“I am your father.”
That parental revelation—uttered by Darth Vader to a gobsmacked Luke Skywalker—punctuates one of the biggest twists in cinema history.
It’s perhaps the most memorable moment found in The Empire Strikes Back, but it’s far from the only one: the Battle of Hoth, Lando, the asteroid chase, Cloud City, bounty hunters, Yoda … the list goes on and on.
The first Star Wars film, which Paul and I reviewed in a video last week, laid a lot of groundwork for the franchise, but The Empire Strikes Back solidified it (like carbonite, you might say) as something that would endure in the minds of many moviegoers for years to come.
The Empire Strikes Back also gives us an expanded (though still somewhat vague) view of the mystical Force. When Yoda says, “Luminous beings are we, not this crude matter,” many will agree that we are more than mere flesh and blood. But there are also some elements of the Force that Christians would consider questionable, to say the least.
The Empire struck back, and Paul Asay and I do the same with a deep dive of the second act of the original Star Wars trilogy. And though Paul couldn’t tell Bossk from a Bothan, he does make some insightful points.
So join us as we discuss Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back. Is it better than the original? How should Christians approach the idea of the Force? And how does St. Augustine factor into our chat?
Check out our conversation below!
One Response
I’d really like the lightsaber, but I’d want the Force, too. Except for the times when it gets weird (for example, The Clone Wars’ Mortis Arc, Rebels’ Bendu), I think of the Force as more of a superpower. Telekinesis, ability to block lasers, Jedi mind tricks; it all sounds pretty cool.
And while Star Wars spirituality sounds A LOT like Taoism, the whole “balancing the Force” thing seems questionable. Anakin was supposed to fulfill the “bring balance to the Force” prophecy, yet Obi-Wan says that he was supposed to destroy the Sith, not join them. And he somehow fulfilled his destiny as the Chosen One in the end by destroying the the part of himself that was Vader and destroying Palpatine (at least until Episode 9). So, it sort of seems like balancing the Force means getting rid of the Dark Side.
By the way, great video. I love hearing you guys talk about Star Wars.