Are the Politics in the Star Wars Prequels Really That Bad?

[Robovski]

I feel the politics would have been better in a novel or a TV series instead of 3 space opera movies known for effects and a fair bit of fight scenes and lightsaber flashing.

That said, if Naboo had paid the tariffs, they wouldn't have been blockaded in the first place. The whole start of the TPM is basically debt collection writ large.

[Yukaphile]

Speaking simply as a fan of the Revenge of the Sith novelization and not the actual film, I LOVED the political commentary there. It felt way more fleshed out than anything on screen, and offered very real thoughts on the nature of sapient, thinking beings that seemed more at place in Star Trek than Star Wars. You could really understand how Palpatine seduced Anakin to the dark side - hell, in many ways, I agreed with it.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Speaking simply as a fan of the Revenge of the Sith novelization and not the actual film, I LOVED the political commentary there. It felt way more fleshed out than anything on screen, and offered very real thoughts on the nature of sapient, thinking beings that seemed more at place in Star Trek than Star Wars. You could really understand how Palpatine seduced Anakin to the dark side - hell, in many ways, I agreed with it.

Well as you and I believe someone else in this thread pointed out, Revenge of the Sith cleans up pretty nicely. I remember Lindsay Ellis in one of her videos saying that the scene in question where democracy dies at thunderous applause is the best political jargon in the prequels.

Thinking about The Phantom Menace, politics of that day were most likely crafted around the Clinton era with his "controversial" involvement in the southern asia / middle east area. Compare that to what happened when Bush took office not only once, but a second time by the time Revenge came out and you got something to reflect upon.

Also hey yuak. welcome back.

[Yukaphile]

The book REALLY does it justice. You really get more a sense the Senate is screaming, going wild, can't be heard, it's like thunder, etc... rather than just some generic clapping and the music swells in the movie. Don't get me wrong, I love the John Williams score, but... I wanna be sold the Senate is overwhelmingly endorsing this, whether out of fear or that it's simply opportunities for them to exploit, which is the original intent.

If trade disputes were the worst we had to deal with back then, the 1990s was even better than I thought it was - or remember.

Er... thanks, I think? My choice not to post for a while was a voluntary one, but it's nice to know others are being supportive.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

My choice not to post for a while was a voluntary one,

And nobody can take that away from you.

[Yukaphile]

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

Well that's no doubt a particular vivid experience that you're describing with the book, I thought the movie did it fine.

[Yukaphile]

I guess, but the clapping should have been louder, or changed Padme's line. That was hardly "thunderous."

[Karha of Honor]

The problem isn't that their bad... its their boring, The General concept works the execution is poor, then again Political Drama is one of those Genres that is hard to nail down, but most successful political dramas only use politics as a setting, and most of the drama comes from well The people in those positions and the forces out to get them

Lucas seemed to want you to care more about the Politics at work... the result though

Its like watching Cspan, The political scenes cause everything to come to a screeching halt while characters info dump why this action is important and makes said characters motivation make perfect sense

It kinda bleeds over into Tell over Show

It's bad.

Heroes on Both Sides !!!!!!!!!!!!!! In the oppenning crawl....

Reality, Seps = uggo freakshow

[FaxModem1]

The politics aren't that bad, just not as properly explored as they could have been. Looking back, the Republic is already looking pretty doomed, due to things like mega-corporations such as the Trade Federation having blatant senate representation. That just shows how little people's rights are respected.

As well, showing how little the Republic senate respects parliamentary procedure, as any voice in the Senate can interrupt a motion on the floor, silencing those in peril. Queen Amidala can't even voice her grievances before she is silenced by those with real power, the rich and the wealthy elites. Palpatine may have purposely overturned the apple cart for his own personal ambitions, but the apples were already rotting if swift action wasn't taken to fix all this.

I see this now, after having studied Political Science, and I think it should have been explained better in film language, like Anakin asking Padme's bodyguard why aren't they letting her talk or something, so that it's more obvious to the audience, but it's definitely there to see.