May the 4th: Historical Perspectives: Star Wars

Does the way you look at a story (or history) change what you think about that story?  We know the story of Luke Skywalker, the hero of the Star Wars series -- but is he a hero from the perspective of the families and workers aboard the Death Star?  Was his attack on the Death Star a terrorist attack?  How many "bad guys" were among the 300,000+ killed?  When is war justified?  When is the mass extermination of innocent people justified?  Is "collateral damage" okay if it's for the greater good?

This is not a shot from Star Wars but from The American President.  In this scene, the President has ordered an air strike on Libya's intelligence agency building.

Anyway... back to Star Wars:

The Samurai were warriors that would go out to do the bidding of their lords or emperors.  Is there a similarity between Samurai and Darth Vader?

What about similarities between Samurai and Jedi?

 

 

 

Imagine if an old, science fiction serial like Buck Rogers (episodic stories tied together with woven story lines) got an update -- but used story lines and scene compositions from old Japanese Samurai films by Akira Kurosawa.

 

 

:: Scenes with Lukes Family ::
:: Scenes with Luke finding his family dead ::
:: Episode of Troops ::