Anyone who watched the season premier of Family Guy this past Sunday night will know that they did a parody of Star Wars-with the main characters of the tc show playing the film characters.
It was an amusing parody and there were certainly many instances that made me laugh. Brian-playing Chewbacca-gargling prior to talking, then doing what seemed to be a Fozzie Bear imitation with “Wacca Wacca!” afterward. Peter/Han picking up a “gently-used” couch in t he garbage chute was funny as well, and then his trying to get it through the various doors in the station and then on his ship leads to wondering HOW he managed to get back to the ship in one piece.
But my thoughts turned to Stewie who played Darth Vader and how he appeared to be the right choice-after all Stewie has thoughts and desires of power and overwhelming the world until he finally rules it. Vader appeared to have the same desires-acquire and accumulate power until he rules the galaxy.
But after the show was over it made me ponder how Darth Vader came to be from Anakin Skywalker. Anakin was not a bad person; he did not choose to jump ship and just become the evil that we’d seen in the first three films instantaneously. He was in fact a good and decent person-someone who was in love and would do anything for the woman he loved. For anyone who has seen the trilogies you know the sequence of events-Anakin was led to the dark side on a promise that he could save his beloved Padme. He risked all for her. He did what is present in so many epic stories-he gave his own life and sacrificed who he was for her. It was not to be though as the then Chancellor Palpatine was a lying and manipulative person. Anakin had no one to turn to for help, and he lost his love and his spirit to the dark side, the dark forces that most of us never contemplate.
While I enjoyed the parody by Family Guy I still feel that in the trilogies Anakin Skywalker receives less support and understanding that he deserves. An emotional young man-in love and scared to loose her-makes a decision that was based on emotion and lies. He made a poor decision and lived that out for twenty years. In the end he made the choice to save his son and his family-so despite what he may have appeared to be-wasn’t he really a good person in the end?
Tuesday September 25th, 2007
