By Ceasr G. Goriano, USA Today, May 18, 2005
Some conservative are roaring like Wookiees at perceived anti-Bush sentiments in the new Star Wars movie, which opens
tonight at midnight.
Since early screenings of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith began last month, film critics, commentators and Internet
bloggers have been debating whether filmmaker George Lucas is comparing President Bush and the Iraq war to the Dark Side of
the Force. The concervative film site Pabaah.com has called for a boycott. The topic even made NBC’s Today show.
Lucas said Sunday at the Cannes Film Festival that the movie was written before the Iraq war. “We were just funding
Saddam Hussein and giving him weapons of mass destruction,” he said, adding, “The parallels between Vietnam and what we’re
doing in Iraq now are unbelievable.”
Still, some see echoes of Bush in the film.
In one scene, Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader tells his onetime mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi, “If you’re not with me, you’re my
enemy.” The line is seen as a reference to Bush’s post-Sept. 11 threat “Either you are with us, or you are with the
terrorists.”
The White House declined to comment on the controversy.
Josh Griffin, a self-described “conservative Star Wars fan,” says he cringed when he heard the dialogue at a recent
advance screening of Sith. “Star Wars is meant to be a children’s movie … not to be a political statement about someone’s
liberal ideology.”
Even a perception of bias could hurt a film’s bottom line, some say. The crucial summer moviegoing season usually makes
up 40% of a year’s box office revenue; this year, ticket sales are down 7% from 2004.
“If people feel Lucas is pushing a parallel between the Galactic Empire and present-day America, I think people will be
turned off,” says filmmaker Jason Apuzzo, co-editor of the conservative film blog Libertas
(libertyfilmfestival.com/libertas).
But others applaud Lucas for taking a stand.
“As a liberal and a Democrat, it was comforting,” says Slant magazine film critic Ed Gonzalez. “Star Wars is created by
real people, starring real people, so it’s inevitable it will reflect real-life issues,” even if it is sci-fi fantasy.
Freelance writer Craig Winneker, who accused Sith of bias on the webzine Tech Central Station, says he nonetheless loved
the film. “I’m not going to hold a grudge against the movie or base my opinion on world events because of something Yoda
says.”