The Disappointment of Padme
- Thread starter Spot's Meow
- Start date
Although I wish that the characterization had been better done in the prequels, I don't think they are completely terrible. ROTS is actually one of my favorites in the franchise. And although people make fun of the "you're breaking my heart" line, I actually find that moment to be very emotional and sad. I thought that was one scene in which Padme was well written and Natalie Portman acted it very well. You can see the realization and disappointment in Padme's face and it makes me feel something. I just wish that that sort of emotional depth had been more widespread in the prequels.
Though there seems to be little discussion of it so far, I actually find the issue of the lack of mother-child relationships in the movies to be more concerning. I hope some of that is to come in the new movies.
Yeah I did like that scene and I'm not sure why it gets flack, nor the line in AOTC about Obi Wan holding him back.
One thing I liked about Anakin's mother issues is that it does illustrate why he'd go to such extremes to attempt to save Padme's life, since he wasn't able to do the same thing with his mom and leaving with the Jedi prevented him from being there to possibly protect her.
One thing I liked about Anakin's mother issues is that it does illustrate why he'd go to such extremes to attempt to save Padme's life, since he wasn't able to do the same thing with his mom and leaving with the Jedi prevented him from being there to possibly protect her.
Except that we're never shown that he has been explicitly kept from returning. You'd think at some point in the 15 years he's been gone he'd have thought to make some excuse to get back to Mos Espa for half a second to check in on her. That could have even been the open for him and Obi Wan in AotC: them finishing some mission and Anakin pushing to stop by on the way back to the capitol and being rebuked by his master for what is obviously the Nth time.
Maybe Obi-wan wasn't in on the plan (he wasn't with the party on Tatooine for the most part, so he never meet Shmi Skywalker), and Anakin got caught up in trying to be the best Jedi ever, that he sort of forgot. OR was planning of going back once he was finished training to free all the slaves (like he said he would) and to impress him mother as all he'd managed to do. Might have also been why he was frustrated by being "held back". He wanted to get finished and become a Jedi Knight so he could go free his mother.
I think the Jedi forbidding him from seeing or freeing his mother should have been a major plot point leading to the dark side. And him going to her in AOTC should have been a huge violation they're forced to ignore because a war just started. It could be the reason they refuse to make him Master in ROTS.
There's nothing in any of the movies that suggest the Jedi were going to free the salves on Tatooine.
I have to disagree with you there. First off, how could the children of a primitive tribe have the ability to condone, or even understand what is happening? Second, how likely is it that every member of the tribe was directly responsible or had the power to change what was happening if they objected? In any event, the whole point of Anakin pointing out he killed "the women and children" was a clear indication that he killed innocent people because he was too angry to think straight, or simply doesn't care about the lives of others.
In the end, even if Anakin were completely morally in the right to do what he did, Padme showed very little reaction or contemplation of the situation. She had no way of knowing if he was in the right or not. Anybody without serious mental defects would, at the very least, in that situation ask questions, such as "why did you kill them", "what were they doing", "were they a threat", ect.
While I am sure they exist, nobody here that I can recall said they hate Lucas. Strong criticisms don't always indicate hatred.
Me neither. Seems kind of silly, as well as trollish.
Perhaps this has something to do with Lucas' constant dismissal of criticism and arrogance. Not that Abrams has answered each and every criticism of his work, but at the very least he appears to be trying to make the best movie he can, and hasn't bought into the tale that he is some sort of visionary genius who craps gold bars.
Shmi's freedom was part of the bet on the race, he wasn't going to buy her freedom or free the other slaves.
Choosing the life of a jedi is what separated Anakin from living with his mom, it doesn't need to be any more complicated than that. She even tells him not to look back. Even if he checked on her in the years in between, it wouldn't change that he'd be away doing jedi stuff at the time she got attacked.
And then when he turns to Yoda for advice about the Padme death premonitions, he's given pretty lame advice compared to Palpatine's offers.
And then when he turns to Yoda for advice about the Padme death premonitions, he's given pretty lame advice compared to Palpatine's offers.
At least that one you can write off as senility.
Padme was fine in TPM and AOTC but they really dropped the ball with her in ROTS, where she was essentially reduced to standing around pregnant until she delivered Luke and Leia.....and then died. I would have liked them to keep some of the deleted scenes in that showed her and others starting what would later become the Rebel Alliance. The scene where Padme and other Senators present the petition to Palpatine and he then seems to begin suspecting that there is more of a relationship between Anakin and Padme would've added depth to the movie IMHO. I believe that they got cut for pacing and wanting to focus mostly on Anakin's storyline. Those scenes, as well some other neat ones, are included in the ROTS novelization, however.
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