George Lucas Has Talked About Star Wars Being Political So Many Times, You Guys
I was really trying to not let this bother me but...it's me. Also: on neutral fan etiquette, and what's actually helping me feel better about my screen time goals
Welcome to Fanbase! A newsletter covering sports, pop culture, and the internet, written by a professional with nearly a decade of experience working across all the above, who also happens to be a lifelong fan. You’re getting this newsletter a few days early, due to my weekend plans!
The Sports Section
It’s a big day in New York City sports on Friday - the Knicks are back at home for Game 6 against the Celtics, and the Mets head to the Bronx to play the Yankees. I am actually a little sad to be missing what has the makings of an all time great New York sports day/night, or an all time terrible one, but I will be missing it for a very good reason: I’ll be at my best friend Alexa’s wedding! Yay!
Last weekend, I went to a Mets game - and I didn’t know what to wear. I am not a Mets fan: I’m not anti-Mets, and I certainly respect a long suffering fanbase that seems like their team only exists to cause them pain. I CAN RELATE. I am an Orioles fan by birth, but a) I don’t want to talk about them right now because they are playing so horribly and b) it wouldn’t be right to simply wear an O’s hat or shirt to a Mets game. I mean, they’re both orange so it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but still.
What are the rules for neutral fan etiquette? In LA, I definitely wore a Sabres hat to a Caps/Kings game. But was that right? Do we need a dress code for casual sports observers? I think it’s definitely a gray area and can be judged on a case by case basis. But this is what I’m thinking about these days!
Pop of Culture
This week, Andor’s second and final season premiered its last batch of episodes. I cried multiple times through the finale but I have mixed feelings about the final shot. As Andor has been a part of the cultural zeitgeist, we have been exposed to another round of discourse about whether or not Star Wars is political. And sure, while Star Wars is a piece of art and open to your own personal interpretation: there is nothing up for debate about whether or not it was INTENDED to be political by its creator, George Lucas. Let’s hear it from the maker himself!
Per Pablo Hidalgo (Director, Franchise/Story at Lucasfilm) on Bluesky:
“George Lucas’ handwritten notes before starting the rough draft of Star Wars in 1974. Alt text provided. From The Making of Star Wars by JW Rinzler:”
Lined yellow legal pad with handwriting on it: “The Empire is like America ten years from now; after: Nixonian gangsters assassinated the emperor and were elected to power in a rigged election; created civil disorder by instigating race riots. Aiding rebel groups. And allowing the crime rate to rise to the point where a “total control” police state was welcomed by the people. then the people were exploited with high taxes, utility and transport costs, gangsters, a cartel made up of power companies, transport companies + crime organizations. Other companies had to pay bribes to stay in business. they increase the crime rate by slowing down the system of justice and punishment.”
I know George Lucas is very easy to dunk on - huge nerd, we all know this - but man. He nailed it! On the first try! Let’s hear more.
In the video linked above, director James Cameron says - “You made the good guys the rebels. We would call them terrorists today.” Lucas says - “Back then, we would call that the Viet Cong.” James Cameron (Johnny Cams to those in the know) doubles down and asks, “So were you thinking of that at the time?” And George comes back with a hearty “YES.” George goes on to say America WAS the Empire during the Vietnam War. Interesting. These are his words!
Here’s more of what Lucas has said about the original trilogy:
“According to J.W. Rinzler’s The Making of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi, when asked if Emperor Palpatine was a Jedi during a 1981 story conference, Lucas responded, “No, he was a politician. Richard M. Nixon was his name. He subverted the senate and finally took over and became an imperial guy and he was really evil. But he pretended to be a really nice guy.”1
During a 2005 Chicago Tribune interview, Lucas said that Star Wars "was really about the Vietnam War, and that was the period where Nixon was trying to run for a [second] term, which got me thinking historically about how do democracies get turned into dictatorships? Because the democracies aren’t overthrown; they’re given away."
I’m hearing this all for the first time and in no way is it resonant. Doesn’t sound familiar AT ALL.
And while the much maligned (but beloved by people born in the 1990s and later) prequel trilogy was released thirty years after the originals — and the political landscape had changed — many of the same themes seemed to be creeping into Star Wars, but had a new, timely resonance in the Bush era. Per this New York Times article about, well, discourse around Revenge of the Sith, Lucas had this to say about its political resonance:
"The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we're doing in Iraq now are unbelievable," he told an appreciative audience.”
Around this time, Lucas also famously said this:
“When New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd compared Vice President Dick Cheney — with his advocacy of preemptive war and “enhanced interrogation” — with Darth Vader, Lucas corrected her. “George Bush is Darth Vader. Cheney is the Emperor.”2
Another one:
“I love history, so while the psychological basis of ‘Star Wars’ is mythological, the political and social bases are historical,” Lucas told the Boston Globe in a 2005 interview.3
Again - even if you don’t wish to apply Lucas’s politics to your own worldview about the state of American politics at any given point - that’s your choice. But the plot of the Skywalker saga also being about how, to quote Hamilton, oceans rise and Empires fall - is not up for debate! Sorry! Stories about space wizards and galactic republics can also tell us things about our societies and ourselves.
Dropping in Mon Mothma’s speech in Episode 9 because it rules so hard.
I’m Too Online
Remember earlier this year when I talked about wanting to be on my phone less and to get my screen time down? Well, progress on this goal/resolution has not exactly been a straight line. BUT! I do feel like one of the changes I’ve made this week that’s been helping has been not looking at social media until after 12p. Instagram and TikTok and Snapchat can all wait until the afternoon. Screen time average is still pretty high, (been busy with work and the aforementioned wedding this weekend, among other things) but the time limit definitely feels better for my mental health, so we’ll take that as a win, outside of the data. OK, I’m off to celebrate my bff (bbae) of 20+ years (effectively logging off of the internet for the weekend, wish me luck). Have a great one!4
Read more here! https://www.history.com/articles/the-real-history-that-inspired-star-wars
From https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/politics-behind-original-star-wars/
From https://www.history.com/articles/the-real-history-that-inspired-star-wars
Man, I do love a good bibliography.
WAIT I was mad about the final shot in Andor too! It was so Disney, so Rise of Skywalker, so set up. Felt like it had to be shoehorned in and imo reduced the character in that scene.