“Somehow, Palpatine returned.”
Sorry—what I meant to say was: Somehow, Paul Asay and I returned to finish our deep dive conversation about the original Star Wars trilogy. We’re concluding our recap with 1983’s Return of the Jedi.
This might just be the most Christian Star Wars movie put to film. Need convincing? According to How Star Wars Conquered the Universe: The Past, Present, and Future of a Multibillion Dollar Franchise by Chris Taylor, during the planning of Return of the Jedi, George Lucas and the film’s producer, Howard Kazanjian, found themselves at odds over the conclusion of Darth Vader’s character arc. Lucas wanted the character to be redeemed. Kazanjian felt that Vader was too evil to be saved. As the story goes, Lucas convinced Kazanjian, a Christian, by appealing to the ethos of his faith—that in this life, no one is too far gone to be saved (as demonstrated in Luke 23:39-43).
The possibility of Vader’s redemption is something only Luke sees: Even the young Skywalker’s vaunted Jedi teachers are blind to this possibility. It echoes the beautiful reality that, even if others think we are too far gone, no matter how far we have fallen, our Heavenly Father is always seeking to redeem us and welcome us home.
Paul and I talk about that and more in our Return of the Jedi Rewind video, which you can watch below!
2 Responses
I’ve never thought of Darth Vader as the ultimate bad guy. Not that he’s not an AMAZING bad guy, because he is (so much better than Kylo Ren). But I watched the prequel trilogy first (I know, I know, how could I do that), so I saw the good-guy-Jedi side of Anakin and Palpatine as the ultimate evil bad guy. So I think of Palpatine as the epitome of evil, and I’m so glad Vader was redeemed.
As to the film itself, it is my favorite Star Wars movie and one of my top three favorite movies of all time, though I will admit I tend to look more at the fun factor than the story merit. I think the Jabba’s palace part is a great showcase of Luke’s suddenly-full-on-Jedi talents. The Ewoks are adorable and the Empire gets beat. I do agree that Leia could’ve had a more important part, and the whole kissing her brother is definitely awkward. But I am glad that the three heroes didn’t die – I’m a big fan of happy endings – especially Han, who might be my favorite of the trio.
I thought the Christian connection was cool. And the whole video, as always, was awesome.
I’ve seen all nine Star Wars films and in my opinion the third sixth and ninth films are the best, and my favorite character besides Luke is Darth Vader, mostly because of his redemptive character arc. And if you think about it Kylo Ren’s character arc is similar to his grandfathers.