Too Serious?: Sexual Assault in RotJ
- Thread starter Myasishchev
- Start date
My personal theory has always been that Palpatine killed Padme with the Force to gain greater control over Anakin, who would become a broken man with nothing to live for with her out of the way.
Without Padme Anakin would no longer be motivated by love or fear for her safety, but only anger, hatred, and revenge. Without Padme Anakin has no reason to hold Palpatine to his word about teaching him to save people from dying. Without Padme Anakin has no one he'd wish to rule alongside after overthrowing the Emperor until Luke reveals himself twenty years later, so there's less reason for Palpatine to fear his apprentice turning on him. Without Padme (and Schmi) Anakin has no one close to him to remind him of the causes he once cared about (that are contradictory to Imperial needs) like ending slavery or fighting for justice and equality. Padme was Anakin's last emotional connection and vestige of a conscience until Luke came along, and the only person that could possibly bring him back from becoming a complete sociopath.
Palpatine seemed to know VERY quickly that Padme had been killed (before it was even likely to have been announced, and seemingly simultaneous with her actual death if the sequence of events is chronological), and was quick to place the blame on Anakin killing her in his anger, which begs the question of how he knew that unless he was monitoring the situation closely in the Force all along across great distances. He was also delighted to see Anakin's reaction to Padme's death and how much power and rage and regret it gave Anakin.
It's an interesting theory, though unfortunately not really supported by any clear evidence.
As much work as Palpatine may have put into isolating Anakin, in the end the whiny chosen one did it to himself...I have to believe that in the end Obi-Wan might have been able to save Anakin from himself if Anakin would have let him. Ultimately though, Anakin effectively chose his fate. And given his motivations, it makes it very hard for me to feel much sympathy.
As much work as Palpatine may have put into isolating Anakin, in the end the whiny chosen one did it to himself...I have to believe that in the end Obi-Wan might have been able to save Anakin from himself if Anakin would have let him. Ultimately though, Anakin effectively chose his fate. And given his motivations, it makes it very hard for me to feel much sympathy.
Maybe people in the SW universe have a psychological off switch where they can wish themselves dead at a whim. Can you imagine what that would do for the suicide rates!
Of course it isn't, because it wasn't the author's intent. His intent was that Padme died of something lame like losing the will to live from having a broken heart while giving birth to twins, which should have put some more gas in the will to live car.
The intent on my part was not to alleviate Anakin of any guilt. He's still a child murdering scumbag who choked his pregnant wife to unconsciousness, so screw him. My intent was to make Palpatine an even greater manipulator of events and to not have the cause of Padme's death be so ridiculous.
If Anakin had any sense or gumption, he would have turned against Palps for not living up to his end of the bargain (which originally was to SAVE PADME). Even not knowing Palps killed her, he should have been out for Palps' blood, even if he needed time to recuperate before he could start to seek vengeance. He certainly should not have been mindlessly loyal for twenty freakin' years! He could have found some way to get back at Palps during all that time.
For Padme to die in childbirth is absurd, considering the technology levels of their society, and the fact that she was being attended by medical droids. It's not like she was hemmorhaging blood all over the place. What exactly killed her?
For her to just "decide to die" is even more idiotic. She had two newborn babies to care for, and she'd never previously shown any indication that she was the kind of self-dramatizing, irresponsible, immature twit who would decide to "die for love" just because she thought hubby croaked.
There's nothing about how ROTS ended that makes any sense, unless you just toss the character logic into the lap of the dark side and decide Anakin was being mind-controlled by the dark side and the dark side also killed Padme, to make sure he couldn't change his mind. Which of course is very cheap writing, but at least it makes sense.
Padme's death does need to be de-ridiculous-ized but it's not good for the story to toss everything in Palps' lap (anymore than it's good to toss everything into the dark side's lap) because Anakin, as the supposed lead character, is too little in control of things as it is. It would be much better for Anakin to "fall to the dark side" of his own volition, hopefully for a better reason than saving Padme, which considering he didn't turn on Palps for not actually saving her, raises the question whether he cared about it at all, given that his personality would propel him to seek revenge rather than just turn into an acquiescent lump.
I think your theory makes plenty o' sense.
^ Thanks.
Anakin wasn't "in control" of Padme dying as it was, so nothing has changed there. He wasn't even aware that she was in danger of dying from what he did.
Anakin didn't turn on Palpatine because Palpatine sucker punched him the moment he awoke from surgery by telling him that Anakin had killed Padme. He was consumed by guilt, grief, and rage at his own behavior. From his standpoint Palpatine never failed in keeping his promise because Anakin stupidly killed her himself before they could discover how to keep people from dying (although Palpatine did imply that Plageous' apprentice -him- already knew this information before changing his tune later in the film).
As far as tossing everything in Palp's lap, we're talking about a guy who clouded the visions of the entire Jedi Order, manipulated hundreds of Senators to do his bidding, and controlled both sides in a galactic war while lying to both. Killing one young woman with the Force is child's play by comparison.
Anakin wasn't "in control" of Padme dying as it was, so nothing has changed there. He wasn't even aware that she was in danger of dying from what he did.
Anakin didn't turn on Palpatine because Palpatine sucker punched him the moment he awoke from surgery by telling him that Anakin had killed Padme. He was consumed by guilt, grief, and rage at his own behavior. From his standpoint Palpatine never failed in keeping his promise because Anakin stupidly killed her himself before they could discover how to keep people from dying (although Palpatine did imply that Plageous' apprentice -him- already knew this information before changing his tune later in the film).
As far as tossing everything in Palp's lap, we're talking about a guy who clouded the visions of the entire Jedi Order, manipulated hundreds of Senators to do his bidding, and controlled both sides in a galactic war while lying to both. Killing one young woman with the Force is child's play by comparison.
So... no one around here is even remotely familiar with the idea of sexual bondage.
No wonder the girls in movies today have no curves, the new black widow is wearing a swat outfit instead of a catsuit, and Charlie's new Angels have no nipples.
What do they teach in the schools these days???
Sex with anyone under 32 must be very boring today.
No wonder the girls in movies today have no curves, the new black widow is wearing a swat outfit instead of a catsuit, and Charlie's new Angels have no nipples.
What do they teach in the schools these days???
Sex with anyone under 32 must be very boring today.
[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OU1mW0Ty_Y&feature=player_embedded[/yt]
Yes, Locutus of Bored, this idea makes much more sense than the lameness that was evidently intended. Good job.
Midichlorians aside, Padme's death and Leia's life is a big argument for nurture over nature in the SW universe.
Its not too serious, it was a "dasmel in distress" which is as old as cinema, and so old nowadays it played for laughs.
Don't worry, todays movies are equal opperunity, for example, Boltie sex bit in "supers"
Don't worry, todays movies are equal opperunity, for example, Boltie sex bit in "supers"
I simply accepted it as casual racism. It's not like sand people are real people.
It's kind of like how they can enslave clones and droids without anyone complaining even though slavery is supposedly illegal in the Republic. It's okay to do horrible things to subhumans.
The Republic is generally egalitarian in its diversity, but it's quite obvious that there are some species that are discriminated against as a matter of course.
Anakin's killing of the Jedi younglings is probably one of his most justifiable decisions.
Remember, the Jedi employ child soldiers. Hell, they employ child officers. Ahsoka Tano was only 14 years old and she already held the rank of Commander, which takes decades of experience to achieve in the real world.
Those kids in the temple had been trained for combat since they were babies and had been indoctrinated in Jedi philosophy just as long. They were all incredibly dangerous super-powered killing machines loyal to the guys who the emperor just overthrew.
Star Wars medical tech is extremely eclectic. Some of it is miraculous . Some of it is total crap compared to what was available in the real world in the 70s.
They can't even give Darth Vader a lung transplant and he's got the full resources of the Empire at his disposal.
TremblingBluStar said:
I'd find that pretty off too.
I don't recall that being fully planned, tho. My interpretation was that Plan A was to infiltrate as Boushh, presumably with Lando's help, collect Han, and GTFO. Plan A didn't go well, to the extent that Jabba was never fooled in the first place, so they had to go with Plan B (Luke saves everybody with superpowers).
I mean, if Plan B was Plan A, why was Plan A even attempted? All it did was deliver Chewie and Leia into Jabba's hands.
Gives the heroes the moral high ground. They can claim they gave Jabba plenty of chances to deal, or surrender, before they took him out.
But she was playing a character who wasn't strung out on coke.
That we know of.
Yeah, don't be too sure. Leia being strung out on coke may explain why she fell for Han.
And it might not have been deliberate. Maybe she accidentally inhaled some white powder on Hoth without realizing it wasn't snow.
TremblingBluStar said:
I'd find that pretty off too.
I don't recall that being fully planned, tho. My interpretation was that Plan A was to infiltrate as Boushh, presumably with Lando's help, collect Han, and GTFO. Plan A didn't go well, to the extent that Jabba was never fooled in the first place, so they had to go with Plan B (Luke saves everybody with superpowers).
I mean, if Plan B was Plan A, why was Plan A even attempted? All it did was deliver Chewie and Leia into Jabba's hands.
Gives the heroes the moral high ground. They can claim they gave Jabba plenty of chances to deal, or surrender, before they took him out.
You don't need moral high ground with Jabba.
Actually, now that you say it like that, I don't understand why (other than story purposes, which is an adequate explanation to be sure
) they didn't just show up with a Mon Cal cruiser, or bring fifty guys with guns with them on the Millennium Falcon. It's clear that transit time wasn't a problem. And of course "The Rebel Alliance will kill you if you deal with the Empire" is highly on-message for a revolutionary government, and no one likes slavers anyway. Hostis humanis generis and all.
If Palpatine wasn't responsible for her death ( and Anakin had no particular reason to believe that he was ), there's no reason for vengeance. There would still be reason to kill him anyway in pure typical Sithlike fashion, but that wouldn't ultimately have anything to do with Padme. The "power to save Padme" isn't some magic invincibility cheat code that operates automatically on a galaxy-wide basis. You would have to be there. If you're not - if, in fact, you're burned up and partially dismembered in some other part of the galaxy - and it's the result of your own actions, blaming someone else has little validity.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Force_bondTemis the Bleeding Aorta said:
I am.
And I LIKE it!
Besides, space operas have never lacked for equal-opportunity display of skin.
These were ~six-to-eight-year-old children who were unarmed (they only had training lightsabers that can't kill or cause serious wounds), in hiding, and requesting assistance from someone they considered to be a mentor. I'm not sure what African tribal warlord you've been serving under where that's considered a "justifiable decision," but in most of the world's militaries it's considered a war crime to hack unarmed enemy (adult) soldiers who approach you for help to bits. Strangely, international law also tends to frown on doing it to small children.
You'll forgive me if I don't offer to refer you for babysitting gigs, right?