Jedi Contradictions: Vol. 1
Feature by Matthew Gretzinger, Contributing
Editor
From the Journal of the Whills, Book THX, verse 1138:
And Lo, he named George, formerly of Modesto, shall create a story set
in a galaxy far, far away and long, long ago: and he shall squeeze all
of mythology into a soup, and all of culture too; and he shall pour said
soup into a samurai helmet held by a dark father of Dutch extraction,
which resembleth an umbréd glans; and he shall, ere the womp rat spins
thrice, bring forth a new religion unto the Campbellites: and it shall
be known as A New Hope. And even as the Empire shall striketh backeth,
the Jedi shall Return; and this blue harvest will, ere it be reaped,
bring forth the Star Wars prequels. And therein shall he make
many mistakes and blaspheme against his earlier self, and many shall say
in the tops of their voices, that older George is not worthy to tie the
shoelaces of younger George; but the truly wise shall see, that in
despite of his errors, George shall be known as the maker of myths for
his time, and his glories sung with the chief bards of all the ages.
And then he shall make Howard the Duck 2. And he shall make Howard the Duck: The Special Edition, and Jeffrey Jones shall shoot
first.
Yet, the contradictions of the Force are many, and herein are
they numbered. And there will be more. For now, ponder these.
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1. Midichlorians
Little Anakin, in Episode I, after a speech from Qui-Gon,
which George must've spooled up in those particular lobes of his brain
from which descend Jar-Jar and Greedo shooting first, says, "I don't
understand." Qui-Gon quickly, briskly answers: "With time and training,
Ani, you will." Odds are Anakin still doesn't understand, even now
that he's on the verge of Darthdom. We sure don't. Oh, we get the idea
- symbiotic lifeforms, living inside our cells, who communicate with
each other and thereby create the Force - but therein lies the problem.
By adding a scientific explanation to what was originally a
philosophical - even pseudo-religious - concept, creator Lucas has
subtracted not only from the original mysticism of the Ur-Star Wars trilogy. No, even more, he has damaged its dramatic utility.
If the Force was, as the old wizard Ben told us, an "energy field,"
one that "binds the galaxy together," then surely the Force is what
bound Obi-Wan to Luke as Luke wished for and received the strength he
needed to end the threat of the first dreaded Death Star. In other
words, the Force is something we recognize - not just a science fiction
concept. We all feel, at one time or another, the touch of a life force
- call it what we will. In turning this life force into a
quantifiable, catchable, scientifically identifiable thing, George
essentially turned the unknowable - something taken on faith - into
hobgoblin of the hemoglobin, a carrier in the bloodstream.
For many of the faithful, this was blasphemous. How can a blood test
tell the power of the spirit? Indeed, if the Forcefully adept, like
Vader, can determine at a distance that "the Force is strong in this
one," what is the need for such a ridiculous plot device at all?
Really, Midichlorians are just symptom of a bigger problem at play in Episode
I. Remember that the ultimate act Luke could perform in Episode
IV was, in that wonderful jargon of the '70s, to "let go." He
"let go" of the targeting computer, of his fear of failure, of his
dependence on and trust in material things. And he won! Conversely,
Anakin must depend on technology - he flips a few switches, flies into a
hangar bay, trusts to dumb luck. Something is lost in the prequels by
this shift, and it is more than a simple difference in characterization.
If the universe works differently for Anakin than it will for Luke,
how can Luke's story be judged in respect of Anakin's choices? Anakin,
using the defense of all fathers, could simply reply in his defense: "My
times were different, son."
