Everything is a form of Rebellion
Merriam Webster dictionary defines rebellion as “showing a desire to resist authority or control. It is acting against what is commanded that one does in a certain situation” (Rebellion). In the original Star Wars trilogy, the audience is presented with an intergalactic conflict with rebellion at the heart of the plot. The original trilogy’s storyline is built entirely on a rebellion against the Empire, however, there are many forms of rebellion found within the overlying rebellion which fuel the plot of the trilogy.
Two categories of rebellion that are evident in the original trilogy are active rebellion, the visible conflict within the films, and passive rebellion, such as silence and the struggle against one’s inner self, which are not directly addressed or made obvious within the trilogy. In today’s society, there are many forms of rebellion and activism, much like that seen within the original Star Wars trilogy.
There are many modern-day forms of rebellion, especially through activism and protests. For example, many people rally and protest against political decisions that they do not agree with. For example, two of the largest protests in the United States in recent years were the 2017 and 2018 Women’s Marches. Much like rebellion in Star Wars, these protesters stand up for their beliefs and do act against their oppressors. This act of doing what one believes in can be seen in multiple instances throughout the initial Star Wars trilogy.
The New York Times described the 2018 Women’s March as “a deluge of revelations about powerful men abusing women, leading to the #MeToo moment, [which] has pushed activists to demand deeper social and political change. Progressive women are eager to build on the movement and translate their enthusiasm into electoral victories in this year’s midterm elections” (The New York Times). Similar to many situations in Star Wars where characters were fed up with being treated poorly or being oppressed in different ways, these protestors took their frustrations out onto the national scene in the United States to work for a change. This is an example of recent forms of active rebellion within the United States.
The overarching form of active rebellion found in the Star Wars trilogy is that which fuels the plot of the series. The entire series is built around the Rebels’ armed struggle against the Empire, their active rebellion against their oppressors. This is the most obvious form of rebellion in the series. We often see scenes where there are standoffs between the Rebels against the Empire. Many subjugated groups around the world today can relate to this armed rebellion against an oppressive force. There must be some sort of resistance to throw off an empire, much like in the Star Wars films.
Throughout the original Star Wars trilogy, there are many different forms of rebellion. During this series, we see many main characters act out in some form of rebellion. Characters rebel against something they do not believe in or act out against something they find bad. Han Solo, Lando Calrissian, and Darth Vader, for instance, all carry out some sort of rebellion within the series. Numerous forms of rebellion in Star Wars are woven into the plot of the series. Within this large-scale rebellion, the audience sees acts of rebellion which fuel the plot and continue the storyline over the three episodes.
Han’s rebellion against the Rebels is a constant in the series: he constantly wants out of the rebellion and decides to leave on multiple occasions, only to remain due to some unforeseen circumstances. Every time Han states his desire to leave the Rebellion, it serves as some sort of character development and how the audience perceives his character. Han Solo is first shown as this mysterious “badass,” so to speak, but then wants to leave the Rebel Alliance because he does not want to put his life on the line. The audience first sees Han’s desire to leave the Rebellion during Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope, after Han helps Luke, Leia, the droids, and Chewbacca off the Death Star and back to the Rebel base. Han then decides to cash in on his payment for the transport and leaves. However, during the mission to destroy the Death Star, Han returns and helps Luke blow up the Death Star. Now, instead of being a deserter, Han is a hero to Luke, within the Rebel Alliance, and in the eyes of the audience.
The audience once again sees Han actively rebel against the Rebels during Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. During this film, Han wishes to leave the Rebels during the opening scene. He instructs Chewbacca to fix the Falcon so that the two of them can get off of Yavin IV. Once again, Han is shown as a coward, rather than a badass, because he wants to leave due to the bounty on his head. The audience perceives this as just another excuse to leave and stay safe because he tries to take the easy way out of this conflict in favor of his own selfish reasons. Through these two acts of rebellion against the Rebel Alliance, Han shows that he does not act in the interest of others but will instead only do what is best for him. These acts of rebellion show his true character — a selfish person who looks out for himself and himself only. However, due to unforeseen circumstances, Han remains to save Luke who has been lost on the ice planet, Hoth. This scene develops Han’s character more because, for the second time, the audience sees Han put someone else in front of his own agenda. By putting others first, Han saves himself from being perceived as a coward and selfish narcissist and instead creates an appearance of someone who will stand up for others and the better good rather than follow his own selfish inclinations. Han is resisting his own sentiments.
Another form of rebellion that drives the plot of Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back is demonstrated by Lando Calrissian. First, Lando rebels against the Rebel Alliance and makes a deal with the Empire in which he would give Luke and Han up to Darth Vader and Boba Fett, respectively. This deal is made so that Lando will not have any issues with his illegal operations on Bespin. Although Lando and Han seem to be on good terms upon Han’s arrival on Bespin, Lando still decides to turn his back on Han. Initially, Lando seems to be much like Han: self-interested and putting himself before others. However, after Darth Vader breaks the agreement, Lando decides to turn his back on the Empire and rebel against them. Lando proceeds to help Leia, Chewbacca, and the droids escape Vader and his army.
Much like Lando’s act of rebellion, Donald Trump’s ex-lawyer recently “pleaded guilty to lying to Congress about a Trump real estate project in Russia” (Breuninger). Cohen turning on PresidentTrump parallels Lando’s rebellion against Han and friends because, much like Lando, Cohen went behind Trump’s back and cut a deal that would put him in legal danger, while Lando put Han in immediate physical danger. Lando basically handed Han over to the Empire for them to do with him as they please. Similarly, “Cohen told a judge…that he lied in 2017 to the Senate Intelligence Committee about proposed Trump Tower development in Moscow in order to be consistent with Trump’s political messages, and out of loyalty to the president” (Breuninger). In both cases, Lando and Cohen rebel against those who trust them and risk them some type of harm.
Much like this recent political example of rebellion, the 1972 Watergate Scandal can be compared to Cohen turning on Trump. Several burglars were caught breaking into the Democratic National Committee while wiretapping phones and stealing documents. Throughout this process, President Nixon tried to keep everything under wraps so that there would be no connection made between him and the break-in. However, through the rebellion of Nixon’s co-conspirators, he would soon be caught. “A handful of Nixon’s aides, including White House counsel John Dean, testified before a grand jury about the president’s crimes; they also testified that Nixon had secretly taped every conversation that took place in the Oval Office” (Watergate). This once again parallels Lando’s rebellion against Han because he turned on Han just like Nixon’s aides turned on Nixon and cut a deal with another party to keep themselves safe.
Finally, in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi, we see the rebellion of Vader against the Empire — more specifically the Emperor. When Emperor Palpatine wants Luke to kill Vader and take his place in the ranks of the Empire, Luke refuses and states that he is a Jedi. Furious, the Emperor starts to torture Luke with lightning. Vader steps in and overpowers the Emperor and throws him off the ledge, leading to his death. Vader’s rebellion against the Empire shows the audience that he has had a change of heart. We are then better able to sympathize with Vader. Originally seen as a key figure within the Empire oppressing the galaxy and killing anyone in his way, Vader’s true self comes out in this scene on the Death Star and shows his humanity. The audience has never seen Vader like this: a dedicated father willing to give his life for his son. Although Vader had previously never shown love for anyone or anything, he showed affection towards Luke and saved him.
Darth Vader’s act of rebellion against the Empire is not unlike John McCain’s choice to vote in favor of Obamacare although his party was against it. It was “John McCain’s surprise, middle-of-the-night thumb down that sunk his party’s Obamacare repeal” (Cunningham). Although John McCain was a Republican, he did not choose to stay within party lines and voted for something that would favor the Democratic Party policy. “McCain didn’t share many of his colleagues’ perspective that virtually anything would be better than President Obama’s health-care law” (Cunningham). Much like when Vader decided to act against the Emperor, Senator McCain decided to rebel against the Republican Party and vote in favor of the Democrats’ agenda.
Silence can also be used as an act of rebellion, contrary to popular belief. If one is silent when they consciously know that what is being said or done is clearly wrong, silence becomes an act of rebellion. In the latter stages of the story “Change of Heart,” from Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View, an Imperial Guard struggles with their moral conscience. Through silence, the Imperial Guard shows their alliance towards Princess Leia in an act of rebellion against the imperial project. In a scene from this story, Darth Vader and Governor Tarkin, two high ranking officials in the Empire, interrogate Princess Leia about the location of a hidden rebel base. When Tarkin and Vader threaten to destroy her home planet of Alderaan, she immediately breaks and suggests Dantooine is the home of the rebel base. Immediately, the Imperial Guard on duty notices Leia’s lie and struggles with making the choice of whether to call Princess Leia out on her lie or to allow Governor Tarkin to believe it. The Imperial Guard decides to not speak up and concludes that through this silence that they “had joined her rebellion” (Acker 230). From this quote, the audience understands the point of view of the Imperial Guard and their opinion of their betrayal. The audience sees that the guard views their silent act of rebellion as not detracting from the imperial project, but rather completely switching allegiances. The Imperial Guard believes that silence made them allies (Acker 230).
The Imperial Guard believes that Tarkin picks up on this and “… that he was looking to you for confirmation. But he wasn’t seeing you as anything other than the silent fixture that you always were in his presence, and in another fraction of a second he’d stepped away and added, ‘You see, Lord Vader. She can be reasonable’” (Acker 228). Through this act of rebellion, the author humanizes the guard by showing their emotions and thoughts otherwise not seen by stormtroopers as depicted in the movies. Although the guard knew the consequences of acting against the Empire, the guard still chooses to rebel to gain a sense of morality. It is through the silence that the Imperial Guard misled Governor Tarkin, therefore following through with an act of rebellion towards the Empire. The act is rebellious because there is no intent to follow orders. The guard consciously knows that what he is doing is an act against the Empire: “Whenever they inevitably sent their scouts and probes to Dantooine, you knew for certain they would find nothing there. You could have spared them the effort, the expense, the wasted power” (Acker 229). Here the audience understands that the guard’s silent rebellion is not just a negation of the imperial project but also has negative consequences for it.
Another form of silent rebellion, or rather a rebellion by a lie of omission, is seen in the short story ‘Raymus’ in Star Wars: from a Certain Point of View. In this story, Captain Raymus, who claimed to be on a diplomatic mission, is choked by Vader because he would not tell Vader where the Death Star plans were. This lie of omission ended up costing Raymus his life. However, through this story, the audience sees Raymus’ thought process as to why he is so selfless. The author makes a seemingly insignificant character who is barely shown in the movie a part of the bigger picture: he possibly saved the whole rebellion by giving his life. Raymus knew that he was going to die for his cause, for the rebellion. The story states that even in his final moments, he hoped. This form of rebellion is one of the leading scenarios in which the overlying plot of Star Wars was continued by a minor rebellion from a character within the story.
Much like these silent rebellions, if one is aware of some sort of attack and does nothing to make people aware about it or to stop it, one can be considered a part of the rebellion. For instance, if it were one’s job to defend a building and one was aware of an imminent threat on the building and did nothing about it, this would be acting against what is commanded because one is not complying with the moral code and duty. In this case, it is through silence that one contributes to the rebellious cause, unlike blatant rebellion where it is through deliberate action that one contributes to the rebellious cause. It is an act of resistance to authority with the purpose of interfering with the aims of the authority. Actions like these make the reader think about silent acts of rebellion in our everyday lives that go unnoticed but may have large impacts on our lives.
Finally, another lesser thought of form of rebellion within Star Wars is Luke’s internal struggle with himself and his Force powers. Luke struggles with the whole concept of the Force and how to control the dark side of it. Luke must rebel against his inner anger and his dark side in order to keep the hope of a successful rebellion against the Empire alive. Luke is often told by Obi-Wan and Yoda that he cannot give in to his inner evil. The best example of Luke rebelling against his inner dark side can be seen in Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi where the Emperor tells Luke to let hate control him and kill Vader. Luke’s rebellion against the dark is successful when he disobeys the Emperor’s command and declares he will not to kill Vader.
This plot of rebellion in Star Wars is made up of many small-scale rebellions within the films. These small rebellions all build up the rebellion of the Rebel Alliance against the Empire. If it weren’t for Han’s rebellions against the Rebel Alliance or Lando’s change of conscience from supporting the Empire to supporting Han’s friends and fellow fighters, much of the plot would not have developed the way it did on screen. Even in stories which go more in-depth than the movies, like the story “Change of Heart” from Star Wars: from a Certain Point of View: 40 Stories Celebrating 40 Years of Star Wars, where the reader learns more about what really happened in a scene from the movie, the audience sees the impact of small rebellions that carry out the overall plot. Many people never realize the pivotal role that these smaller revolts might play within the original Star Wars trilogy. If any of these actions in which characters resist authority did not occur, much of the story that is loved all around the world would be lost.
Works Cited
Acker, Ben, et al. Star Wars: from a Certain Point of View: 40 Stories Celebrating 40 Years of Star Wars. Del Rey, 2017.
Breuninger, Kevin, and Dan Mangan. “Cohen Pleads Guilty to Lying to Congress about Trump Tower Project in Moscow, Cuts Deal with Mueller.” CNBC, CNBC, 29 Nov. 2018, www.cnbc.com/2018/11/29/ex-trump-lawyer-michael-cohen-reaches-guilty-plea-deal-in-mueller-probe-reports.html.
Cunningham, Paige Winfield. “The Health 202: Here’s Why John McCain Voted ‘No’ on Health Care.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 4 Aug. 2017, www.washingtonpost.com/news/powerpost/paloma/the-health-202/2017/08/04/the-health-202-here-s-why-john-mccain-voted-no-on-health-care/59837b3d30fb045fdaef10f6/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.21dc059507dd.
Lucas, George, director “Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi”: 2004.
Lucas, George, director. “Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back.” 20th Century Fox, 1980, www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ooh3k8cJDBg
Lucas, George, director, and John Williams, composer. “Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope. Star Wars: A New Hope” – Youtube, 20th Century Fox, 30 Mar. 2015, www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYNSSNJ0z_U.
“Rebellion.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, www.merriam webster.com/dictionary/rebellion.
The New York Times. “Women’s March 2018: Protesters Take to the Streets for the Second Straight Year.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 20 Jan. 2018, www.nytimes.com/2018/01/20/us/womens-march.html.
“Watergate Scandal.” History.com, A&E Television Networks www.history.com/topics/1970s/watergate.
I’m supposed to be contesting Christian Gehre’s thesis but I’m struggling to see what his thesis is. I enjoyed some of his points but I can’t synthesize them with a thesis since his opening paragraph seems somewhat open-ended and doesn’t push towards a central idea. I want to say his thesis is ”Two categories of rebellion that are evident in the original trilogy are active rebellion, the visible conflict within the films, and passive rebellion, such as silence and the struggle against one’s inner self, which are not directly addressed or made obvious within the trilogy. In today’s society, there are many forms of rebellion and activism, much like that seen within the original Star Wars trilogy.”, so I’ll work from that. I think one of the problems I have with the wording of the thesis is that it doesn’t fit neatly into the opening paragraph as it does for some of our other colleagues, such as Adesina Brown or Rachel Blair. Structurally, it would fit better if it were more condensed and honed in on a more specific topic rather than just rebellion, which is rather insignificant as an argument in films entirely about rebellion and revolution.
This leads me to my next point: I found myself asking throughout the paper, why is it important that we as an audience study the rebellion in Star Wars? What can we shed light on through analyzing the films and non-canonical material regarding the rebellion? It’s a question I still find myself asking even after reading the essay and going over Christian’s points. While he makes good use of outside sources and the texts, I find that his own thesis is realized only in the sense that he proves that there is a plethora of rebellion in movies that focus nearly solely around that main idea.
A large extent of writing research papers is coming to the “Why should we care?” aspect, one that I found to be very necessary for this assignment. Christian at one point argues that rebellion is necessary “…to work for a change.” This also stands true from the novel Star Wars: From A Certain Point Of View. As cited by Christian, even small acts of rebellion were necessary to further the plot of the Star Wars series, canonically or not. One thing that I would have appreciated seeing more could have been the furthering of his own essay’s narrative through describing why these smaller acts of rebellion and silent acts of rebellion were so important, because there would be no context for the audience if they hadn’t also read all of the same sources extensively.
Another important point to make is his usage of Han and Lando as descriptors of a selfish to a selfless perspective in the context of rebellion. While Christian describes some of the reasons that he sees the two characters as important to the rebellion while also being selfish, he doesn’t elaborate further on why it’s so important for there to be a turn of thinking in the way that Han and Lando change. I think this could’ve further strengthened Christian’s argument.
Overall, this is a fine essay that just could have benefitted from some more concrete points making certain angles of the thesis and general argument less vague.