Thursday night, I watched Star Wars: Episode III – The Revenge of the Sith. Understand – I’m not a Star Wars geek, so I did not gasp in amazement after each ‘answer’ was revealed which unlocked the many mysteries from Episodes I, II, IV, V, and VI. Luckily for me, my theatre in Grand Rapids was not packed full of costumed geekoids, so there was no impromptu ‘acting’ going on in the aisles. For this, I was grateful.
I liked the movie. The acting (as widely reported) wasn’t good, but the special effects were outstanding.
I was on the lookout for the so called anti-Bush messages that I’ve read about from other blog articles and main stream media reports. I couldn’t find anything along these lines. Some have claimed that the evil Chancellor Palpatine character is really a caricature of Senator Bill Frist of Tennessee. I myself could not see the connection.
I did discover a different message played out in the movie. In fact, the message is more like a warning. A warning to the Catholic Church.
What is this warning? Priest should remain celibate, and homosexuality is a threat to the future of the church.
(***Possible Spoilers Ahead – Be Forewarned***)
One of the movie plot lines focuses on the pregnancy of the Padme character who is carrying twins Luke and Leia. The father of the twins is none other than Anakin Skywalker. Both Anakin and Padme have chosen to keep their marriage and the pregnancy a secret from everyone, including the Jedi council. If the council were to find out that Anakin was married and that he was a soon-to-be father, he would have no chance at becoming a Jedi Master. Throughout the first part of the film, Anakin has dreams that Padme will die during the delivery of the twin babies. Apparently, when a Jedi has dreams, it’s a sign of the future to come. Anakin is appropriately fearful of this, and he decides to do whatever possible to save Padme from impending death.
This is where all good goes bad.
Jedi are to be selfless people, and are only to think about the welfare of others. The problem is, Anakin’s love, Padme, will die if he doesn’t do something to save her. He believes he’s due a seat on the Jedi council as a ‘Master’, but he is rebuffed by other Jedi masters. This makes him angry and suspicious of his fellow Jedi. A woman has come between Anakin and the Jedi code. Due to his dedication to Padme, he rejects the code of the Jedi. He begins thinking selfishly – he begins to crave more power. Ultimately, Anakin is doomed as he turns to the dark side.
When a woman comes between a Jedi, a wedge is driven between the Jedi and his fellow Jedi’s. The will of the council cannot be done. The mission of the council cannot be completed. The Jedi who is involved with a woman focuses completely on her, and not on the needs of others. As she demands more from him, he begins to think only about her and his life with her. He is unable to think and care for others in an equal way. He has become selfish and cannot be a Jedi Master.
Is it a mistake that there are no women on the Jedi council? No.
(I have since been informed that there have been women on the Jedi council in the past. Thanks for all who provided that insight. I stand corrected. -ed.)
The Jedi council is the Catholic Church.
The Padme character, her pregnancy ‘problem’ and her neediness represent homosexuality in the Catholic priesthood.
While celibate, a priest can do the will of the church. They can selflessly serve their catholic parishioners. Once they break their celibacy and give way to homosexual urges, they become focused on it and cannot effectively serve the church any longer. They hide their character from the church, just like Anakin hides his marriage and fatherhood from the Jedi council. They know that if the Catholic church finds out about their homosexuality, they can no longer serve as a priest. They become more selfish and think only of themselves, of feeding their urges. They no longer care about their victims. Anakin no longer cares about the people he once loved and to protect his power, he permanently harms them or kills them.
As a homosexual priest carries out his actions in private, he permanently harms his victims, mostly young boys. In the film, Anakin kills Jedi younglings without remorse. This heinous act is one that no Jedi could even think about. He no longer carries any guilt or shame over his actions. Ultimately, Anakin sucombes to the dark side, becomes Darth Vadar, and the republic is destroyed. As homosexual acts by church priests propagate, the strength and trust in the church is broken.
The warning from Star Wars: Episode III – The Revenge of the Sith is simple. Priests in the Catholic church must remain celibate, or the church will sucomb to evil and face destruction.
Flashback: In 2002, other bloggers wrote about the Catholic church connection to the Jedi council.
(Comment moderation is in effect, so if you don’t see yours right away, it’s because I haven’t approved it yet. Since I’m on a business trip, I might not get to it right away, but I intend to approve most if not all comments from every side on this. If you intend on being vulgar, well then…there are other blogs that might accept those comments. This blog does not.)
On Celibacy in Star Wars
On Celibacy in Star Wars, and reactive family-derailing philosophies
“The Padme character, her pregnancy ‘problem’ and her neediness represent homosexuality in the Catholic priesthood.”
What an amazingly irrational and idiotic leap of logic.
Listen emperor palpatine is emperor constine notice how he was playin the world when he was really on the dark side come on emperor constantine was a pagan sun worshiper pagan now a days is wicca which is worship of nature the force. All tht is the work of the devil in the bible its states the devil is called the “morning star” which is the sun whts behind the sun is the devil people just do the work and stop being lazy nd you will know what’s going on its called subliminal wisdom….
I’d really like to see George Lucas reading this.
I bet he’d LHAO !
wow this is crap, there’s no direct link between the story and this “hidden message”, it’s a big leap of logic, you put this and this together to explain something that you believe in, just because it fits doesn’t mean it’s the correct key
if anything the jedi represent forces of the good, honorable, honest etc etc. Much like in spirituality, the jedi are set on a path (“the path”)to keep the world in balance, but when emotions, hunger for power, and malice come into play, it warps their minds and puts them off “the path”. They think they are still on “the path”, but in fact are not. All their loved ones can see it, but not themselves. Eventually they go down this false path, and become apart of the forces of evil. They are drawn in by the raw power of the dark side of the force, believing it to be the true path. Little do they know, there are greater limits to the power of the dark side than the “good” side. This is a theme in eastern mysticism. Some of your conclusions seem to be drawn from very convoluted arguments. you seem to make, as boggled said, irrational leaps in your logic.
Just like Catholic priests, Star Wars is gay
haywood i think your on to something. but seriously,this is a load of crap. its just movie.
George Lucas certainly makes no claim to be a catholic, therefore I would not leap to state that George Lucas intended for the hidden meaning to represent the priesthood of catholicism. And after re-reading this article, this author (PunditGuy) does not appear to make this claim either. In fact, what he says is, “I did discover a different message played out in the movie.” This comes to be read as interpretation, or personal meaning/perspective. Many times art may be figurative, and might express ideas and emotions that would not translate as fully with words. Sometimes the interpretation may be shared by others. Other times, it may be not. Going to the above, I feel that this line of debate points at similarities between certain aspects of philosophies – specifically the buddhist / eastern mysticism as shared by Catholic philosophy (with regards to priesthood and celibacy and selflessness.) Where the divide seems to appear is when Catholics bring up the idea of the sinfulness of homosexuality. This, I feel is a far more interesting debate.