Page 19 - Star Wars Insider #188

THE SKYWALKER SAGA
“A story more Shakespearean
than Arthurian.”
Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
FACTS & whole month
FIGURES before the movie’s
Title / Star Wars: Revenge A release, fans who
of the Sith attended the
Episode / Three centerpiece Star
Poster Tagline / The saga Wars: Revenge of
is complete. the Sith panel at 2005’s Star Wars
Theatrical Release / May Celebration III in Indianapolis had
19, 2005
the treat of watching the opening
Run time / 140 mins
scene of the film, in which Anakin
MPAA / “Rated PG13 for
sci-fi action/violence” Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi
Budget / $113 million run the gauntlet of Separatist
Domestic Opening ships in their Jedi starfi ghters.
Weekend / $108,435,841 With the booming pulse of war
Domestic Box Offi ce / drums and a sweeping shot that
$380,270,577
follows the starfi ghters through
Worldwide Box Offi ce /
$848,754,768 the massive space battle above
Coruscant, the movie establishes
Awards / Saturn Award for
Best Science Fiction Film that the Clone War—which began
in the Outer Rim at the conclusion
of Star Wars: Attack of the Clones
(2002)—has reached the very heart
of the galaxy. After screening the
high-octane footage, host Rick
McCallum, the movie’s producer,
asked the audience if they wanted
to hear him talk about the movie
or to watch the scene again. The
audience chose wisely:
a second viewing.
Politics of War
Episode III is the culmination of
visionary George Lucas’ prequel
trilogy, and like all his work was
influenced by the real-life events
that shaped his worldview. Born in
1944, Lucas grew up in an era that
was heavily impacted by World
War II, and the iconography of
this global conflict is pervasive
throughout Star Wars. In the
original trilogy, the Empire overtly
evokes the fascist dictatorship
of the Nazis, for example. The
parable of Episodes I through III
more broadly, however, refl ect
the political climate of the 1990s,
the time period when the story
of Anakin Skywalker’s fall was
germinating in Lucas’ mind.
The concluding years of the
Cold War in the late 80s mirrored
the events of the original trilogy:
evil dictators and oppressive
regimes fell, ushering in a new era
of optimism for democracy across
Eastern Europe. Yet despite the
success of America’s philosophical
arm wrestling with the Soviet
Union, Lucas’ generation had
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