[Obi Wan] For over a thousand generations, the Jedi Knights were the guardians of peace and justice
in the Old Republic. Before the dark times. Before the Empire. [Picard] The first duty of every
Starfleet officer is to the truth, whether it's scientific truth, or historical truth
or personal truth. It is the guiding principle on which Starfleet is based. [Rafa] So, I love Star
Wars, and I love Star Trek, and lately, I dunno why, they've been on my mind. There's
been a lot of talk about these two franchises, and for good reason, as there's a lot to say.
[McCoy] Please Spock, do me a favor: and don't say it's fascinating. No. But it is... interesting.
[Rafa] But frankly, I'm a little tired of all the usual conversations. So if you wanna hear
about how George Lucas ripped off of Akria Kurosawa's The Hidden Fortress, or hear about
Gene Roddenberry's political agenda, you should probably look elsewhere. No, today I wanna
talk about something quite specific, divorced from any sort of awareness of film history
or contemporary political contexts. [Padme] What? [Rafa] Which is a bit different from what I usually
do here for pop culture media. See, when it comes to these two franchises, what really fascinates
me is how differently each handles conflict resolution, and more importantly, why. In other
words, this... [Kirk] These words, and the words that follow, were not written only for the
Yangs, but for the Kohms as well! [Cloud] Kohms!? They must apply to everyone! Or they mean
nothing, do you understand? [Cloud] I do not fully understand, one named Kirk... but the holy words will be obeyed. I swear it.
[Rafa] And this. My name is Rafa, and I think most of us can agree that The Empire Strikes Back
has the best lightsaber duel. But why? What exactly makes it so great? Well, for one,
it's far and away the most beautifully shot. And arguably, it has the most going on in
terms of the characters involved. [Vader] I am your father! [Rafa] But for me, what puts it in a league
apart is that it is easily the most visually sophisticated, giving nuanced expression to
Star Wars' expression of morality. In my first essay, I talked about how films primarily
interested in entertaining their audience do so by affirming their cultural values,
rather than questioning them. The simplest way to figure out what those values are, particularly
those pertaining to morality, is to look at the heroes and ask, what makes them the good
guys? [Leia] Aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper? [Luke] Huh? Oh, the uniform. [Rafa] In Star Wars, the heroes
are the Jedi Knights, a monastic, militant order of the sort the world hasn't seen since
medieval times, and the certainly look the part. Like Shaolin or Franciscan monks, they
drape themselves in simple, distinctive robes that signal a life lived in ascetic rejection
of worldly pleasures in exchange for spiritual fulfillment. Like the samurai and the Knights
Templar, the Jedi wield a distinctive sword that is equal parts weapon and religious or
cultural icon. [Obi Wan] This weapon is your life! An elegant weapon, for a more civilized age.
[Rafa] And, like pretty much every religious group in the history of ever, they have a huge,
ostentatious temple that contradicts the simplicity they preach. This romantic application of
medieval iconography is key to understanding what Star Wars is all about. Unlike true science
fiction, Star Wars doesn't look toward the future for answers to our deepest questions.
It looks to the past, seeking an unchanging, universal truth as ancient as creation itself.
[Yoda] Life creates it. Makes it grow. It's energy surrounds us, and binds us. Luminous beings
are we, not this crude matter. [Rafa] In attempting to recreate Joseph Campbell's theory of the
hero cycle, the monomyth shared in almost every culture throughout history, George Lucas
distilled every major religion down to their most fundamental elements: a metaphysical
force that is both the source of all life, and the energy that binds it. [Obi Wan] It's an energy
field created by all living things. It surrounds us, it penetrates us, it binds the galaxy
together. [Rafa] A force that has a will -- ineffable, but undeniable. [Qui Gon] Without the midichlorians,
life could not exist, and we would have no knowledge of the Force. They continually speak
to us, telling us the will of the Force. [Rafa] An eternal struggle between light and dark...
[Luke] Is the Dark Side stronger? [Yoda] No! No. No. Quicker, easier, more seductive. [Rafa] ...and a prophecy
foretelling its end. [Windu] You refer to the prophecy of the one who will bring balance to the Force.
[Rafa] But above all is the idea that everyone must choose a side: spiritual path to the light,
or to the dark -- nothing in between. [Luke] Never. I'll never turn to the Dark Side. [Rafa] Our Jedi
heroes, having chosen the light, exemplify all the characteristics believers aspire to
emulate: serenity, wisdom, selflessness, courage -- all achieved through that universal religious
communion with the spiritual world we call meditation, or prayer -- what the Jedi enigmatically
refer to as reaching out with your feelings. As they see it, the truth has always been
carried within you. You just have to believe. [Luke] I don't -- I don't believe it. [Yoda] That is why
you fail. [Rafa] Well actually, you have to do a bit more than that because, once you've chosen
a side, you've also chosen to fight. In a world with a moral binary, every conflict
becomes a conflict of good and evil, light and dark, and the only way to solve the conflict
is through the complete and total defeat of the other side. Now, Yoda tries to sugarcoat
this a little... [Yoda] A Jedi uses the Force for knowledge and defense. Never for attack. [Rafa] Which
is understandable for a dude who was duped into waging a war that turned out to be a
massive Sith conspiracy and who witnessed its devastating consequences. But the reality
is that lightsabers are an integral part of a Jedi's identity. They are Knights, after
all. And they aren't exactly known for leaving violence as a last resort. And before anyone
says self defense... [Sisko] We don't put civilians at risk or even potentially at risk to save
ourselves. Sometimes that means we lose the battle, and sometimes our lives. But if you
can't make that choice, then you can't wear that uniform. [Rafa] The willingness with which the
Jedi engage in violence makes sense when you consider that they live in a world where diplomacy
and negotiation are completely ineffective and ultimately pointless, only serving to
forestall the inevitable. [Lando] This deal is getting worse all the time. [Rafa] In fact, they're so useless
that the Jedi joke about it. [Obi Wan] You were right about one thing, master: the negotiations
were short. [Anakin] And when I got to them, we went into aggressive negotiations. [Padme] Aggressive
negotiations, what's that? [Anakin] Negotiations with a lightsaber. [Rafa] Even Luke's attempt to talk his
father back into the light inevitably descends into violence. These Star Wars between the
two sides of the Force must be had. As Maz Kanata says to Han, you can't keep running
from the only fight there is. For good to prevail, violence is a moral requisite. With
all this in mind, we can now begin to see how Irvin Kerschner used cinematic form to
visually express this moral philosophy. Now, there are three things we need to pay attention
to here: color, contrast, and elevation. The coloration of the sabers is obvious, red for
the Dark Side and blue for the Light. But notice as well that the entire arena is bathed
in these two colors, with high contrast between light and shadow. This look arose from a need
to transform a set that was flat and shallow into something worth pointing a camera at,
but it became a reflection of the fight itself. The visual oppositions symbolize the moral
clarity present at the beginning of the duel. In Luke's mind, he is good and Vader is evil,
and Vader must be defeated. 'Nuff said. As the fight progresses, the seesaw of combat
advantage is rendered as a simple matter of who is up, and who is down. The idea of the
moral high ground pops up now and then throughout Star Wars, perhaps the most dubiously famous
example being this one: [Obi Wan] It's over Anakin! I have the high ground! [Rafa] But while here the
language is simplistic to a fault, Obi Wan's elevated position linking power and virtue
as synonymous, Kerschner deliberately complicates this relationship. We begin with the black
knight, in the highest position of power, despite the depths of his evil. Our champion
of the light is forced to literally step up to the challenge. Luke then gets his ass kicked
twice, each time falling below Vader. But just when Vader thinks he's captured Luke,
he's surprised to discover that Luke has bested him, and is above him. This section of the
fight ends with Luke knocking Vader down, but while it ends with Luke in the up position,
the fight is gradually sinking lower and lower. Elevation is therefore used to demonstrate
who has the upper hand at any given moment, but also to show that Luke is being pulled
deeper into a moral crisis by having him sink into the depths of Cloud City. The second
stage of the fight takes place in an arena still defined by high contrast, but this time
lacking in color. They battle on level ground here, but now that we've left the arena of
pure moral certainty, confusion begins to set in. Vader's assault switches focus to
disorienting Luke, and succeeds in knocking him further down. We've now fallen into a
place without hue and without contrast. What tiny slivers of color remain disappear when
the battle becomes one of words. Here negotiation is once again affirmed as the wayward path
for the true of spirit as empty promises of galactic peace are being used to tempt Luke
into the Dark Side. [Vader] With our combined strength, we can end this destructive conflict and bring
order to the galaxy! [Rafa] At the moment Vader reveals that he is Luke's father, the moral confusion
Luke experiences -- being unable to tell good apart from evil -- is perfectly reflected
in a mise en scene that is quite literally a gray area. And despite the fact that Luke
is obviously staged lower than Vader, they are shot almost as if they are level with
each other. In Star Wars, the loss of moral conviction is a terrible crisis. It causes
Luke to plunge into despair, reaching his lowest point in the sequence, both physically
and spiritually. For Anakin and Kylo Ren, the journey across the no-man's-land of a
moral gray area causes them unbearable anguish and torment, such that turning to the Dark
Side comes as a relief. [Anakin] I will do whatever you ask. [Rafa] For Anakin in particular, it is so
agonizing that the first time around it nearly kills him, rendering him too physically weak
to survive the second. For the luckier characters we see enter and languish in these muddy waters
-- Asajj Ventress falling from the Dark Side and Ahsoka Tano losing faith in the Light
-- they suffer a terrible loss of identity, and consequently, are out of the fight. At
least, as long as the crisis lasts. Of course, how good and evil are actually defined is,
as is often the case with religious doctrine, somewhat paradoxical. For instance, it is
made abundantly clear that most natural human emotions are in some way a gateway to the
Dark Side. [Yoda] Fear is the path to the Dark Side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate.
Hate leads to suffering. [Rafa] And yet, reaching out with your feelings is the most fundamental
technique for accessing the Force. Not to mention that the selfless do-goodery the Jedi
aspire to is one that is inescapably founded on empathy. [Qui Gon] I wager my new racing pod against,
say... the boy and his mother. [Watto] No pod is worth two slaves, not by a long shot. [Qui Gon] The boy, then.
[Rafa] Not the cold emotionless logic of the Vulcans. [Spock] Were I to invoke logic, logic clearly dictates
that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. [Kirk] Or the one. [Rafa] The prequels, deeply
flawed as they are, nonetheless touched upon this dogmatic paradox in a fascinating way.
[Padme] Are you allowed to love? Thought that was forbidden for a Jedi. [Anakin] Attachment is forbidden.
Possession is forbidden. Compassion, which I would define as unconditional love, is central
to a Jedi's life. So you might say that we are encouraged to love. [Rafa] But again, in keeping
with its religious qualities, Star Wars emphasizes the importance of belief over knowledge. Knowing
the specific boundaries between light and dark is not as important as choosing a side
to believe in. Because if you believe, then light and dark become matters of instinct.
[Luke] But how am I to know the good side from the bad? [Yoda] You will know. When you are calm. At
peace. Passive. [Rafa] Belief is how you know killing one person is good, but killing another is
bad, unburdened by a philosophical doubt that asks, why? [Luke] But tell me why I can't -- [Yoda] No,
no, there is no why! Nothing more will I teach you today. Clear your mind of questions. [Rafa] But
while Star Wars views doubt as a test of faith, a crucible that must be endured -- say, like
a perilous bridge that must be crossed on your moral journey -- Star Trek sees it as
the very foundation of enlightenment. Something that should be embraced as an ever-present
guide in a whole universe of gray areas. But that is a topic for Part Two. Now, I know
you're gonna be asking, when's Part Two gonna come out, and uh, the honest answer is I dunno.
But rest assured, there will be a Part Two... eventually.