Star Wars episode 2: Attack of the Symbolism

Last post we talked about motifs. Now let's zoom the camera out a bit to get the bigger picture. What do some of these motifs symbolize? What do they mean for the rest of the story? Again, let's use Star Wars to elaborate.

Settings are commonly used to symbolize whatever scene takes place there. Ever notice how in movies it's always raining in funeral scenes? Here's one that's right on the nose, but may not be noticed right away.

Anakin's fall to the dark side. In Attack of the Clones, Anakin searches for his kidnapped mother on Tatooine. As the search goes on, the sun dips lower and lower. By the time he finds his mother, watches her die, and kills the Tusken Raiders out of revenge, it's completely dark.

Revenge of the Sith does something similar. In the last scene of Anakin and Padme before he completely turns to the dark side, the sun is setting. When he kills Mace Windu and pledges allegiance to Palpatine, it's very dark outside. Interestingly, the sky appears a little lighter when Anakin visits Padme again after committing genocide, even though it takes place later than the Palpatine scene. The sun has set already, but a little light still remains- just like Anakin and Padme.

To contrast this, look at where we last see Anakin outside of the Vader suit- on Mustafar. There is no natural light at all. The sun is obscured by smoke, and the only light source is the angry red lava surrounding him.

Speaking of Vader, his helmet is one of the most prominent symbols in the Star Wars universe. After Anakin is barbecued on Mustafar, he is put into the Darth Vader suit in order to stay alive. He can only breathe through his mask, therefore he is dependent on it.

However, in the shows Rebels and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Vader's helmet is partially broken by someone who loved him back when he was Anakin (Ahsoka and Obi-Wan, respectively). Both times, they heard Anakin's human voice in addition to Vader's helmet voice, but both times he attacked his former friend.

After Vader redeems himself by attacking the Emperor and saving Luke, he asks that his helmet be taken off so he can see his son with his own eyes before he dies.

In the sequels, Ben Solo/Kylo Ren, the grandson of Anakin/Vader, latches onto the remains of Vader's half-melted skull-like helmet and vows to finish what he started. It's only after the helmet is destroyed that Kylo later returns to the light side, sacrificing himself to save Rey from the Emperor.

So what does the helmet symbolize? Some might say Anakin's allegiance to the dark side. Some might get more specific and say it symbolizes his reliance on the Empire/dark side as a source of life and purpose, since he literally can't live without it. If there's anything I learned from English class, it's that if you talk a lot and cite your sources pretty much anything can be true. Still, I think it's safe to say that, simply put, Vader's helmet is a symbol of the Dark Side.

Hating sand (because it's coarse and rough and irritating and gets everywhere),

Julia