In 2005, George Lucas released the final film of his prequel trilogy, tying together two eras of films and revealing the means by which the wholesome Galactic Republic and the heroic Anakin Skywalker could be transformed into the despotic Galactic Empire and the sinister Darth Vader, respectively.
Admittedly, it has been 15 years since that film made its way to the big screen, and like the history it took its premise from, people have largely forgotten the message that film tried to vividly portray: ordinary people will submit to evil in order to save themselves. In the film we are given two startling transformations, and each highlights the way in which fear really is the path to the Dark Side. I want to look at these transformations as they are depicted in the fictional setting of their universe, and how this transformation compares with the reality of the Covid-19 virus.
A Personal Fear
In Star Wars: Episode III, Anakin Skywalker is an accomplished and powerful Jedi Knight, well trained and highly respected for his many great deeds in the Clone Wars, but something nags at him. Despite all his power and skill, he is but a man and cannot guarantee the safety of his secret bride. Worse still, due to his connection with the Force, he has premonitions of his wife’s future death. Once full of confidence as to his path and the philosophies of his training, he becomes blinded and consumed by fear: no matter what, he must prevent this event from taking place, he must prevent his wife from dying. As the film progresses, you see him become more and more desperate, more and more willing to believe lies, more and more willing to turn on those he heretofore had trusted with his life. In the film’s climax, his fear has built to such a crescendo that it deafens him to even the pleas of the very woman he had sacrificed his soul to save. In a fit of anger he nearly fulfills his premonitions personally, and only his former master’s appearance saves her.
This downward spiral began with fear. At first it was a creeping thing, relegated to the shadows. Dreams haunt him, causing him secret angst. Slowly a resolve builds within him: the outcome must be stopped. After all, she could not die… he would not let her.
When Covid-19 began its rise to prominence, it was a creeping thing. Far off in China, it inspired fear, yet its distance kept people from taking it too seriously. After all, we have had an outbreak every other year for the past ten years. Nearly every one of those outbreaks were vastly overblown by the media and the medical industry alike, and most people would admit to themselves that none of it was anywhere near as bad as we were led to believe. In the early days of the outbreak in China, people were more likely to be skeptical too because of China’s untrustworthy nature. But, as soon as cases began to appear elsewhere, it was shocking to see how the fear mounted. Immediately you started to see people wearing masks at airports and in big cities.
By the time cases began to be reported within the States, people were already on the slope of fear, but as numbers (whose origins remain mysterious and unverified) began to increase, fear mounted at an even greater rate. Despite the fact that there is a tremendous amount of misinformation and crisis reporting about the virus, people who had once vowed to let the government take their freedoms, guns, and so forth “over my dead body,” suddenly changed tune entirely. Is the virus as deadly as is being reported? I do not know. How can I? On one side you have information from myriad sources lamenting its rapid spread and high death toll, while on the other you have information touting how it compares poorly against other, well-known illnesses, and how all the numbers have been inflated. The disease is difficult to detect, we are told, because its symptoms (conveniently) are shared with its close kin, the common cold and flu, requiring specialized testing.
As reports of cases are mounting, the fear has produced tangible results. Reacting to all the reports as if they were 100% true and verified, despite deliberate misinformation being spread about it, our leaders have decided to take action on state-wide and national scale. All the state and federal governments needed were a few medical professionals to push the panic button, and calls went out for forced quarantines. Nowhere during this were flags raised. The people of this country, who on the whole purport to be dissatisfied and distrusting of their government suddenly went crying to that very government for protection from the unseen enemy. When the government shut down restaurants, the people complied wholeheartedly. When the government issued lockdowns, people praised it, and decried any local governments that were careful about imposing such measures.
On social media, this unchecked fear has led to division and offense as anyone who questions the nature of the outbreak, or the government’s response to it, is labeled a monster who doesn’t care if the sick or elderly die as a result of the vaccine. Nothing less than saving every single person from this virus will do, no matter what; they must be saved, no matter the cost. Despite the fact that numerous people die every day from worse conditions than Covid-19, and its influence for many of them may not even be a meaningful factor, this virus is now being blamed for virtually every death, even if the connection is unclear or unproven. Fear, carefully managed by those who benefit from this chaos, drives people to turn on one another, and those who once touted their contempt for the corruption of our government find themselves solidly, wholeheartedly in its corner. Anakin Skywalker had to keep the dreams from coming true. He had to save the one he loved, no matter the cost to himself or those around him. How will our personalized fear shape us?
A National Fear
In Star Wars: The Revenge of the Sith, we see a nation gripped in fear. As war between its members tears the Republic apart, many rightfully fear that the war will result in annihilation, that their way of life and that their peace will never be the same. They fear that death will swallow them up. But there is hope. Palpatine, the Supreme Chancellor, promises to end the war and restore the peace, but he cannot do it as things stand. He needs additional powers,to overcome the balances set in place for the protection of the people, in order to ensure their safety against this terrible enemy. These are extenuating circumstances, after all. The Jedi and the Clone Armies can only do so much. There is the very real possibility of losing the war against the Separatists. To free Palpatine from the restrictions of the checks-and-balances of the Senate, a motion is made: grant emergency powers to Palpatine. As the vote passes, Palpatine assures the delegates that this is only temporary. Things, he says, will go back to normal when this danger is passed. Sometime later, after Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side and his betrayal of the Jedi, Palpatine comes back before the Senate, and makes another announcement: the Republic his irredeemably flawed. The only way Palpatine can ensure their safety is to reorganize the government entirely under his complete authority. And as the Galactic Empire is born, there is no meaningful dissent. This is to protect them, after all, and as Palpatine waves to the cheering delegates, Anakin’s wife laments that democracy dies to “thunderous applause.”
Where does Covid-19 end? I honestly don’t know. Nor do I know for sure if this virus will lead to meaningful and permanent changes in our government or to our freedoms. All I know is that our government has taken upon itself powers nowhere granted to it in our Constitution, and the response of the public is to enthusiastically clap. We applaud. Fear has clouded all of our reason, and blinded us to all the evils we were once too smart to fall for.
How silly it is for me to compare our current, very real situation to a film set in a ridiculous fictional universe! Especially when there are so many real historical examples. Hitler used national fear to root out his enemies and turn the people against those he hated. The Communists used fear and hatred of the Czars to completely overcome all reason and sound judgment in Russia. The fear of starvation and oppression in France led to even more starvation and oppression during the French Revolution. Tyranny cannot flaunt itself openly when facing a population that is both significantly armed and also accustomed to being free. It must use something as an impetus. It must use the fears of the people against them. We are very afraid right now, and I see many people switching off their healthy skepticism, and blindly trusting the same people they accuse of being cheats and liars. Are forced closures, checkpoints, mandatory vaccines, and other such overt attacks upon personal liberty on the way? I do not know. But I do know now how they will be greeted by many in this country: with thunderous applause.
Image: Copyright Lucasfilm Ltd, 20th Century Fox, Disney
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