Essay on 'A New Hope' Hero's Journey

The Star Wars trilogy and prequels were a part of millions of young lives. It all started in 1977 when George Lucas released the first movie A New Hope. With three blockbuster movies, George Lucas had secured one of the greatest science fiction sagas of all time. During the rise of the Star Wars saga, he was asked why he made Star Wars in a personal interview. He responded with, “The reason I’m making Star Wars is that I want to give young people some sort of faraway exotic environment for their imaginations to run around in. I have a strong feeling about interesting kids in space exploration. I want them to want it. I want them to get beyond the basic stupidities of the moment and think about colonizing Venus and Mars” (). The movie was intended to play on our emotions and so it did. However, if one looks past the emotion and uses more logic, along with corresponding events of the time the meaning is quite clear. The empire was the good guys.

This isn’t implying that the rebels, Jedi, or any of their associates are purely evil and that the Empire, Sith, and their associates are purely good. Merely both sides sit firmly on a political and moral side. Here the empire believes more in the morally justified side while the rebels and Jedi prefer the war-mongering, bloodthirsty side. The real question is what makes the Jedi so good? Their morals for keeping the peace and believing them riotously just. However, for calling themselves peacekeepers they are quite violent. In A New Hope, Obi-Wan delivers the first blow when facing Darth Vader. Also, in The Phantom Menace, Palpatine orders Darth Maul, “FIND QUOTE” (). However, as a whole, the Jedi order was to maintain peace and order for the Republic. But when looked into deeper it can be seen the republic is deeply flawed. They don’t have any interest in following a riotous path, instead, as Palpatine put it best, “the Republic is not what it once was; there is no interest in the common good and is run by bureaucrats; the bureaucrats are in charge now” (The Phantom Menace). When focused on the Jedi their main purpose to the republic they were simply military leaders fighting the Galactic War on their behalf. However, when looking into their religion of the Jedi way it is clear that they are a cult. In itself, the Jedi order is a cult that brainwashes children at a very young age by tearing them away from their families. Anakin was initially denied on the premise of being too old, even though he was merely nine years of age. INSERT QUOTE The order is full of young children being brainwashed to do as they are told. Even then, the aggression of the younger Jedi is seen throughout Revenge of the Sith as a youngling, ranked below a padawan, springs forward to slaughter a handful of clone troopers. However, these clones were simply telling a Senator to leave the planet before he was caught in the crossfire. They were completely blindsided by the youngling’s attack. Fortunately, there were plenty of clones to deal with the attack and quickly dispatch the aggressor.

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The most misconstrued aspect of the Empire would be the Death Star itself. The construct itself is proof of the Empire being morally just and anti-war. This is obvious because the Death Star was already being constructed at the end of Revenge of the Sith and had finally finished construction during the events of Rogue One. This means that the construction of the Death Star took over 20 years to build. The Empire had a vast amount of resources and human power of an entire galaxy they could have easily built this in a fraction of the time. With having to face a highly equipped resistance one would think that the Death Star would be a top priority. That would be the case unless violence was not the main objective. A civil war had been raging on between the Separatists and the Empire. This event is parallel to the civil war that engulfed the United States and how they dealt with the Confederate separatists. During the American Civil War, Union General Richard Sherman destroyed all of Atlanta during the fighting. Along with that, he left a trail of death as his army marched 30 miles south to the Atlantic Ocean. All this destruction from the simple order to the “systematic destruction of the city to prevent the Confederates from recovering anything once the Yankees had abandoned it” (). The amount of death and destruction caused by these acts it is a basic fact that these actions brought the end of the Civil War with a major moral boost and Lincoln’s re-election. The same goes when Darth Vader orders the destruction of Alderaan. It showed the entire galaxy both the power of the Empire and the lengths that they will go for reunification. This attack had also been well calculated for the greatest effect from the least amount of deaths. With the planet only having around a million inhabitants. Looking at Earth today there are “7.7 billion people” () meaning that the planet destroyed was a rock with a low amount of life forms. This was a cost the Empire was willing to take to end the rebellion. As one of the generals best said, “Lead with a weapon that will bring a swift end to the rebellion” (A New Hope). This can be encouraged by Lincoln himself when he says, “I would save the Union. I would save it the shortest way under the Constitution” ().

The Empire in all logical evidence leads to a loving and merciful government. They even have announcements proclaiming, “Be a part of something. Join the Empire. Explore new worlds. Learn valuable skills. Bring order and unity to the galaxy” (Solo). More evidence of this is shown when Vader commandeers the rebel ship at the start of A New Hope. Instead of simply destroying the ship he passively captures it and attempts to board it. While boarding the stormtroopers lay down suppressive fire. The encounter doesn’t escalate until the bloodthirsty rebels deliver the first blow. Keep in mind these rebels stole the plans to the Death Star a weapon of mass destruction, just like nukes. If another country had snuck into the United States and stole plans for nuclear weapons our nation would retaliate the same way the Empire had with the rebels. No country wants their secrets falling into enemy hands just as the Empire doesn’t wish for their greatest weapon to fall into the hands of the war-mongering rebels. But back to the peace-loving Empire that creates millions if not billions of jobs all over the galaxy. The Empire's galactic navy didn’t build itself. Civilians from all over the galaxy were hired to build these gargantuan ships and space stations. Even so, there’s no valid indication that life under the Empire is that bad. When inside the cloud city Lord Vader is even gracious enough to invite you to dinner when he says, “We would be honored if you would join us” (A New Hope). The Empire even believes in smaller governments, “the Imperial Senate will no longer be a concern for us. I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away. Regional governors now have direct control over their territories” (A New Hope).

The stability and virtuous nature of the Empire can be best seen through how vile and corrupt the rebellion is. Throughout the saga, many of the protagonists say that rebellions are, “built on hope” () which means they must be right and just. However, the Nazis started as a rebellion, as did the Confederacy, Lenin’s communist rise to power and Russia's was also a rebellion, and so was Mao Zedong’s communist revolution. Therefore, rebellions don’t always mean they are for the common good. Even after the American Revolution, Britain was still a functioning Empire in Canada, Australia, India, Britain, and several other areas of the world. However, the war-mongering rebels want to destroy the Empire which in turn would destroy the government of the entire galaxy. After destroying the Empire, the rebels had no agenda on how to control the population of the galaxy. Everything would dissolve into utter chaos with a massive power vacuum. Furthermore, the order keeping of the Empire can be seen through the type of ships they fly. A TIE Fighter and TIE Interceptor, both have no shields, no side or rear visibility, and only forward-facing guns. Meanwhile, the rebellion’s X-wing fighters are built for war. They have four forward-facing guns, droid integration, torpedoes, and sand shields. The rebels even have hospital ships to treat their wounded. While this may be seen as a genuine act of kindness towards their soldiers it also implies that rebels intend to bring violence and destruction wherever they go.

Not only do the rebels wish for the death and destruction of the Empire, but their military structure is shrouded in corruption. Han Solo is the vilest person apart of the rebel alliance. At first, he was a simple thief trying to survive the gutters of Corellia, but the Empire gave him a job and an identity. They pulled him out of the gutters and made him a righteous man. But he unrighteously deserts his post to steal a shipment from the Empire as he blatantly says, “You thieves here to steal equipment for a job and I want in” (Solo). Then several years after he became a smuggler, he unlawfully released the thief and spy known as Princess Leia from the first Death Star. Then on the planet Endor, he recruits the primitive natives to fight against the Empire. This resulted in several casualties of the natives and the brave stormtroopers. Then there is Lando who is thought to be Han Solo’s friend. However, his closest friends don’t even trust him this is expressed when Leia says, “I don’t trust Lando” and Han replies, “Well I don’t trust him either” (). They were correct because Lando intelligently turns the rebel scum into the Galactic Empire. But he then foolishly helps them escape from a just and fair jury that was to be held by the Empire. On top of that, he takes it upon himself to destroy the second Death Star resulting in the casualties of hundreds of thousands. After the second Death Star is destroyed both are made generals even with little participation and experience.

Overall, the rebels hardly succeeded in their attempts to free the galaxy. Even after Lord Vader had been seduced into killing the Emperor remnants of the Empire in a form remained. Soon after the fall of the Empire the First Order and its Supreme Leader came to power. Even then the war-hungry rebels persisted with the war and fought the first order. No matter the bloodshed the rebels were continuously fighting to destroy the empire and its peaceful nature it brings. If the rebels had never instigated the war trillions upon trillions of lives would never have been affected by it. Instead, the population of the galaxy would live in the peace and prosperity of the Empire. George Lucas did play with the viewer's emotions. He made us believe that we were rooting for the good guys when instead we were rooting for the bad guys. The Empire may have been perceived as the antagonist, but its purpose was simply order and peace in its entirety.