Love it or hate it, the first Star Wars movie now lives with the subtitle “A New Hope.” It refers to the fact that after years of reign under an evil, fascist Empire, a young person emerged who maybe, just maybe, could turn the tide for the galaxy. From there, Star Wars pretty clearly became a story of good versus evil. The underdogs triumphing over a supreme power. The light overtaking the dark.
If you spend your life on the internet, though, there’s a chance you may have felt slightly gaslit about that in the past few days. Over that time, many right-wing thinkers attempted to co-opt Star Wars as the opposite of what most people believe it stands for. The whole bit, which we detailed here, was the idea that Anakin Skywalker became Darth Vader because he wasn’t given a fair shake as a white man. “This is what they stole from us,” Elon Musk posted on X, followed by a fake image of Anakin and his wife Padme ruling the Empire.
The implication, of course, is that the Imperials were the good guys. The Empire represented order. Stability. Obedience. And, if you’ve lived in most of the world for the past decade or so, it could often feel like that was reality. The rich getting richer. The poor getting poorer. Jobs lost, health declines, and everything becomes more expensive. It’s pretty much all terrible.
But Tuesday night in the United States, things turned out like Star Wars. Young, dynamic heroes emerged from places that have long been under the rule of the opposition. A majority of people came out, and with their own version of a lightsaber, a vote, they delivered an undeniable message. We are sick of this. Sick of wars. Sick of high prices, and sick of the way things are. It’s time for a change. It’s time for some new hope. Will these potential heroes be able to stand up for everything they say? We’ll see. At least now, though, their journeys can begin.
And, yes, we know that in Star Wars, “A New Hope” was followed by “The Empire Strikes Back,” and in all reality that could be where we’re headed, but let’s worry about that when or if it happens.
In the United States on Tuesday night, the idea that Star Wars is about the bad guys was defeated handily. And, once again, we can look at the franchise as the beacon for good it has been for almost exactly 50 years.
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