Subaltern Within The Empire’s Ranks
The Galactic Empire is as well-known across the Star Wars galaxy as it is on Earth. The white plating of Stormtrooper armor, the wailing screeches of TIE Fighters, and the heavy breathing of Darth Vader all strike fear into the hearts of galactic civilians and moviegoers alike. The Empire is the antagonistic force in the Star Wars Universe. It is the powerful, strict, and authoritarian regime that oppresses the galaxy and keeps its people in line and in order through fear and violence. They’re the “bad guys.” They’re evil. These are all more or less the main thoughts most would have if asked to imagine The Empire of Star Wars. And yes, without a doubt, they are the antagonists, and we do see and hear about their villainous actions. Stormtroopers murder Aunt Beru and Uncle Owen, Darth Vader massacres rebels, and the Death Star allows the imperials cause the genocide of the entire planet of Alderaan (Lucas). But I’d like to look at this from a slightly different perspective. Take one individual Stormtrooper. Is he responsible for the atrocities of other Stormtroopers? For the destruction of Alderaan? For Palpatine’s desire for control and power over the entire galaxy? How about just for following his orders? My personal answer to this question, put simply, is no. In this paper, I will analyze the soldiers of the Empire through the lens of the postcolonial idea of the subaltern and the legal issues of superior orders. I’ll also look at specific instances of the Empire’s treatment of its own in the films “Solo: A Star Wars Story,” “Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope,” and “Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back,” and the short story collection of “Star Wars: A certain Point of View,” by both the audience, the filmmakers, and the in-universe characters themselves. I hope to show the flaws of the Empire not just as a regime that oppresses others, but one that feeds off the oppression of its own members.
Subaltern is a word that means “of lower status,” or “of inferior rank.” Funny enough, one of its other meanings relates to the military, as it can denote a British army officer below the rank of captain. Very fitting for the topic of Empires. In terms of postcolonial theory, Critic Antonio Gramsci used it to describe any group that was unable to have “access to hegemonic power,” originally specifically in the Soviet Union (Mambrol). This includes peasants, the working class, women, and immigrants. No matter what they did or tried to do, these people could never get any sort of power in the system they lived in. The term was popularized by Gayathri Spivak in her essays “Can the Subaltern Speak?” and “Subaltern Studies.” In “Can the Subaltern Speak,” she argues against the idea of treating subaltern as a collective consciousness. She believes it is harmful to a group of oppressed people, in this particular case those who live in third-world countries as it allows others to speak for them. Because it treats them as one large identical group, this takes away their agency and their individuality, and thus dehumanizes them (Spivak). Now, Spivak obviously meant the term subaltern to apply to people suffering from the effects of colonialism. Those who have no voice and are spoken for by others, and she does reach the conclusion that no, “the subaltern cannot speak” (Spivak). But what if we were to look at how all of this can be applied to Imperial soldiers in Star Wars as well?
Who are the Stormtroopers? What sort of people wear the armor and shoot the blasters? This is, in part, a trick question. There are assumed to be millions of them, and yet we never really meet any personally in the movies. But we do know two characters who almost became them: Luke Skywalker and Han Solo, ironically the two characters who disguise themselves as troopers in “A New Hope” (Lucas).
As shown in the above clip from “Solo, a Star Wars Story,” Han uses the Empire as a means to escape his life as a street thief on Corellia (Howard). The film shows how he is then thrown head-first into Imperial conflicts, with no real idea who or why he is fighting. In the case of Luke, he was potentially one moisture farming season away from joining the Imperial Academy, had he not met C-3P0 and R2-D2. His reason? Becoming a pilot in the Empire was the only way Luke could escape his life of hard labor and farming on the desolate wasteland of Tatooine. Even though, in his own words, he hated the Empire, he was willing to join as a means to escape his unhappy life (Lucas). Had he done this, Luke may have gone on to take part in many similar acts of violence and oppression as the other Stormtroopers, simply by necessity. But he would still be the same person, the same Luke. So that begs the question, how many other troopers could this have applied to? It’s very likely that there are many other innocent farm boys are wearing that classic white Stormtrooper armor because they had no other choice, and equally as many once-homeless young men now partaking in acts of violence without fully understanding why.
In the films, Stormtroopers are nameless and emotionless drones, simply an obstacle in the way of the heroes. The clip above shows just how many troops and officers are gunned down over the course of just the first movie. None of these deaths are given any weight, either. Troopers fall into pits and the Death Star explodes with thousands on board, all while John Williams’s’ triumphant score plays and our heroes succeed. None of their deaths seem to matter, nor do they seem as if they are supposed to. But in the several of the canon short stories in “Star Wars: From a Certain Point of View,” we not only see the perspective of many imperials, but we also see how multiple characters acknowledge how this lack of identity is observable in universe, and how it makes the Stormtroopers easier to kill. In “The Bucket,” TK-4601 demonstrates knowledge of this, saying “he was nothing more than a hated foe, to be shot at and eliminated as quickly as possible (Golden, 23).” He recognizes that because of the uniformness and dehumanization of his helmet and armor, Leia and the other rebels only see him and his men as a single enemy entity. Furthermore, in “The Trigger,” Aphra the scavenger makes an interesting point as to why it’s so easy to kill soldiers and blow up a planet. “I think it’s easy to kill a planet.” she says. “It’s all so abstract…A planet doesn’t have a face. It’d take a real monster to pull the trigger if Alderaan had a face (Gillen, 269).” This is insightful commentary on both the Empire and war in general. People are fine with the deaths of abstractions. Numbers of casualties, suits of armor, and even merely distance, are all shields that block out the reality of death. It can be easy to forget that the people behind those abstractions can think, feel, and want to live. This is why both the audience and the heroes show little remorse when the Death Star explodes and troopers are shot. Both groups only see them how they are framed, as unknowable and practically-unseen enemies.
Even if the Stormtroopers were once good people, is that enough to justify the atrocities they and the rest of the Empire commit? As a matter of fact, in a system as massive and complex as the Galactic Empire, it can be very easy to explain such acts as simply following orders. This following of orders is shown to be not just out of obedience, but also fear. The Empire Strikes Back shows us that failure for imperial officers, no matter how high ranking, are always at risk of death due to failure.
Darth Vader loves his force choke, and isn’t afraid to use it on his own men, as the latter half of the clip shows. Admiral Ozzel and Captain Needa were murdered by Lord Vader after displeasing him with their tactical failings (Kershner). Most of the officers in the Empire, including the infamous Grand Moff Tarkin, were simply high-ranking Republic Military officials who served in the Clone Wars, the “good guys” before the Empire’s takeover. In the real world, the actions of these officers might be defended with the idea of “superior orders.” This term came about during the 1995 Italian trial of a Nazi named Erich Priebke, who was charged with involvement in a heinous Nazi war crime of murdering 335 people. His defense was that failure to comply with his orders would cause him to be shot for disobedience. He was released from custody after this was confirmed, leading to the legal and ethical issue of superior orders (Cornelius). There are many ways to defend, or at least justify, the wrongful actions taken by those in conflict. In stressful, dangerous, or unclear situations, subordinates often look to superiors for guidance. And when the ultimate superiors in this military are evil dictators with the power to choke and electrocute you with their minds, their obedience is understood.
Finally, I think it’s important to discuss and analyze the power structure of the Empire as a military and political body. At the top, obviously, we have Emperor Palpatine. Also known as Darth Sidious, the former Supreme Chancellor of the Republic and secret dark lord of the Sith has complete authority over the galaxy. In Attack of the Clones, Palpatine was granted emergency powers as Chancellor during the Clone Wars. He later used these powers to turn the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire, and kept these powers, allowing him to keep absolute control over every aspect of government. Beneath him are the Grand Moffs, who govern large quadrants of the galaxy. Each quadrant is divided into sectors, governed by a Moff, and each sector is divided into regions, each run by regional governors (Rattling). Immediately we can see the bureaucracy of the empire at work. Even the regional governors are responsible for thousands upon thousands of Imperials. And as we go back up the rankings, that number only increases with each portion of the galaxy one of these officials’ controls. Yet despite the differences in power between Stormtroopers and The Moffs, or the low-ranking officers and Palpatine, do we still group them as one unit? Do we, in a sense, let the Empire and those in power speak for them? Sound familiar? The low-ranking members of the imperial military have no voice. They have no stake in Palpatine’s dark side conquest, nor do they have any say in the Moffs’ governing tactics, yet because they are grouped under them, they are spoken for by their actions. Actions that, as we have pointed out, they have no choice but to follow. A life of war and death, that they had no choice but to lead.
So, we’ve now explored the other side of the Empire, the ways in which it’s not the singular evil entity it appears to be on its surface level. We know that it’s a system bogged down with bureaucracy, that each horrible decision made is often done out of ignorance or fear of a worse fate for themselves, and that despite how easy it is to see the treat of the Empire as such an abstract entity, it is still very much populated with individuals. Individuals that can be very easily called subaltern. Merely by existing in the galaxy at this time, these men and women were forced to join a cause they didn’t believe in, follow orders that paint them as monsters, wear uniforms that strips away their individuality, and are spoken for and represented by a few select evil and corrupt men. This is an important takeaway that we can apply to other aspects of life, real or fictional. It is important to think about how we determine responsibility for mass wrongdoings. It’s important to understand why those who serve under an empire do the things that they do, while still not excusing their actions. By understanding the ways in which a system like the Empire operates on facelessness, manipulation, and fear, we as a society can be better equipped to know how to dismantle, fix, and hopefully prevent such empires. Because under an empire, no one wins.
Bibliography
Cornelius, Sarah T. “The Defence of Superior Orders and Erich Priebke.” Patterns of Prejudice EBSCOhost, 28 May 2010.
Gillen, Kieron. “The Trigger.” Star Wars: From A Certain Point of View, Del Rey and The House, 2017, pp. 259-270.
Golden, Christie. “The Bucket.” Star Wars: From A Certain Point of View, Del Rey and The House, 2017, pp. 17-25.
Howard, Ron, dir. Solo: A Star Wars Story. Disney, 2018. Film
Kershner, Irvin, dir. Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. Twentieth Century Fox. 1980 Film.
Lucas, George, dir. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977. Film.
Mambrol, Nasrullah. “Subaltern (Postcolonialism).” Literary Theory and Criticism Notes, Literary Theory and Criticism, 8 Apr. 2016, literariness.org/2016/04/08/subaltern-postcolonialism/.
“Rattling the Saber.” Web.Archive.org, Rovi Corporation, web.archive.org/web/20060311005508/http://domuspublica.net:80/index.php/Rattling%20the%20Saber.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty (1988). Can the subaltern speak? Basingstoke: Macmillan
The World’s Best Photos by Jlucito – Flickr Hive Mind, hiveminer.com/Tags/starwars,statue.
Harrison claims that an individual stormtrooper is not responsible for the atrocities of the Empire, or his own actions if he was just following orders. This is further analyzed through the concept of the subaltern and the legal issues of superior orders.
While I do agree with the overall argument, I believe some evidence complicates the scope of this claim. His evidence is based not only on stormtroopers, but on other imperial workers as well. So, what draws the line of accountability?
Harrison uses the officers in his examples, with the clarification that the claims also apply to lower ranks. The officers, even the Grand Moffs, used to be good guys before becoming part of the Empire. As rank increases, they have control over greater numbers, so their actions and orders have a greater impact. At the same time, they are also just following the orders of the Emperor and experiencing the fear that ensures their obedience. Harrison suggests that the idea of “superior orders” could be used to defend even the Grand Moffs’ actions in the real world, as it did those of Erich Priebke. So, why should the Grand Moffs be included in the “few select evil and corrupt men” who are held responsible? Is it their greater scope that ensures this accountability?
Regardless, based on Harrison’s argument, it is obvious that the pawn-like qualities of stormtroopers set them apart from these officials. It is truly their facelessness that makes their actions inconsequential on an individual basis.
Subaltern is defined by Spivak as “removed from all lines of social mobility.” The stormtroopers are the only imperial workers that completely fit this description, as they are masked, renamed, and stripped of all individuality. Harrison uses an additional definition of “a British army officer below the rank of captain.” This parallel certainly works in the grand scheme of things. But stormtroopers also have rankings within themselves, and can be captains. In the Battle of Hoth in The Empire Strikes Back as well as in “Star Wars: Behind the Magic” (an inside look at the original trilogy), stormtroopers can be seen wearing captain insignia. In the From a Certain Point of View story “The Bucket,” TK-4601 purposely passes up the opportunity for a higher position, as he does not want the moral responsibility of turning in a rebel to be tortured. Higher ranking stormtroopers are given more responsibility, and may feel the greater impact of their actions, yet they remain as faceless as the rest and therefore not as responsible to an outside perspective. In a lineup of stormtroopers, no one could point out which one committed a given act.
Stormtroopers are not seen by the audience as responsible for their individual actions, yet they would be held responsible for not following through on orders, which has more terrifying repercussions. But there are cases of stormtroopers gaining agency and choosing to defect from the Empire or the First Order. In the original series we know Bigg Darklighter, one of Luke’s friends from Tatooine. He graduated from the Imperial Academy, then defected to the Rebellion. Luis Arguello’s essay “Individual agency amongst the military ranks,” discusses the agency of stormtrooper FN-2187 (also known as Finn) in the sequel films. Finn, who has been trained as a soldier since birth, has his perspective changed, and gains individual agency through interacting with and fighting alongside Poe Dameron and Rey. Although it is not necessarily feasible for those whose livelihood depends on working for the Empire, it’s certainly possible to break free from a subaltern status with enough courage or a connection to the Rebellion or Resistance.