the Jedi since he was a toddler and therefore is easier to influence with ideologies outside of the Order's. He already had been able to form opinions that might not work with the Order's ideas. This can be seen in how he wants to become more powerful as a Jedi, something he tells Padmé after he killed the tribe of Tusken Raiders. While I find it hard to believe that Padmé would still like Anakin after this it does fit with the Period Drama aspect. Also, this scene gives us a sentence that is very important. "To be angry is to be human", something Padmé tells Anakin.
The important part of that sentence is that it highlights again something about Anakin's struggles with following the ideologies and teachings of the Jedi Order. He is always told to be mindful of his thoughts and feelings, he is always told to keep things bottled up. The Jedi don't teach him properly how to deal with all of his emotions and after years of staying with them all these emotions spill over, similar to Harry Potter in Order of the Phoenix. If you have a teenager who has a lot of emotional baggage it will spill eventually. And Anakin still is a teenager in this movie. He already has formed attachments and as the Jedi never taught him to deal with them but just told him that attachments are forbidden he lashes out. Seeing this is also important to later understand some other choices of his in ROTS. Here in AOTC he even says that he can't think rational even though he knows better. Again putting emphasize on the way he wasn't taught to deal with his emotions in a healthy way.
Anakin having problems with his own emotions might also be why he lacks in the more emotional part of using the Force. He couldn't sense that Padmé was pleased to see them in the beginning of the movie unlike Obi-Wan who also constantly reminds Anakin to use the Force in some moments to sense things better. While Anakin can sense things it's usually not as strong as that ability of others.
This might also play into him thinking Palpatine is a good man who can be trusted. He can't sense his intentions and especially in ROTS later he can't sense the dark side of the Force surrounding Palpatine as Mace Windu can. Here we also have something that plays again into the divide between the Jedi and politics as Obi-Wan says that politicians can't be trusted. He doesn't just say that about Palpatine though, he also says that about Padmé, something that might be an influence on Anakin's general opinions later on as well, though it's not that focused on so I can only speculate. But it does underline the distrust for politics the Jedi have.
As I said before politics are an important element of this story as Palpatine uses them for his own gain. But it also mirrors elements of our politics in a great way. If you look at the meeting on Geonosis we can clearly see a group of people we could compare to lobbyists in our world or big companies which supported war efforts for Hitler during WWII or even now war efforts for various countries. There is money to be made in war and this is well reflected in this story as we see the Trade Federation, the Banking Clan, and the Techno Union as parts of the Separatists. Three groups that can make money from this as well as having issues with certain Republic limitations originating in the taxations and also corruption in and from the Senate.
This corruption element also is reflected in Dooku saying "My master will not allow the Republic to get away with this treachery" when the fight with the Clone Army happens. Something taken by Palpatine and financed after Sifo-Dyas death to use them for his own plans which Dooku knew about but had to act as if he didn't know. They did say in the movie that it would take time for the Senate to approve this army after they found out about it but thanks to Palpatine's manipulations he achieves this quite fast. This is a sign of the corruption in the Senate even though it might not be obvious for many in this world as it might just seem like someone taking the opportunity given to him.
The war as we find out was long planned by Palpatine who will use it to secure his power in the Senate and his hold on the galaxy. Every little thing we have seen so far in the first two movies of the prequels was to make us understand the political situation, the affiliations, and the small but genius ways in which he guides everyone for his own gain. This is someone who is playing the long game, who knows to make people work for him and who uses every opportunity as best as possible. And while Star Wars is usually made for kids this part definitely is made for the adults.
Revenge of the Sith
The third movie in this trilogy does get treated as the best one out of all the prequels and rewatching this I realized what could be the reason for this: there is a lot more action and as you have all the information from the other two movies you finally get to the pay-off. It's just a simple case of this being the finale of the trilogy. Also, Anakin finally becoming Vader might also just be a huge reason for people liking this movie the best.
ROTS doesn't just have a lot of great action, banter, and just hilarious moments. We also see many more subtle things which fascinate me. One of these things is Palpatine acting as if he can't save himself. But it's not just funny it also shows us how good he is at deception and hiding himself in plain sight. Not to mention that the war occupying the Jedi also helps covering the dark side in him to some extent. But he does look worried when they finally are trying to land which is also interesting as it shows us that he's still human behind all the lies and deception.
What's important to note is that Palpatine does say in this movie that Anakin told him about killing the Tusken Raiders. Again this is to support why and how much Anakin trusts Palpatine and will struggle with this later on in the movie. Also, Palpatine is someone who supports Anakin having emotions and not just simply suppressing them. Though he obviously does that because he wants to have Anakin's power. He values power the most, something that is supported by him saying "Soon I will have a new apprentice. Far younger and more powerful." after Dooku is killed by Anakin, something he pushed Anakin to do.
What's also important is to note how the Force isn't just light and dark but moves between both points a lot. Macu Windu does say that he feels the dark side surrounding Palpatine but doesn't immediately think he might be the Sith lord they are looking for. This originates in the fact that the dark and the light are both in general influenced by people's actions. Otherwise the Empire with its thousand of people who can't use the Force wouldn't be able to stand as a part of the dark side. But it's not just "good vs. evil" or "moral vs. amoral", it's a lot more difficult and these movies give us more of that. Otherwise Legends wouldn't have ended up with the phrase "grey Jedi".
The problem with deciding what is what is the driving force behind Anakin's decisions in ROTS. His attachments, which he doesn't consider as bad even though the Jedi don't want him to have them, are one of the factors. His vision he has about Padmé dying is something he should have been able to deal with if the Jedi had taught him how to and if he hadn't already had the same thing happening to him when he feared for his mother. His fear of loss is one of his biggest problems and as Yoda said "The fear of loss is a path to the dark side". So, if Anakin was able to accept that his visions don't always have to end up true (something that is hard for him as the vision about his mother did come true) he wouldn't fall later on. The whole thing with the vision also has a slight Shakespearean touch to it as it tells us a part of the end at an early stage of the movie. (Also compare with Burr's line in Hamilton "And me? I am the damn fool that shot him.")
In the same conversation between Yoda and Anakin, Yoda also points out that death is a natural part of life. Anakin who has seen loss and never learned how to healthily deal with it has problems accepting that for anyone close to him. This again comes into play when Palpatine tells Anakin about Darth Plagueis who supposedly could save people from death. Both these moments are in this movie to show the viewer between what Anakin has to decide: Accepting the natural way of life or prolonging it through unnatural means. He told Padmé in AOTC after he had killed the Tusken Raiders that he wants to become a great Jedi who can even save people from dying. This is something that comes from his childhood thoughts that Jedi can do anything, that Jedi are "unkillable". He again points that out in this movie. But when Palpatine tells him that no Jedi could teach him to save people from death it does turn him more to the dark side as this is what he wants to learn.
What also supports Anakin's thinking of the dark side as maybe not as bad is when Palpatine points out to him certain aspects of the Jedi that aren't too different from the Sith, as well as Anakin not being able to tell him anything that doesn't sound like he learned it by heart from a pamphlet about the Jedi. Palpatine knows how to push Anakin so he will consider the dark side and slowly turn into the right direction. His general trust in the Chancellor is a deciding factor here as well.
As the prequels are focusing strongly on the politics, we do have to consider them even more now. ROTS had more action but now everything that came before has a strong influence on the outcome. The war, the Jedi trying to distance themselves from politicians even though it's difficult, everything Palpatine has done - all of this we have to consider. Anakin focuses on saying that his loyalty lies with the Chancellor and Obi-Wan saying his lies with the Republic tells us their different views. As we already heard in AOTC Anakin would like someone to control everything to make things better and as Padmé rightfully pointed out that would be a dictatorship. Again, this comes up in a conversation between the two on Mustafar. Anakin has gone so far at that point that even if he wanted to he can't go back in that moment and he even suggests to usurp Palpatine. His upbringing, which resulted in him being hungry for power because he considers power to be the only thing to achieve peace and justice, is his doom.
This anger is also fueled by again two scenes that mirror each other to help us understand Anakin's decisions. These scenes are the one in which Anakin is the one to kill Dooku as a form of revenge and the scene in which Anakin sees Mace Windu about to kill Palpatine. Anakin did struggle with his decision beforehand and it now comes back to haunt him when Windu says that Palpatine is too dangerous to be kept alive. Windu also didn't want to have Anakin come with him before, which could have changed Anakin's stance on what to do with Palpatine. Now, he only points out that this isn't the Jedi way. He most likely already knows that he himself doesn't fit with "the Jedi way" to some extent but seeing it even in others makes him consider the corruption at the heart of the Jedi. Though he does struggle again after Windu is killed and says "What have I done?". These scenes are also in this movie to point out again that Anakin isn't fully on the dark side and why Luke could sense that "there is still light in him" in the OT.
His struggles between one side or the other are reflected in everything starting from the scene in which Windu is killed. Anakin seems to suffer when he gets his new name and bows down to Palpatine, something he does now because he feels like he has no other choice to safe Padmé as well as what the Jedi would do to him if they found out. He also cries after we see him kill the Separatists because he knows things aren't right. He fully falls when the fight with Obi-Wan comes up. His anger at the Jedi and Obi-Wan not understanding him is what makes him fight his former Master. It's also in part the reason for him strangling Padmé. As said before, he has problems controlling his emotions and so he lashes out and now, when he feels like he can achieve his goals of becoming stronger than before, everyone who disagrees is turning into the enemy as Anakin also doesn't understand the subtleties of political positions, as is obvious in him preferring a dictatorship instead of democracy.
Subtleties are in general an issue even for the Jedi. Something that was always clear in my opinion was that Yoda was right when he said that the prophecy could have been misread. We now know it mostly was as the prophecy was unveiled in one of the new Star Wars books but back when I watched this for the first time it still was obvious. But that's also one fascinating point because this makes the choices of the Jedi regarding Anakin quite obvious. They took him in despite his age because most considered him the Chosen One, the didn't teach him how to avoid the dark side properly because they didn't think he would join it. It's interesting especially because they said the prophecy claims that the Chosen One will bring balance to the Force. This raises the question what the balance is and if it maybe wasn't already closer to a balance? After Anakin's turn to Darth Vader things do turn to the dark side but a balance is always like a scale. Every small thing can change it and maybe the Jedi being involved with politics was influencing the leaning of the scale already. Yoda did say that arrogance became more and more common in the Jedi, meaning there was already a turn to the dark side to some degree. To achieve full balance something had to happen one way or the other and that's how the rest of the Skywalker Saga came to happen. Episode IX should show us the way proper balance is achieved!
As we talk about the balance of the Force this movie shows a lot of mirroring scenes, like two sides of a scale. I mentioned some before but we also get one important one towards the end. Again this is one about life and death and "the circle of life". The twins being born and Anakin becoming a fully-fledged Vader with the suit are mirroring each other in the way they are shot and show two different sides of life. We have a birth - the beginning of life - and a somewhat death but actually unnaturally prolonged through the suit. It's the natural versus the unnatural, the light versus the dark side, the innocence of a child versus the rottenness of men. It also reflects the earlier scenes between Yoda and Anakin and Anakin and Palpatine. One talking about death as the natural part of life and another saying that one can defeat death. What the whole thing with the Vader suit also does is showing us how prolonging Anakin's life, the unnatural way of doing this, creates a monster. This isn't about saying that medicinal ways of saving a life are unnatural and shouldn't be done, I have to point out. It's there to show how Anakin becomes the monster Vader as well as showing us that he doesn't have a choice about his own life anymore. This again plays into him feeling like he didn't have another choice anymore before. Now he really doesn't have one anymore and he owes Palpatine to some degree.
Why people love the Prequels
"Honestly, as much as I didn’t like Phantom Menace, The Clone Wars was actually okay for me, I actually quite liked it. The Revenge of the Sith was definitely the pinnacle of the prequels, it was dark, amazing fights scenes and some good drama. So yeah.
I particularly liked all the new species, planets, and conflicts the prequels introduced. Because they had better effects and the like, they could introduce whatever they wanted and trust the CGI to render them properly instead of having to rely on models (A/N: lot of models were used though even though we didn't expect it!) or stop motion or elaborately painted backgrounds like the original trilogy did. Don't get me wrong, I love the og trilogy, but the prequels seemed to get more creative liberty for the character, set and creature designs just because of the new developments in technology at the time.
I also thought we saw a lot more politics in the prequels, like a lot more. It also gave us a greater sense of the characters that carry through to the og trilogy, which I enjoyed. It made Palpatine a much more sinister threat, given that we were able to see his manipulations and how far he actually went to achieve his goals. And we got to see more of Anakin, before he was Vader, to truly understand why he fell and how far he actually fell. To go from a hero of the Republic to the symbol/enforcer of a dictatorship. And to see more from Obi wan and Yoda too. I enjoyed seeing the character backstories and developments."
- di-oblio on tumblr
 |
| © Lucasfilm/Disney; screenshot taken by me from TPM |
How I came to love Star Wars
I was eight when The Phantom Menace came out, the right age for these movies. I saw a bunch of toys marketed towards kids in the magazines I read (mostly the Sailor Moon comics which were a comic version of the anime) but as the only "girly" thing I saw was a blow-up arm chair made to look like Padmé and had the name "Queen Amidala" on it I never cared much. I didn't care for these princesses and queens back then. And all I saw were boys my age bringing their lightsabers to school to play with during recess. So I didn't care and I didn't watch any of the prequel movies as they came out.
The older I got the more I heard what people thought of the prequels, that they are bad, that they destroyed the legacy of Star Wars, and many more things. But that wasn't much of an influence on me when I was about 13 and finally watched the original trilogy. My brother had gotten the DVDs for Christmas or his birthday and I was at that age when things were a lot more interesting to me because I tried to find out who I am, as many do at that age when you are somewhere between childhood and being a teenager. So I eventually decided to watch them myself.
Being thrown into this world, seeing Luke turn from farmboy to fully-fledged Jedi, seeing how the galaxy is being freed from the Empire, it was absolutely magical. The spaceships, the worlds, the relationships, every thing worked in beautiful ways and I couldn't stop myself from rewatching ROTJ shortly afterwards. I really loved that movie the most back then. And then it took me about 2 to 3 years to finally watch the prequels which - as I said - I had heard about, especially what people thought of them.
My opinion on the prequels was always strongly influenced by what I knew people thought of them, I can't deny that, and even after rewatching them a few times around The Force Awakens I still hadn't changed my mind a lot because I still heard people referring to them in negative ways. So after I hadn't consumed any Star Wars content since The Last Jedi (which I have many problems with but that's something for another post, if I ever do one), I finally got back into the Star Wars spirit thanks to the Star Wars Celebration in Chicago this year.
This led to me rewatching the PT and the need to make a case for them. There are so many interesting and great things about them that people love to forget. Either because they weren't exactly the target audience, had too many emotions about the OT, or just plain simple were influenced by the opinions of others. I always wondered why many Millennials around my age didn't have as much hate for the PT as others, unless they got swayed by other people's opinions. Rewatching the prequels now after taking such a long break from Star Wars did help seeing why.
The Phantom Menace
People love to ignore this movie in their rewatches and I used to agree but I think people will miss out on a few key parts that influence how Anakin develops. This movie is the official beginning of the Skywalker Saga. It was supposed to explain the state of the universe back then, how the Jedi worked, how the politics were, and show us where Anakin comes from. Something that circles back to the state of the GFFA during that time. TPM had a lot it had to deal with to open up this world for what's to come, as well as make new fans interested, which were children around my age.
I could talk about the problematic aspects, the not-that-thinly veiled racism in certain character designs, but that's another story. I want to talk about the first impression seen through fresh, young eyes and what one can see when you know where this story goes.
TPM introduces as to the job of the Jedi, the political elements of the story, and the Gungans in the first twenty minutes. It is a lot and I guess for a kid these minutes might have been slightly boring if not for the, for children entertaining, battle droids and some lightsaber action by Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi. As an adult knowing where the story will go and who is who, this moments are a great way of introducing us to the very important politics of the PT.
Politics are a central part to this part of the Saga. We see Darth Sidious and Palpatine - which we both still consider two different people at this point as children - playing the game to influence the Senate to achieve certain goals. Knowing where this goes, it's fascinating to see Palpatine play these two parts and playing people out against each other. It might seem ridiculous at first how he does it but he knows that certain elements of his plan will move certain ways for him to become the Chancellor of the Republic. He explains what action would achieve which outcome to Padmé during the Senate session, which here is a great way for us to see his political proficiency. It's something he needs to have to reach his goals aside from his Sith abilities.
The politics of the GFFA have a strong grasp on the Jedi as well. We mostly see this later on in The Clone Wars but even in TPM there are elements of it. Jedi are used as ambassadors to negotiate, a position given to them by the Senate. This way we learn early on that the Order has less control over themselves than they probably would like. It shows us why it will be possible to play the Jedi so they will fall to Order 66 in ROTS, it also shows us a certain complacency the Jedi have at this point as they became tools for the politicians. This will be even more interesting later on in TCW and most likely also in the new TCW season because it has an influence on the way the general public perceives the Jedi. Those who met them can sometimes be not as favorable towards them, and those who haven't met them might think them to be immortal beings able to achieve incredible things, like Anakin does in this movie. Something we can see in him saying "No one can kill a Jedi.".
"No one can kill a Jedi" also will be something to have Anakin's story go full circle in this trilogy. I will go into more detail at a later point but now I can already call this a form of foreshadowing. It also feels heartbreaking during this rewatch because this is an optimistic boy who hopes for better things despite what he had to suffer already and he will turn into someone completely different as the story continues. Now, the only things hinting at possible problems are that he misses his mother towards the end of the movie as well as what Yoda says: "Clouded this boy's future is."
Here we come to something that always fascinated me. Yoda and the others on the Jedi Council have their fears about having Anakin trained as they can't fully see what might happen to him, as well as his age. Both aren't exactly the best excuses in my opinion. We could blame this on the writing or the mentioned complacency. They have enough Jedi, they don't have to train everyone even if that person might be the Chosen One. But this is also the first time Anakin is dismissed by the Jedi Council, a continuing occurrence in his life, and at this age when you feel your hopes and dreams slip away from you it will break your heart to hear something like this. He does become Obi-Wan's Padawan later on but not everyone is happy about that.
Constant rejection is an element of this story not just for Anakin but also for Jar Jar Binks and even to Padmé Amidala to some degree. We see these three characters deal with it in different ways. For now Anakin accepts it, Padmé works against it in the political frame she can, and Jar Jar is still more comic relief.
We all know the hate Jar Jar gets but something that is important to note is that George intended for him to be a lovable character for children. And if you watch TPM you can see that. All the jokes with him are for children, the way he talks is funny and likable in the eyes of children. Even all fecal humor with him is funny for children. And if someone names people who think it's not: I've seen people talking about this not being funny for children or anyone but still making jokes like that themselves. So in some cases this is just influenced by other people's opinions. For children it's amusing. Many still love these, as well as fart jokes. And so it doesn't matter if an adult doesn't like Jar Jar. He wasn't created with them in mind!
Something we could also criticize is the editing but that's more the fault of time and the things that were possible. These movies are extremely saturated, which I would interpret as a way to show us that this a prospering world we look at with riches and great lives for many. Especially in Naboo that's the case. There are some things like composition of pictures which don't hold up well but I will ignore this. It's a product of its time.
The writing is a bit on the cheesy side but that's to be expected. This is a fantastical story and George, while having good ideas, isn't the best writer. But it still works in the context of this series. We understand what's going on, we see how people think and interact, we see the story going somewhere and actually adding something to the overall story of the Saga. To dismiss this movie because the writing isn't as good as it could have been means dismissing the important aspects of it for the continuation of the story.
Attack of the Clones
While I feel like people are right about AOTC being the weakest of the three prequels it still offers a lot of insight into the world and Anakin's development. As he's the main character of the prequels how he changes over the course of these movies is important and something we should focus on.
AOTC manifests the first signs of the dark side in Anakin as well as reasons for him becoming Vader in ROTS. The first important signs are that we see Anakin as being bad at following orders from Obi-Wan and the council. While this isn't exactly uncommon - just look at Qui-Gon in TPM - it is a base for what is to come and especially the strain this might bring to Anakin and Obi-Wan's relationship.
One reason for Anakin not working well with the limitations of the Jedi Order (especially his feelings for Padmé) is that he was taken in later in his life than people usually are. That's also why the council had been worried about taking him in during TPM. They even said that he was too old at first. This now comes back to haunt them a bit as Anakin's attachments to people outside of the Order are made clear throughout this movie. Be it his feelings for Padmé (which Obi-Wan tells him to be mindful of) or for his mother - they influence his way of thinking in a way the Jedi don't agree with.
We can see here the problems that arise from what the Jedi think they have to do in order to stay on the light side. They deny attachments which is why they take in children when they can barely walk on their own so they won't have any to people outside of their order, but then they do have attachments to their teachers, their masters, and the Order itself. This in turn creates a world in which the Order's opinions are absolute to some degree and also makes us as the viewer understand why they are so reluctant to be a part of whatever the Republic wants them to do. This also plays into Yoda saying that arrogance is becoming more and more common among the Jedi. Their attachment to the Order and the resulting thinking that they are in the right is what's fueling this arrogance. And arrogance leads to the dark side which already is clouding the Jedi's senses at the beginning of the movie.
The arrogance of the Jedi is also underlined by the first thirty minutes or so of the movie when we have the "car chase" scene with the changeling and Obi-Wan and Anakin. It shows how reckless Jedi are because while Obi-Wan doesn't like flying a lot he still is the one who jumps out of the window to cling to the probe and Anakin's flying is reckless in general. It also seems to be a common occurrence for Jedi to fly like Berserkers or fall from the sky in Coruscant as every other being we see during the chase seems to be more annoyed than frightened and even cursing the Jedi. To those people Jedi might seem arrogant as well.
What's definitely a weak point of this movie is the romance at first glance. I always wondered why I preferred this movie from the moment they are on Tatooine but couldn't deal much with the parts before (except maybe for the chase). It's the tonal difference that is the issue. While most of this story is about politics and especially the politics of war the romance has a very different tone to it as it is built around the way a Historical Romance might be written (just compare with most costume dramas out there. They have a similar level of cheesiness to them). As I said before George had good ideas but isn't the best writer and this is sadly one of this points where we can see that again. It also doesn't help that he had to push the romance for it to have an arc that leads to the conception of Luke and Leia before the beginning of ROTS. Also, George did tell others to see the PT as period pieces. Doug Chiang (art director for the Star Wars movies since the PT) said that again during his panel from this year's Celebration (not to mention that strictly speaking Star Wars isn't even Scifi so it's not surprising George didn't consider it that. But that's another thing to talk about for another post).
On the opposite of the romance we have the politics which are the integral part of the prequels. We get painted a picture of a prospering world, as I said before, but as expected even that world got its issues and George shows us in great detail how little things move in the senate and outside to lead to the rise of the Empire.
In one of the early scenes of the movie we already find out that Anakin has a close connection to Palpatine. This underlines the connection between the Jedi and the Senate as well as creates a base for Anakin becoming Darth Vader later on. His connection to Palpatine now is a way of Palpatine keeping an eye on all movements he needs to see to fulfill his plans, as well as a way for him to figure out if Anakin might be a good choice for a new apprentice, as he seems to always be looking for a new one with greater power than the one before. This I will explain later as it plays more importance in ROTS.
It also plays into the fact that Anakin hasn't been raised by the Jedi since he was a toddler and therefore is easier to influence with ideologies outside of the Order's. He already had been able to form opinions that might not work with the Order's ideas. This can be seen in how he wants to become more powerful as a Jedi, something he tells Padmé after he killed the tribe of Tusken Raiders. While I find it hard to believe that Padmé would still like Anakin after this it does fit with the Period Drama aspect. Also, this scene gives us a sentence that is very important. "To be angry is to be human", something Padmé tells Anakin.
The important part of that sentence is that it highlights again something about Anakin's struggles with following the ideologies and teachings of the Jedi Order. He is always told to be mindful of his thoughts and feelings, he is always told to keep things bottled up. The Jedi don't teach him properly how to deal with all of his emotions and after years of staying with them all these emotions spill over, similar to Harry Potter in Order of the Phoenix. If you have a teenager who has a lot of emotional baggage it will spill eventually. And Anakin still is a teenager in this movie. He already has formed attachments and as the Jedi never taught him to deal with them but just told him that attachments are forbidden he lashes out. Seeing this is also important to later understand some other choices of his in ROTS. Here in AOTC he even says that he can't think rational even though he knows better. Again putting emphasize on the way he wasn't taught to deal with his emotions in a healthy way.
Anakin having problems with his own emotions might also be why he lacks in the more emotional part of using the Force. He couldn't sense that Padmé was pleased to see them in the beginning of the movie unlike Obi-Wan who also constantly reminds Anakin to use the Force in some moments to sense things better. While Anakin can sense things it's usually not as strong as that ability of others.
This might also play into him thinking Palpatine is a good man who can be trusted. He can't sense his intentions and especially in ROTS later he can't sense the dark side of the Force surrounding Palpatine as Mace Windu can. Here we also have something that plays again into the divide between the Jedi and politics as Obi-Wan says that politicians can't be trusted. He doesn't just say that about Palpatine though, he also says that about Padmé, something that might be an influence on Anakin's general opinions later on as well, though it's not that focused on so I can only speculate. But it does underline the distrust for politics the Jedi have.
As I said before politics are an important element of this story as Palpatine uses them for his own gain. But it also mirrors elements of our politics in a great way. If you look at the meeting on Geonosis we can clearly see a group of people we could compare to lobbyists in our world or big companies which supported war efforts for Hitler during WWII or even now war efforts for various countries. There is money to be made in war and this is well reflected in this story as we see the Trade Federation, the Banking Clan, and the Techno Union as parts of the Separatists. Three groups that can make money from this as well as having issues with certain Republic limitations originating in the taxations and also corruption in and from the Senate.
This corruption element also is reflected in Dooku saying "My master will not allow the Republic to get away with this treachery" when the fight with the Clone Army happens. Something taken by Palpatine and financed after Sifo-Dyas death to use them for his own plans which Dooku knew about but had to act as if he didn't know. They did say in the movie that it would take time for the Senate to approve this army after they found out about it but thanks to Palpatine's manipulations he achieves this quite fast. This is a sign of the corruption in the Senate even though it might not be obvious for many in this world as it might just seem like someone taking the opportunity given to him.
The war as we find out was long planned by Palpatine who will use it to secure his power in the Senate and his hold on the galaxy. Every little thing we have seen so far in the first two movies of the prequels was to make us understand the political situation, the affiliations, and the small but genius ways in which he guides everyone for his own gain. This is someone who is playing the long game, who knows to make people work for him and who uses every opportunity as best as possible. And while Star Wars is usually made for kids this part definitely is made for the adults.
Revenge of the Sith
The third movie in this trilogy does get treated as the best one out of all the prequels and rewatching this I realized what could be the reason for this: there is a lot more action and as you have all the information from the other two movies you finally get to the pay-off. It's just a simple case of this being the finale of the trilogy. Also, Anakin finally becoming Vader might also just be a huge reason for people liking this movie the best.
ROTS doesn't just have a lot of great action, banter, and just hilarious moments. We also see many more subtle things which fascinate me. One of these things is Palpatine acting as if he can't save himself. But it's not just funny it also shows us how good he is at deception and hiding himself in plain sight. Not to mention that the war occupying the Jedi also helps covering the dark side in him to some extent. But he does look worried when they finally are trying to land which is also interesting as it shows us that he's still human behind all the lies and deception.
What's important to note is that Palpatine does say in this movie that Anakin told him about killing the Tusken Raiders. Again this is to support why and how much Anakin trusts Palpatine and will struggle with this later on in the movie. Also, Palpatine is someone who supports Anakin having emotions and not just simply suppressing them. Though he obviously does that because he wants to have Anakin's power. He values power the most, something that is supported by him saying "Soon I will have a new apprentice. Far younger and more powerful." after Dooku is killed by Anakin, something he pushed Anakin to do.
What's also important is to note how the Force isn't just light and dark but moves between both points a lot. Macu Windu does say that he feels the dark side surrounding Palpatine but doesn't immediately think he might be the Sith lord they are looking for. This originates in the fact that the dark and the light are both in general influenced by people's actions. Otherwise the Empire with its thousand of people who can't use the Force wouldn't be able to stand as a part of the dark side. But it's not just "good vs. evil" or "moral vs. amoral", it's a lot more difficult and these movies give us more of that. Otherwise Legends wouldn't have ended up with the phrase "grey Jedi".
The problem with deciding what is what is the driving force behind Anakin's decisions in ROTS. His attachments, which he doesn't consider as bad even though the Jedi don't want him to have them, are one of the factors. His vision he has about Padmé dying is something he should have been able to deal with if the Jedi had taught him how to and if he hadn't already had the same thing happening to him when he feared for his mother. His fear of loss is one of his biggest problems and as Yoda said "The fear of loss is a path to the dark side". So, if Anakin was able to accept that his visions don't always have to end up true (something that is hard for him as the vision about his mother did come true) he wouldn't fall later on. The whole thing with the vision also has a slight Shakespearean touch to it as it tells us a part of the end at an early stage of the movie. (Also compare with Burr's line in Hamilton "And me? I am the damn fool that shot him.")
In the same conversation between Yoda and Anakin, Yoda also points out that death is a natural part of life. Anakin who has seen loss and never learned how to healthily deal with it has problems accepting that for anyone close to him. This again comes into play when Palpatine tells Anakin about Darth Plagueis who supposedly could save people from death. Both these moments are in this movie to show the viewer between what Anakin has to decide: Accepting the natural way of life or prolonging it through unnatural means. He told Padmé in AOTC after he had killed the Tusken Raiders that he wants to become a great Jedi who can even save people from dying. This is something that comes from his childhood thoughts that Jedi can do anything, that Jedi are "unkillable". He again points that out in this movie. But when Palpatine tells him that no Jedi could teach him to save people from death it does turn him more to the dark side as this is what he wants to learn.
What also supports Anakin's thinking of the dark side as maybe not as bad is when Palpatine points out to him certain aspects of the Jedi that aren't too different from the Sith, as well as Anakin not being able to tell him anything that doesn't sound like he learned it by heart from a pamphlet about the Jedi. Palpatine knows how to push Anakin so he will consider the dark side and slowly turn into the right direction. His general trust in the Chancellor is a deciding factor here as well.
As the prequels are focusing strongly on the politics, we do have to consider them even more now. ROTS had more action but now everything that came before has a strong influence on the outcome. The war, the Jedi trying to distance themselves from politicians even though it's difficult, everything Palpatine has done - all of this we have to consider. Anakin focuses on saying that his loyalty lies with the Chancellor and Obi-Wan saying his lies with the Republic tells us their different views. As we already heard in AOTC Anakin would like someone to control everything to make things better and as Padmé rightfully pointed out that would be a dictatorship. Again, this comes up in a conversation between the two on Mustafar. Anakin has gone so far at that point that even if he wanted to he can't go back in that moment and he even suggests to usurp Palpatine. His upbringing, which resulted in him being hungry for power because he considers power to be the only thing to achieve peace and justice, is his doom.
This anger is also fueled by again two scenes that mirror each other to help us understand Anakin's decisions. These scenes are the one in which Anakin is the one to kill Dooku as a form of revenge and the scene in which Anakin sees Mace Windu about to kill Palpatine. Anakin did struggle with his decision beforehand and it now comes back to haunt him when Windu says that Palpatine is too dangerous to be kept alive. Windu also didn't want to have Anakin come with him before, which could have changed Anakin's stance on what to do with Palpatine. Now, he only points out that this isn't the Jedi way. He most likely already knows that he himself doesn't fit with "the Jedi way" to some extent but seeing it even in others makes him consider the corruption at the heart of the Jedi. Though he does struggle again after Windu is killed and says "What have I done?". These scenes are also in this movie to point out again that Anakin isn't fully on the dark side and why Luke could sense that "there is still light in him" in the OT.
His struggles between one side or the other are reflected in everything starting from the scene in which Windu is killed. Anakin seems to suffer when he gets his new name and bows down to Palpatine, something he does now because he feels like he has no other choice to safe Padmé as well as what the Jedi would do to him if they found out. He also cries after we see him kill the Separatists because he knows things aren't right. He fully falls when the fight with Obi-Wan comes up. His anger at the Jedi and Obi-Wan not understanding him is what makes him fight his former Master. It's also in part the reason for him strangling Padmé. As said before, he has problems controlling his emotions and so he lashes out and now, when he feels like he can achieve his goals of becoming stronger than before, everyone who disagrees is turning into the enemy as Anakin also doesn't understand the subtleties of political positions, as is obvious in him preferring a dictatorship instead of democracy.
Subtleties are in general an issue even for the Jedi. Something that was always clear in my opinion was that Yoda was right when he said that the prophecy could have been misread. We now know it mostly was as the prophecy was unveiled in one of the new Star Wars books but back when I watched this for the first time it still was obvious. But that's also one fascinating point because this makes the choices of the Jedi regarding Anakin quite obvious. They took him in despite his age because most considered him the Chosen One, the didn't teach him how to avoid the dark side properly because they didn't think he would join it. It's interesting especially because they said the prophecy claims that the Chosen One will bring balance to the Force. This raises the question what the balance is and if it maybe wasn't already closer to a balance? After Anakin's turn to Darth Vader things do turn to the dark side but a balance is always like a scale. Every small thing can change it and maybe the Jedi being involved with politics was influencing the leaning of the scale already. Yoda did say that arrogance became more and more common in the Jedi, meaning there was already a turn to the dark side to some degree. To achieve full balance something had to happen one way or the other and that's how the rest of the Skywalker Saga came to happen. Episode IX should show us the way proper balance is achieved!
As we talk about the balance of the Force this movie shows a lot of mirroring scenes, like two sides of a scale. I mentioned some before but we also get one important one towards the end. Again this is one about life and death and "the circle of life". The twins being born and Anakin becoming a fully-fledged Vader with the suit are mirroring each other in the way they are shot and show two different sides of life. We have a birth - the beginning of life - and a somewhat death but actually unnaturally prolonged through the suit. It's the natural versus the unnatural, the light versus the dark side, the innocence of a child versus the rottenness of men. It also reflects the earlier scenes between Yoda and Anakin and Anakin and Palpatine. One talking about death as the natural part of life and another saying that one can defeat death. What the whole thing with the Vader suit also does is showing us how prolonging Anakin's life, the unnatural way of doing this, creates a monster. This isn't about saying that medicinal ways of saving a life are unnatural and shouldn't be done, I have to point out. It's there to show how Anakin becomes the monster Vader as well as showing us that he doesn't have a choice about his own life anymore. This again plays into him feeling like he didn't have another choice anymore before. Now he really doesn't have one anymore and he owes Palpatine to some degree.
Why people love the Prequels
"Honestly, as much as I didn’t like Phantom Menace, The Clone Wars was actually okay for me, I actually quite liked it. The Revenge of the Sith was definitely the pinnacle of the prequels, it was dark, amazing fights scenes and some good drama. So yeah.
I particularly liked all the new species, planets, and conflicts the prequels introduced. Because they had better effects and the like, they could introduce whatever they wanted and trust the CGI to render them properly instead of having to rely on models (A/N: lot of models were used though even though we didn't expect it!) or stop motion or elaborately painted backgrounds like the original trilogy did. Don't get me wrong, I love the og trilogy, but the prequels seemed to get more creative liberty for the character, set and creature designs just because of the new developments in technology at the time.
I also thought we saw a lot more politics in the prequels, like a lot more. It also gave us a greater sense of the characters that carry through to the og trilogy, which I enjoyed. It made Palpatine a much more sinister threat, given that we were able to see his manipulations and how far he actually went to achieve his goals. And we got to see more of Anakin, before he was Vader, to truly understand why he fell and how far he actually fell. To go from a hero of the Republic to the symbol/enforcer of a dictatorship. And to see more from Obi wan and Yoda too. I enjoyed seeing the character backstories and developments."
- di-oblio on tumblr
"My dad actually brought me to watch the prequels when they came out, but I was so young then—all I remembered was Darth Maul and Grievous. I avoided Star Wars for many years on, because I always associated it with fanboys who were toxic. My ex was a big Star Wars fan, and all he could ever say about the prequels was that "they're bad" and re-hash some memes. In 2018, post-breakup, a friend of mine suggested we rewatch all the prequels together, back to back. I had such a blast, and I think a big part of it was I really felt in touch with Anakin, particularly exploring his characterization later on in the Stover Revenge of the Sith novelization. Compared to the other trilogies, the prequels (for me) really come out on top with fight choreography and acting talent. They really turned something challenging on paper to the iconic. People may hate on them, but the prequels were truly a cultural touchstone of the early 00s."
- overpricedrice on twitter
- overpricedrice on twitter
"A lot of people complain about the PT, specially TPM, because of how much politics they had. They miss the point that it was all very necessary. The idea for the OT is easy to understand: rebels fighting an evil emperor. But the PT had to explain how such an evil person managed to rise as ruler of the galaxy, turn a war hero and compassionate man Anakin Skywalker to evil as well and eliminate the Jedi. So there's a lot of plotting and Senate sessions and discussions and subtleties that form this explanation to his rise, what his plan was and how he put it to action, and it's actually one of the most clever and well-built plots I have ever seen. Something else: the overall arch of the trilogy is so different and original. As Matthew Stover wrote, it is a story of love and loss, brotherhood and betrayal, Courage and sacrifice and the death of dreams. It is a story about the blurry live between our best and our worst. It is the story of the end of an age."
- stop-it-vivian on tumblr
Conclusion
The prequels have a lot more to offer than certain parts of the fandom love to think. While I understand certain criticisms such as the CGI and such not holding up well, Jar Jar not exactly being a character everyone likes, and the romance being overly cheesy, all of that has a reason to it aside from George not being the greatest writer. If he was better at writing all these things could have worked a lot better because every little thing does have potential.
The main focus of the prequels is the politics, something people most likely didn't expect back when they were released. This also has an effect on the enjoyment of these movies but overall the politics are actually really fantastic and help us understand the world and Anakin's fall a lot better. If it wasn't for these politics we wouldn't understand the full struggle he goes through and why the Jedi were killed. And as we found out recently the prophecy did mention that. It also helps understanding how an Emperor can come to rule the galaxy and how people would join his Empire. Politics are always difficult. If you look at dictators coming to power in the last century you will find a lot of similarities to the politics of the prequels which are beautifully summarized by one thing Padmé says in ROTS: "So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause."
These movies have a lot of great banter, hilarious moments, and emotional scenes, a lot of which are the reason why kids loved it and still fondly remember them. A friend of mine still loves Jar-Jar because she found him funny as a kid, my little brother always loved the battle droids because they were hilarious. The reason why many Millennials around my age love these movies is because of things like this. George made the right decisions on the funny characters for children. The main group that seems to be against the prequels are those people that had already been adults back then or who were basically told to hate the movies.
It's also based a lot on people not accepting Anakin as a teenager and young man. They love to call him whiny but it's not surprising that he struggles with his emotions as I analyzed before. He has all the right to be "whiny" as no one is looking out for him to properly and healthily deal with his emotions. Even Darth Vader was a teenager once and no one is born evil. Everyone who is evil has been taught that and in the prequels we see exactly how Anakin has been taught these things by life.
We should stop to see the prequels at something "not canon" just because we as a fandom have basically declared war on these movies. They offer a lot to understand the Skywalker Saga, they offer elements for both kids and adults, they brought new stuff into this world without loosing what is Star Wars. A fantastical world in space about the fight between light and dark, the nuances of morality, life and death, the change of people, love and loss, religion and state. All this will finally culminate in Episode IX and I for my part can't wait to see that.
----
Word Count: ca. 6,762 words (ca. 6, 127 without the addition of other people's opinions)
Thanks to everyone who sent me something to add! Thanks to George Lucas for creating this awesome universe.
______
Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Star Wars or anything else mentioned. This is all just my opinion except for what other people sent to me and which I credited to them. English isn't my first language and while I have a good grasp on it I still do make mistakes. A lot more could be said as well and I didn't mention some things.
The main focus of the prequels is the politics, something people most likely didn't expect back when they were released. This also has an effect on the enjoyment of these movies but overall the politics are actually really fantastic and help us understand the world and Anakin's fall a lot better. If it wasn't for these politics we wouldn't understand the full struggle he goes through and why the Jedi were killed. And as we found out recently the prophecy did mention that. It also helps understanding how an Emperor can come to rule the galaxy and how people would join his Empire. Politics are always difficult. If you look at dictators coming to power in the last century you will find a lot of similarities to the politics of the prequels which are beautifully summarized by one thing Padmé says in ROTS: "So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause."
These movies have a lot of great banter, hilarious moments, and emotional scenes, a lot of which are the reason why kids loved it and still fondly remember them. A friend of mine still loves Jar-Jar because she found him funny as a kid, my little brother always loved the battle droids because they were hilarious. The reason why many Millennials around my age love these movies is because of things like this. George made the right decisions on the funny characters for children. The main group that seems to be against the prequels are those people that had already been adults back then or who were basically told to hate the movies.
It's also based a lot on people not accepting Anakin as a teenager and young man. They love to call him whiny but it's not surprising that he struggles with his emotions as I analyzed before. He has all the right to be "whiny" as no one is looking out for him to properly and healthily deal with his emotions. Even Darth Vader was a teenager once and no one is born evil. Everyone who is evil has been taught that and in the prequels we see exactly how Anakin has been taught these things by life.
We should stop to see the prequels at something "not canon" just because we as a fandom have basically declared war on these movies. They offer a lot to understand the Skywalker Saga, they offer elements for both kids and adults, they brought new stuff into this world without loosing what is Star Wars. A fantastical world in space about the fight between light and dark, the nuances of morality, life and death, the change of people, love and loss, religion and state. All this will finally culminate in Episode IX and I for my part can't wait to see that.
----
Word Count: ca. 6,762 words (ca. 6, 127 without the addition of other people's opinions)
Thanks to everyone who sent me something to add! Thanks to George Lucas for creating this awesome universe.
______
Disclaimer: I do not own any rights to Star Wars or anything else mentioned. This is all just my opinion except for what other people sent to me and which I credited to them. English isn't my first language and while I have a good grasp on it I still do make mistakes. A lot more could be said as well and I didn't mention some things.
Kommentare
Kommentar veröffentlichen