Page 47 - Star Wars Insider #194

OF
MAS
THE MEANING OF MASKSKS
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it’s important to remember they IN THE
can also conceal greed and an
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all-consuming hunger for power. If SENATE,
there is one face in the galaxy that
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embodies these malignant impulses, PALPATINE

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it is that of Palpatine: senator, D D D D D DONS
Chancellor, and evil Emperor.
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Darth Sidious’ hood is a mask A A A A A NEW
of another sort and, like a number M M M M M M MASK:
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of characters in Star Wars, there is a
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potent medieval influence at work. P P P P P P POSING
When a robed Sidious fi rst appears
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in The Phantom Menace, during A A A A AS THE
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a covert meeting with Darth Maul S S S S S SAVIOR
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on Coruscant, the face concealed
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beneath is glimpsed only in profi le. O O O O O O O OF THE
It’s an introduction that anticipates
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his subsequent appearances in G G G G GALAXY.
the Skywalker saga: Sidious is the
true self that’s hidden beneath the
genteel persona of the seemingly
benign Sheev Palpatine. When
we first encounter the senator

during his conversation with
Queen Amidala, his decorum and
politeness mask his aggression
and contempt for the political
arrangement he seeks to destroy. “with great interest.” How nurturing around that of deception) chimes
His apparent surprise and distaste at the kindly politician seems, yet with the work of the 20th century
political games in the Senate is, in how destructive he truly is. In the philosopher Hannah Arendt, who
fact, a deceit. Senate, Palpatine dons a new mask: witnessed World War II and the
The motif of the mask, then, posing as the savior of the galaxy. Holocaust, and wrote that, “No
carries a broader resonance that The deception is complete, and the matter how large the tissue of
touches on political realities we menace is no longer a phantom, falsehood that an experienced liar
recognize in terms of populist but instead something all too real has to offer, it will never be large
politicians. At the close of The and dangerous. enough… to cover the immensity of
Phantom Menace, Palpatine declares Star Wars has long demonstrated factuality.” This analysis could not
enthusiastically—and apparently the power of allegory and its focus be truer of the masked machinations
with generosity—that he will watch on masks as dramatic devices of Palpatine. Eventually, Palpatine
the career of Anakin Skywalker, and symbols of theme (notably drops his disguise entirely in
Revenge of the Sith, gleefully
revealing himself as the vampiric
Darth Sidious who drains others of
their potential to sate his own needs
and ambitions.
Truths hidden behind masks are
an essential element in the allure of
Star Wars storytelling. In the book
Star Wars: The Magic of Myth, the
point is made that the fi lms have
been able to, “open our hearts to the
dimension of mystery in our own
lives.” Masks, then, allow creators
of stories and their audiences to
project onto them. How we respond
to the mysteries and functions of
masks says as much about us as they
do about the characters who lurk
behind them.
STAR WARS INSIDER / 47