"I am your father", says Vader with a chilling calmness to Luke Skywalker as he singe-handedly blows everyone's mind away with an amazing plot twist and secures his place in cinematic history. His presence in the original trilogy of the Stars Wars saga (Episodes 4, 5 and 6) made him one of the most memorable villians in the pop culture universe.
According to IMDB and Business Insider, Darth Vader has been ranked as the top greatest villian of all time, triumphing over classic well-loved villians like The Joker, Norman Bates, Hannibal Lecter and Leatherface.
But what exactly makes him so cool, apart from the sound of his unsettling, deep mechanical breathing as he slowly enters the room? One reason to account for is his tragic backstory and how Anakin Skywalker turns from the extremely talented, kind, heroic Jedi into the ruthless, damaged, evil and formidable Empire commander, Darth Vader. The viewer is taken on a ride in the first trilogy (Episodes 1, 2 and 3) which explores the story of Anakin as a child hailed from a rural town, discovered by Jedis travelling in the depths of outer space and taking him under their wing in order to help him reach his true potential and his dreams of becoming a Jedi. We see him grow into a wonderful, powerful Jedi as he goes on missions with his mentor Obi Wan Kenobi. However, we constantly see the conflict in Anakin as he struggles to fit into the perfect Jedi ideal, claiming that he has his own ideology to follow. Eventually, he succumbs to the power of the evil dark side and ends up going rogue, massacaring many younglings in a killing spree. In the process, he ends up accidentally killing his wife and bearer of his children, the beautiful Senator Padme. As he falls into the boiling lava in a heartbreaking fight sequence between him and his beloved mentor Obi Wan, he is left for dead but is eventually saved by his new evil master, the Emperor and thus the legendary Darth Vader is born.
As we see Anakin attempt to reconcile amongst his inner "want"/"should" selves, we begin to empathize with him, and feel his hurt. The need to become what is expected of him by Obi Wan and the Jedi Council for the good of the people (the "should" self) is in discord with the thirst for power residing within the dark side, the rage housing within felt from the many disturbing circumstances he faced in his journey as a Jedi, coupled with the death of his loved one, all result in his "want" self dominating. Thus, we understand where Vader is coming from, and his transformation from good to evil makes sense. Everytime we see him appear as the legendary Darth Vader on screen, commanding his troops to kill off the last remaining Jedi, we remember his past. We feel for him, we wonder whether there is still hope present in his wretched, cold blooded heart. We hope for the little boy Anakin to rise up and reclaim himself, to see the light and leave the ways of the dark side, just like old times.
This makes us realize that Vader is not very different from us. Even though the circumstances and the decisions taken may vary, we too are caught up in trying to reach a truce amongst our inner "want"/"should" selves many a times. The struggle between the selves is one that is not alien to us, and is something that we need to be aware of and explore as we look deep into ourselves.
Your Blog is really well written, and I've never seen Star Wars, but you've explained it a clear and concise way. It brings to attention the importance media has in learning as Darth Vader's story is so, as you mentioned, like ours. So much can be learned from him and also understood by watching Star Wars. I may be wrong in this, but Star Wars may also be used as a social commentary and reminds me of the Hunger Games reading as it depicts reality in a way through sci fi but is important to motivate social action. With an audience base as big as it has, do you think people have taken in these themes or do they just…
I have never really been into the Star Wars universe, but am surrounded by people who are die hard fans of the show. I really like the connections you've made with Vader and ourselves, and how we are not so different. Cinema displaying themes like this make the media form all the more relatable and entertaining, and it is safe to say that Star Wars has managed to do so. Not only that, but when you have media that is so highly praised, audience viewers create an emotional connection with the characters that is not broken, leading to increased fandoms and fanfiction etc. I really like the concept that content can be so powerful so as to shake a person…