A few more things...
May. 6th, 2005 10:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ella_menno...since we watched RotJ for movie night tonight. :-)
* In light of the information we get in RotS about why Anakin is so desperate for power, particularly the power to keep someone from dying, it seems particularly tragic that he is, in effect, trapped in his dying moment for over twenty years. I don't know if it was Lucas' intention, but I tend to interpret the scenario in this way: Anakin starts to die - should die, perhaps - on the sand on Mustafar. Palpatine swoops in, grabs him, and basically puts him into a sort of suspended animation (i.e. the Vader suit). But it's not Anakin's life that's being preserved; it's his death, his dying moment. Horrible, and tragic, and even a bit ironic.
* I meant to mention this in my last post, but it slipped my mind.
There's been criticism of Padme's death, in that it's presented as dying of a broken heart. Evidently, some folks think this cheapens or belittles her character and makes her appear weak.
As my grandmother would say: Bullfrogs.
Weak? Because her heart is broken? Hmmm...let's take a look at the facts.
*She finds out that Palpatine is a Sith Lord.
*She's a smart girl, and has to realize that he's been manipulating her for years - certainly since the original TRade Federation blockade.
*Granted, it was part of Palpatine's manipulation, but Padme had a direct and sizable role in clearing the way for him to become Chancellor.
*The Republic she fought so hard to preserve is being perverted into a dictatorship, and there's not a thing she can do about it.
*She's been living a lie, unable to tell anyone she's married. From what we know of her, she's an honest person, so this sort of basic untruthfulness most likely causes her a good deal of day-to-day stress.
*Her husband is frequently absent due to his career.
*A career which he would have to forsake were the fact of their marriage to be revealed - so it isn't just herself she's protecting.
*She's pregnant, which is going to add quite a bit of difficulty to keeping their marriage under wraps.
*Add to that the stress inherent to expecting her first child.
*Add to that the news that her husband has murdered innocent children.
*Anakin's Jedi career, which he and Padme have both been living a lie to protect? By the way, he went and renounced that - without telling his wife about it - in order to sign on as apprentice to the man currently trying to take over the galaxy.
*Her husband's best friend shows up and, for all intents and purposes, announces that he's going to hunt Anakin down and kill him.
*And, of course, she goes to find Anakin to talk about things, and gets choked into unconsciousness for her trouble.
See, here's my point: at this point, Padme's dying of a broken heart? Seems plenty plausible to me, and smacks of weakness not at all. Everything in her life - everything - has changed, and not for the good. I have to think she feels at least partially culpable for much of the situation; plus, all these things happen within days, if not hours. It isn't like she can go fix herself a cup of tea, take a nice hot bath and think things over before she makes a decision. Her whole world has collapsed around her. Is she in despair? Absolutely. Does that make her weak? Hardly.
* In light of the information we get in RotS about why Anakin is so desperate for power, particularly the power to keep someone from dying, it seems particularly tragic that he is, in effect, trapped in his dying moment for over twenty years. I don't know if it was Lucas' intention, but I tend to interpret the scenario in this way: Anakin starts to die - should die, perhaps - on the sand on Mustafar. Palpatine swoops in, grabs him, and basically puts him into a sort of suspended animation (i.e. the Vader suit). But it's not Anakin's life that's being preserved; it's his death, his dying moment. Horrible, and tragic, and even a bit ironic.
* I meant to mention this in my last post, but it slipped my mind.
There's been criticism of Padme's death, in that it's presented as dying of a broken heart. Evidently, some folks think this cheapens or belittles her character and makes her appear weak.
As my grandmother would say: Bullfrogs.
Weak? Because her heart is broken? Hmmm...let's take a look at the facts.
*She finds out that Palpatine is a Sith Lord.
*She's a smart girl, and has to realize that he's been manipulating her for years - certainly since the original TRade Federation blockade.
*Granted, it was part of Palpatine's manipulation, but Padme had a direct and sizable role in clearing the way for him to become Chancellor.
*The Republic she fought so hard to preserve is being perverted into a dictatorship, and there's not a thing she can do about it.
*She's been living a lie, unable to tell anyone she's married. From what we know of her, she's an honest person, so this sort of basic untruthfulness most likely causes her a good deal of day-to-day stress.
*Her husband is frequently absent due to his career.
*A career which he would have to forsake were the fact of their marriage to be revealed - so it isn't just herself she's protecting.
*She's pregnant, which is going to add quite a bit of difficulty to keeping their marriage under wraps.
*Add to that the stress inherent to expecting her first child.
*Add to that the news that her husband has murdered innocent children.
*Anakin's Jedi career, which he and Padme have both been living a lie to protect? By the way, he went and renounced that - without telling his wife about it - in order to sign on as apprentice to the man currently trying to take over the galaxy.
*Her husband's best friend shows up and, for all intents and purposes, announces that he's going to hunt Anakin down and kill him.
*And, of course, she goes to find Anakin to talk about things, and gets choked into unconsciousness for her trouble.
See, here's my point: at this point, Padme's dying of a broken heart? Seems plenty plausible to me, and smacks of weakness not at all. Everything in her life - everything - has changed, and not for the good. I have to think she feels at least partially culpable for much of the situation; plus, all these things happen within days, if not hours. It isn't like she can go fix herself a cup of tea, take a nice hot bath and think things over before she makes a decision. Her whole world has collapsed around her. Is she in despair? Absolutely. Does that make her weak? Hardly.
