Christianity and Star Wars
As I mentioned in the introduction, some audience also use Christianity to analyze Star Wars because Star Wars is a movie that indicates some deeper meanings of Christianity as well. The most popular aspects that be discussed are: the Force, heroes, the devils, and interestingly one—the virgin birth. In Star Wars, the Force is a main idea and can be divided into the light side and the dark side. An audience member expressed his idea about the Force: “The Force as portrayed in this movie has many aspects that can be related and contrasted to Christianity and can act as a springboard to spreading the gospel. (virgin birth, will of the force, trusting the force, etc.)” on a web site, ChristianAnswers.com. (Suggs) The Force is Jesus; the Force is God. However, one thing to be clarified is that “The Force has both a good side and a dark side, but the God of the Bible ‘…is light, and in Him is no darkness at all.’ (1 John 1:5).” (Cooke) Although Jesus is regarded as the Force because people can feel him in their lives, Christians want to emphasize and make a difference that God is always light. The Jedi Masters always teach other Jedi Knights to “Use the Force.” A Christian can say this exhortation essentially means “make a leap of faith” or “Trust God.” Another line the Jedi uses often should be “May the Force be with you,” which is clearly evocative of “May God be with you.” (Akin) To use the Force, a Jedi needs to feel the Force flow through him. Likewise, the Bible tells that the living Spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, will move the Christian along like wind in a ship’s sails. The Bible reveals that God is moved by the prayers of believers. (Bailey) Even though God is the Force, people should know that the Force (or the light side of the Force) is only symbolic of God, not a direct allegory. (Akin) People can see the connections mentioned above if analyzing Sat Wars in Christianity.
Another field can be discussed about Christianity in Star Wars is the heroes and the devils. In Star Wars, the audience can see many heroes; they can be examined by Christianity. Actually, Luke Skywalker is a Christ-like figure. He is a person who appears normal, who then is soon discovered special and designed having a higher power to lead people to the right path. (Faustus) He is the hero of the whole galaxy. For Jesus Christ, he is also the chosen one to save the world. They are all heroes. What’s more, in Star Wars Luke must fight the temptations from the dark side in order to save humanity of Darth Vader. However, Vader wants to turn Luke’s power to the dark side, by tempting him to unleash his anger and hate. Luke almost fails; fortunately, in the final showdown against evil, Luke rejects the dark side, prompts even the coldest of hearts in Darth Vader to warm to the virtues of good and purity and saves the galaxy. (Faustus) Jesus also faces this kind of challenge. He was tempted by evil but then rejected it and chose a right way to go even though it might be difficult. (Faustus)
Good men can be explained in Christianity; then, bad men can also be judged following this pattern. There are lots of devils against the Rebels in Star Wars; one example is Darth Vader. Darth Vader used to be Anakin Skywalker who is a chosen one; however, he is tempted by the dark side and then becomes a devil. In the Bible, Satan is similar to Darth Vader’s situation. Satan was once an important servant of God until pride turned him against God. (Bailey) Then Satan became evil and is viewed as the profoundly evil adversary of God and humanity, often identified with the leader of the fallen angels. The symbolic connection is there between Darth Vader and Satan. There is another example: Darth Maul, who appears in The Phantom Menace, asked to kill Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-wan. He follows the Force of the dark side; he is a devil. At any rate Darth Maul’s appearance reinforces traditional Christian imagery rather than subverting it: The horned, red-skinned man in black is not your friend! (Akin) These roles in Star Wars are so similar to roles in the Bible. Hence, some people would use Christianity as the main source to explain Star Wars.
Another example, an interesting one in Star Wars that may be similar to Christianity is the virgin birth. When referring to the virgin birth, everyone would first thinks of Virgin Mary who gives birth without the agency of a human father, and her child is Jesus who is considered the son of God. In Star Wars, Anakin is also a child without a physical father. His mother, Shmi Skywalker says, “There was no father, that I know of...I carried him, I gave him birth...I can't explain what happened.” (Star Wars—Episode Ⅰ: The Phantom Menace) Anakin is a slave in a desert that hopes to set his people free. This is a figure of Moses or Jesus. The Jedi Master Qui-Gon Jinn deeply believes Anakin is the Chosen One (Christ) of prophecy who will bring harmony to the universe. (Raiders News) Obviously, Anakin and Jesus Christ are the same. According to these paragraphs about the relationship between Christianity and Star Wars, one can definitely say that Star Wars also includes the deeper meanings of Christianity. The audience can analyze Star Wars with Christian as well.
Entertainment or Religious Teaching?
Some say Star Wars is only a movie for entertainment; the audience just relaxes, enjoys the two-hour-long movie and doesn’t need to take it too serious. Some even say Star Wars, just like other Hollywood movies, is for making money; all producers want is to make a great deal of moneys by these exciting movies. These businessmen won’t think too much about the religious teaching. They can make lots of money from not only the ticket selling but also the merchandise about Star Wars no matter toys, clothes or games for more money. Brad Globe, merchandising executive at DreamWorks, says “Star Wars was so ‘toyetic.’ It wasn’t just one character or one vehicle; it was a whole world that was created, then extended through each movie and beyond” (Corliss, 88). Some people say Star Wars changes the way films are financed.(Corliss, 89) John Seabrook, a cultural critic, says “Because of its(Star Wars’) huge box office, it interested Wall Street people who had previously seen Hollywood as small potatoes. The Star Wars numbers brought a new variety of investor and financial manger into movies.” (Corliss, 89) From these people’s opinions, Star Wars is only a product of movie industry and business. The audience doesn’t have to take it too serious.
However, is that Star Wars all about? According the above evidences I have shown, the answer is absolutely: No. These examples show how rich Star Wars is about the religious and philosophy teaching. Besides, the following evidences about George Lucas, the director and script writer, can clearly point that Star Wars really teach philosophy or moral teaching to the audience. I will use George Lucas’ early life, his association with Kurosawa and his religious search led him to use Taoism and Christianity in Star Wars to support my argument. George Lucas started writing Star Wars in 1973. In fact Lucas came up with the idea of the Force when he was a high school student. He had a terrible car crash before his high school graduation. Within the recuperation in the hospital, George Lucas read Joseph Campbell’s books on mythology and thought of the Force. (Shepler) There were still other influences on George Lucas which inspired him to create Star Wars. He had been an assistant to Akira Kurosawa, the famous Japanese movie director. George Lucas learned much from this Japanese director. The experience of learning with Kurosawa was a great influence on him. Lucas started to learn eastern culture and to know the ideas of Bushido and Taoism at that period. Actually, the word “Jedi” is taken from Japanese words, Jidai Geki which means Period Drama. “Throughout the film we hear tales and learn the values of the ‘Jedi Knight’ and of ‘The Force.’ What George Lucas did was introduce Americans to Bushido and the Tao, to Martial Arts philosophy, and to eastern philosophies in general, all camouflaged it in his film.” (Every) In fact, Lucas borrowed some ideas from other directors into Star Wars such as the lightsaber of Jedi Knight is from Kurosawa’s movie, Hidden Fortress.
George Lucas’ Star Wars is for not only entertainment but also moral and philosophy teaching. Joseph Campbell says “It(Star Wars) asks, Are you going to be a person of heart and humanity—because that’s where life is, from the heart—or are you going to do whatever seems to be required of you by what might be called ‘intentional power’?” (The Power of Myth, 178) This is what George Lucas wants the audience to think. Hence, he would add something about philosophy including Taoism and Christianity in his movies. George Lucas said he wanted to bring the magic of the fairytale back to cinema and put the Force into the movies to encourage and try to awaken spirituality in young generation. Lucas himself states that his movies aren’t so religious: “I don’t see Star Wars as profoundly religious. I see Star Wars as taking all the issues that religion represents and trying to distill them down into a more modern and easily accessible construct--- that there is a greater mystery out there.” (Bussers) George Lucas added more ideas about his point of view about religion. He said “All the religions are true….And faith in our culture, our world and on a larger issue, the mystical level—which is God, what one might describe as a supernatural, or the things that we can’t explain—is a very important part of what allows us to remain stable, remain balanced.” (Bussers)
In writing Star Wars, George Lucas was trying to find a philosophy for modern audience. Although people can find that the Force is similar to God, Lucas would “hesitate to call the Force God” because he wanted everyone to think about the mystery. In The Power of Myth, the journalist, Moyers says “This is a very old story in a very new costume.” (179) Lucas claimed that “When I wrote the first Star Wars, I had to come up with a whole cosmology: What do people believe in? I had to do something that was relevant, something that imitated a belief system that has been around for thousands of years, and that most people on the planet, one way or another, have some kind of connection to. I didn't want to invent a religion. I wanted to try to explain in a different way the religions that have already existed. I wanted to express it all.” (Bussers) George Lucas mixes many kinds of religious thinking or philosophy in Star Wars. “From an existing factor, G. Lucas creates a hybrid form by combining influences: he borrows from Buddhism, form Taoism, without objection to borrowing from Christianity, Judaism or Islam…. ” (Bussers) George Lucas’ testament clearly proves that he adds the ideas of Taoism and Christianity into Star Wars. Since George Lucas, the script writer and director of Star Wars is influenced by both Taoism and Christianity, how would Star Wars not represent Taoism and Christianity? Due to the inspirations from Joseph Campbell, Kurosawa, and these world religion and philosophy of George Lucas, it can support that Taoism and Christianity are inseparable from Star Wars. Instead of only a product of entertainment, Star Wars is really a movie with religious and philosophy teaching.
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