Living with the Empire

I recently caught up with some old friends of ours from a long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.

After a careful viewing of Stars Wars Episode IV, something profound revealed itself to me. Something that for so long I and many others have overlooked despite how obvious it all was. Audiences around the world were enamored with the characters as they embarked on a fantastical adventure with strange aliens, classical heroes and villains, and phallic looking glowy sticks.

The film had so much going on thematically, that any perceived plot hole was dismissed as mere nitpicking from an outsider that didn’t “get it.”

After watching Star Wars for the umpteenth time, it occurred to me that it was never adequately explained just why the audience should hate the Empire and root for the Rebels.

Quite frankly, the Empire wasn’t all that bad.

The film opens with the Empire chasing a seemingly innocent spaceship occupied by supposed diplomats. This opening scene, coupled with the appearance of a man dressed in black stepping onto the ship while ominous music played led audiences everywhere to assume that these were the bad guys. Based purely on appearances, the Empire was given a bad rap from the beginning. That’s pure stereotyping and one we, as a culture, should not condone even in outer space.

I thought we evolved beyond that. But I guess not.

Our opinions were formed before we fully understood what was at stake. It was never explained why this diplomatic ship was being chased. The implications of the information smuggled aboard R2D2 was never fully disclosed.

The only thing presented to the viewers was this black machine wearing a big helmet who went by the name Darth Vader. The reality is that ole Darth could have just been a robotic brotha cruising the galaxy with his crew.

If he was named Ron instead, we would have a different movie on our hands. The fact the guy’s name was Darth didn’t necessarily make him a bad person nor did it justify us hating the Empire. Sure, Ron Vader may sound more huggable than Darth Vader. But we must put aside our preconceived notions if we want to consider ourselves enlightened.

Hug Darth too.

I guess if the Empire were the bad guys, then our heroes of this story must surely be the Rebel Alliance, the faction in the galaxy that the audience was destined to throw their support behind. The blonde haired kid looking out at the setting suns after his aunt and uncle were brutally murdered in the desert? How could you not root for that guy and his band of cohorts.

The problem that I have is that we truly never know what the Rebel Alliance was rebelling against. Yes, we know they were fighting the Empire, but what were their motives? I think we the audience deserved a more detailed explanation for what the Rebel Alliance was fighting for. Perhaps they wanted more representation to go long with the increased taxation, a popular axiom for all rebelling colonies. But George Lucas, that nutty old goose, neglected to adequately explain the tax structure that the Empire had in place.

Quite frankly, I think the Rebels missed the star cruiser on this one. If they ever took the time to see what the Empire was accomplishing, the Rebels may have been more inclined to help in the efforts as opposed to killing innocent citizens and impeding galactic development.

It was apparent that the Empire was clearly a government focused on the galactic economy. There was no greater symbol of this than the Death Star project. Do you know how many jobs that created? That’s just to build the base too; we’re not even counting the jobs needed to occupy and run the ship as well as the maintenance and upkeep. In addition, these were all reoccurring costs thanks to the Rebel Alliance who kept blowing the darned thing up.

Some loyal fanboys may argue that the complete destruction of the planet Alderaan proved the Empire was truly evil, but I must disagree. The Rebels stole vital plans concerning the Death Star, which they intended to use for destructive purposes. Lives were at stake and the Empire clearly had a stance of not negotiating with terrorists.

And if it hasn’t occurred to you yet, let me break it to you Yoda style – Terrorist, Luke Skywalker was.

He lived in the desert; hung out with an old man with a suspiciously long beard; banded with a known smuggler and criminal in Hans Solo; and sneaked onto the Death Star and other Empire facilities with the intent to cause harm and take lives.

Terrorism, that is!

When the Death Star blew up Alderaan, some may argue that the Empire used excessive force. I for one fully support the Empire’s stance on not negotiating with terrorists. While the destruction of the planet took lives, the action was done to help prevent the further lose of life elsewhere in the galaxy.

I admit that things weren’t all fine and dandy with the Empire though. For one, their uniforms were a little drab, but I wouldn’t start a rebellion over the dress code. Despite their bland look, you can’t deny that their halls were quite neat in their star cruisers despite the heavy amount of foot traffic and robo-wheel traffic from the droids.

Despite paying close attention to the film, I found no reason to rebel against the Empire. While some may question their tactics, the worst you could say was that Darth Vader and the stormtroopers were simply misunderstood.

If you listen to a conversation at the beginning of the film, General Tarkin – the Eminem to Vader’s Dre – explained the Emperor’s plan to dissolve the government and return power to the individual galactic governments. Instead of focusing on a big government having to rule over separate and distinct galaxies, the Emperor was smart enough to recognize that impossibility and opted for a smaller government. The Emperor realized that each star systems had their own needs that could be best met by a local government.

During this transition of power, the Empire had most of their budget focused on defense spending. Again, nothing worth rebelling over. If the Rebellion ever dissolved, then the Empire would be able to cut defense spending and perhaps divert some funds towards education and other admirable projects.

Of course, we may never know what other projects and plans that the Empire had in store. Whatever they were, I’m sure the Rebels would find something wrong with it and neglect to let anyone know what their alternatives are. However, that wouldn’t stop audiences everywhere from blindly rooting for the Rebels to destroy the Empire’s well-intentioned programs while neglecting to realize just how well the rest of the galaxy could have had it if only they would have given the Empire a fair chance.