Star Wars
We live in a society, which relies on fairy
tales and mythology to entertain and
take us off to a far away place where we
can identify with our imagination. The
Star Wars trilogy is a classic example
of the hero cycle. A young man is brought
up believing the light side of the
force is his destiny. It has an old warrior,
which teaches young Luke an
ancient craft that has been used for centuries to
battle evil. Luke is told
about his father and how he was a great Jedi Knight,
how he was killed by a
man named Darth Vader, but fails to tell him that the
fate of the galaxy lies
on his shoulders. Luke grows wise but still cocky and
bull headed much like
Oedipus Rex. Young Luke Skywalker sees his mentor get
taken down by the same
man who killed his father thus giving birth to his inner
dark side. He is yet
to see the need for a balance of the two forces. Luke
develops many
friendships and is forced to choose whether or not he wants to
complete his
training with his new mentor Yoda, or watch his friends die in
trying to
defeat the Empire and Darth Vader. He ignores all that he was taught
by Obi
wan and Yoda and decides to take his destiny in his own hands and
confront
Vader and save his friends. In doing this rebellion to the light side
of the
force, Luke can now feel the power of having the light side and the
dark.
During his battle with Vader, Luke can see that there is a
transformation of the
villain. What was once a cold and dark character, Lord
Vader now has a
compassion for his son. Though Luke is blinded and stubborn
for the light side
of the force, is actions are now balanced between the two
forces. Vader now
starts to see compassion for his son, who is forced to do
battle not by his own
will. Vader then offers an ultimatum for his son who is
to join with him to
defeat the emperor and rule the universe. Luke denies his
father and descends
into his own darkness when he finds out Vader is his
father, this symbolizes the
death period in the fairy tale. The resurrection
of Skywalker in Return of the
Jedi shows that Luke realizes that he has
the power to defeat the Emperor and
maybe bring back his father to the light
side of the force. When he confronts
his enemies, Luke almost makes the
decent into the darkness as he battles his
father. He realizes that the rage
that is controlling him is the dark side. Luke
stops the battle after he sees
that Vader’s chopped hand is just like his own
and he knows the two are both
alike. Luke can see that he will soon become just
like his father. As the
aggravated Emperor starts to kill Luke, Vader goes
through his own
resurrection. With this compassion for his son, Lord Vader
throws the Emperor
to his death. Saving his son showing us that there is still
good in him. The
light side of the force is not completely out Vader. The cycle
that these
characters in the story Star Wars take, is a life-death cycle. They
choose
between which side of life to live. Campbell’s idea that both the light
and
dark side is in a way diseased shows that a balance must be present.
The
light side is constantly in control and more of a thanatos way, whereas
the dark
side is in chaos and an eros view. The balance between the two is
cyclical
approach to life. There are ups and downs to everything of nature.
As Yoda said,
"there is no try only do." A true jedi must confront the
dark side of the
force in order to see what the light side has.