With the release of the latest Star Wars movie, “Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith”, last Thursday, some believe that George Lucas’s portrayal of the “dark side” is supposed to be an allegory for the Bush administration. However, it seems as though nearly every movie in Hollywood is supposed to make a stand for something. Perhaps Hollywood moviemakers should stop dabbling in politics and start acquainting themselves with reality. First of all, for a business which makes its money by appealing to the American public, marketing films infused with liberal politics is not pragmatic. Last November, the American people showed their support for Bush, as well as the conservative agenda in the House of Representatives and the Senate. When one’s job description includes marketing a product to the masses, it is always intelligent to make sure that the masses agree with the message. In addition, a series which has been immensely popular for nearly three decades should hope to preserve its reputation with its final installment, not hinder it. Should the movie even be perceived to have a liberal bias, more conservative fans of the movie will be offended and upset at the sudden bastardization of the Star Wars “message.” While the moral of the Star Wars series has always been to strive for the triumph of good over evil, to place a political face upon these characters would ruin its appeal to many people. Furthermore, the movie script was written even before the War in Iraq began. Since the undertones of a critique of Bush’s “war mongering policies,” which many critics suggest is present, did not exist when the script was written, the sudden anti-Bush content seems more like a ploy of the liberal media to turn a popular series into a liberal megaphone. One of the key reasons that viewers and critics alike feel that the movie is intended to have strong political overtones are the remarks made by Hayden Christensen, the actor who plays the lead role of Anakin Skywalker, to The Ottawa Sun. The young Canadian actor, responding to a question of whether or not the film contained anti-Bush undertones replied, “Absolutely.” It seems as though many actors today take the liberty to draw their own conclusions about the films they star in and make political statements and accusations. For an actor who was chosen to play the lead role of Anakin Skywalker thanks in large part to his resemblance to the character, Christensen should not feel that he has the right to take artistic liberty with the film. Director George Lucas, who has the most to lose from the interpretation that Episode III has a strong political agenda, should be furious at Christensen. Lucas has maintained that any and all anti-Bush and anti-war references are inadvertent and that the core of the Star Wars movies remains unchanged. He did, however, note that there are striking similarities between the War in Iraq and the Vietnam War. It seems as though Lucas is smart enough to shrug off the accusations in favor of promoting the film. It is apparent with the immense success of “Fahrenheit 911,” which director Michael Moore admitted to be a piece of “propaganda,” that liberal bias has blended into the fabric of media-made popular culture. However, if Hollywood keeps believing it is fostering “popular” culture, it should take a good hard look at the contradictory election results. With the accusations that the latest addition to the Star Wars series contains anti-Bush rhetoric, the filmmakers have much to lose. Fans of this previously apolitical film series have come from all walks of life and have an abundance of political opinions. Thus, for creator George Lucas to have possibly intended to use “Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith” as a liberal political vehicle risks a strong backlash from its conservative fans. Hopefully, the fans will listen to Lucas when he says that no such political content exists, and one of the most popular and celebrated film series of all time will remain untarnished by controversy.
