Anakin and Padme's romance

Shroom Man 777 · Post by **Shroom Man 777** » 2004-10-10 09:23am

Sure, the acting sucked, but god damn was it fucked up. Okay, here's this girl who's last memory of this guy was when this guy was some kid who hadn't popped a zit yet, much less a boner. And here's a guy who, as a kid, briefly met a chick who he ended up being obsessed at for the rest of his pre-adult life.

Then they meet up again, the girl is in her twenties and the guy is like 18 or something. After a week, or at most two weeks, they end up married. How screwed up is this? Or did they meet up in between TPM and AOTC?

Your thoughts?

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-10-10 09:24am

Their meeting in AotC was literally the first time they've seen each other in ten years.

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2004-10-10 09:40am

There have been stories of people getting married after only one weekend together. It´s unusual but not impossible.

And it´s a pretty twisted relationship, gonna love seeing it break down in ROTS.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-10-10 10:01am

I don't see how it's that's twisted, they were only four years apart, why does everyone keep forgetting that? Amidala was 14 in TPM. Yes Natalie Portman was actually more like 17-18 at the time, but we aren't going by that.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-10-10 10:07am

It's actually more pathetic than twisted. And not just because of Anakin. In some ways Padme is just as messed up as he is.

Post by **Vympel** » 2004-10-10 10:46am

Spanky The Dolphin wrote:It's actually more pathetic than twisted. And not just because of Anakin. In some ways Padme is just as messed up as he is.

Agree. There's not much in the film to indicate their relationship is very meaningful, but then again, they're both young and by Episode III they actually could've made it work against all odds.

VT-16 · Post by **VT-16** » 2004-10-10 10:52am

Well, I thought it was pretty twisted, not because of age difference, but because of her accepting him as a massmurderer. True, they were mostly vicious sandpeople, and she didn´t know anymore about them than that, but still...

Here´s hoping that particular action gets revealed to Obi-Wan in Ep. III.

PS. I´ve got a BTH picture showing Anakin and Padme getting out of or into bed, and she´s wearing the Japor Snippet he made, thirteen years ago. I thought that was a nice detail.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2004-10-10 11:18am

They were BOTH horrid actors, even without the hideous love scenes. I can't wait to see Anakin be mangled and Padme killed in Ep3.

Spanky The Dolphin · Post by **Spanky The Dolphin** » 2004-10-10 11:18am

Isn't that nice.

McC · Post by **McC** » 2004-10-10 11:31am

This has been said elsewhere, but I'm inclined to repeat it in light of Praxis' comment.

Anakin was taken from his mother when he was 9. His only meaningful contact with people was through Obi-Wan and, by extension, other Jedi. Jedi sure as hell don't know jack about romance.

Padme was a bureaucrat almost from birth. She was always surrounded by other bureaucrats. She was queen of a planet by 14 and a senator of the Republic by 24.

So, where in there did either of them learn what to say to a member of the opposite sex? Where in there did either of them learn what to expect? They conduct themselves, consequently, with the only language with which they are familiar (Anakin with his Jedi upbringing and Padme with her bureaucratic surroundings -- and do note, Padme's lines were much less "messed up" than Anakin's). Personally, I've grown more and more to think that their portrayal, dialogue, and so on was deliberate.

The forgoing also helps explain why it was fucked up. They are, for all intents and purposes, young teenagers letting their hormones and feelings control their actions -- the exact thing the Jedi always caution against. I think the whole "Jedi are not allowed to love" thing was kinda bogus, it's just that they must be very careful to not let their emotions get the better of them. Anyway, that's a quibble for another topic. The point is that Anakin obviously breaks this rule and Padme, who also in some ways is required to live in a bubble to conduct herself, pops her bubble (that's an innuendo if I've ever seen one) to be with Anakin.

If you look at it as a mature, adult relationship, you're damn right it's fucked up. If you look at it like a high school relationship, it's pretty normal

(well, normal when you adjust for the fact that she's a major political figure and he's a Jedi)

Talon Karrde · Post by **Talon Karrde** » 2004-10-10 12:56pm

VT-16 wrote:Well, I thought it was pretty twisted, not because of age difference, but because of her accepting him as a massmurderer. True, they were mostly vicious sandpeople, and she didn´t know anymore about them than that, but still...

Here´s hoping that particular action gets revealed to Obi-Wan in Ep. III.

PS. I´ve got a BTH picture showing Anakin and Padme getting out of or into bed, and she´s wearing the Japor Snippet he made, thirteen years ago. I thought that was a nice detail.

Agreed. Killing a bunch of tusken raiders would scare the hell out of most people.

Meest · Post by **Meest** » 2004-10-10 11:23pm

I think the romance without watching or including the AOTC deleted scenes makes no sense whatsoever. As much as I want to say the acting was horrible, who in there right mind would be able to act those lines without improvising or changing them and make it not seem like a spanish soap opera quality. I always thought the deleted scenes at Padme's parents house is the best acting in the PT by far, the most natural and down to "earth" acting. I'm guessing it was done by the second unit

George Lucas "Um...that was good but let's try it again"
Haden/Natalie "So what do you want us to try different?"
George Lucas "Um...Action!"

THEHOOLIGANJEDI · Post by **THEHOOLIGANJEDI** » 2004-10-11 07:29pm

VT-16 wrote:Well, I thought it was pretty twisted, not because of age difference, but because of her accepting him as a massmurderer. True, they were mostly vicious sandpeople, and she didn´t know anymore about them than that, but still...

Dunno, That didn't really bother me too much. They did kill his mother, some empathy is required to have some understanding, plus he felt guilt over it.

Praxis · Post by **Praxis** » 2004-10-11 08:07pm

McC wrote: So, where in there did either of them learn what to say to a member of the opposite sex?

What, the ruler of a planet never met a male before?

Seriously, though, it just didn't look realistic. I wasn't expecting Anakin to be a Han Solo here, and heck, I would easily expect him to look nervous as heck. But he DIDN'T sound nervous. He sounded almost BORED. And Padme sounded like she was reading from a script (oh wait...

). They should, by all rights, have been a bit nervous, but they lacked any emotion whatsoever- they sounded like they were reading line for line, and throwing in the occasional gesture.

Techno_Union · Post by **Techno_Union** » 2004-10-11 09:10pm

I was reading the NEGTVV and saw a little entry in Amidala's yacht that said something like "...and there she met her future husband."

Sorta creepy thinking that those two get together when you're watching TPM. Especially when the thought comes into your head that they actually do it... granted they're older when that happens but, yeah.

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-10-12 09:12am

Praxis wrote:They were BOTH horrid actors, even without the hideous love scenes. I can't wait to see Anakin be mangled and Padme killed in Ep3.

As actors both Hayden and Natalie are pretty good. It was the bad dialogue they had to utter that was awful. Even the best actors in the world could not do much good with such bad dialogues.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-10-12 09:14am

"Well Padme, it looks like we're going to die now."

"I've been dying a little each day since I met you."

Maybe I don't speak the language of love, but what the hell is that supposed to mean?

Sarevok · Post by **Sarevok** » 2004-10-12 09:18am

Dont forget the infamous "sand is coarse" dialogue.

Stofsk · Post by **Stofsk** » 2004-10-12 09:21am

"I hate the sand. It's rough, and coarse, and gets everywhere. Will you have sex with me?"

"No."

Bob the Gunslinger · Post by **Bob the Gunslinger** » 2004-10-12 01:17pm

It's like one of those twisted calls to Loveline, where the callers both have mile-thick Southern accents and eventually end up asking if she can get pregnant from anal.

Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman · Post by **Kreshna Aryaguna Nurzaman** » 2004-10-12 01:20pm

Uh... not in defense of Anakin-Amidala romance, but what's wrong with romancing older girls?

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-10-12 02:42pm

As I've said before this "romance" could have benefited from the 80's action movie cliche of the gratuitous sex scene between the two characters. Think Riggs and the South African chick in Lethal Weapon II.

Sure they like each other but they jump into the sack pretty early into the relationship and when she gets wacked Riggs is already pretty attached to her because he boned her. (For some reason that's the short cut to true love in a lot of action movies. It keeps the pacing speedy

).

I agree that the best bit about the romance is the deleted scenes from Pademe's house that involve her family and them looking at her look at Anakin. That makes it believable that she's got some feelings for him plus a little more reason why she might be ready to fall for someone.

Now if they would have kept that in and then cut some of the bad dialog when they were on the island and then jumped into some gratuitous bumping and grinding, or at least some arty nuddie shots of body doubles that maybe could have been the real actors going at it, then we would have at least believed they were in lust with each other.

This gets me to thinking. What if someone did a movie that focuses soley on Anakin and Pademe's trip from Courasant to Naboo to Tattoine? I picture it being something like Wild At Heart. They bone each other six ways to Sunday every few minutes along various "milestones along the way. (R2D2 takes holos

) Maybe that can be part of the Extended Editions of AotC. I mean it works for LotR why not Star Wars?

This is one of those cases where George let his kids and all kids that watch these movies interfer with him delving into the dark depths of true hackdom of someone like Joe Esterhaus.

Hmm, maybe he could have gotten Paul Verhoven to direct the movie too.

Heck, if Verhoven had been directing RotJ how much you want to be that Luke bones Leia before he finds out they are related?

McC · Post by **McC** » 2004-10-12 03:14pm

...and the movie would no longer have been "Star Wars" at all. Or did you miss the part where Star Wars is devoid of sex scenes?

You make a good point about scene cutting, though. They should've cut the entire "sand" sequence at the island and replaced that with the house scene -- hell, maybe even have the kiss happen there.

Mange · Post by **Mange** » 2004-10-12 03:21pm

I don't have a problem with it. Both Hayden and Natalie are fine actors who perhaps didn't share chemistry, but overall I think the romance is satisfying. If it had been given more time, then everyone would complain about it. I don't mind the dialogue, it's typical of Star Wars and both persons feels awkward. Anakin does however come across as a stalker in some scenes.

Kurgan · Post by **Kurgan** » 2004-10-12 05:04pm

The Tusken Raider thing might not be so hard to swallow if it weren't for the fact that Anakin ADMITTED to Padme (but apparently nobody else) the he slaughtered the whole tribe, specifically including the women and children and he was ONLY upset that he let his anger get the better of him, not that he was a mass murderer (and she excused the idea of a person being emotional as part of being human).

Perhaps she was just too much in shock and too turned on by him to really think about it rationally and go "omg, my boyfriend is Charles Manson!"

I think that Padme IS in love (or in lust, or infatuated, whatever) with Anakin, she is just letting her "business side" (it's Impractical 'cause he's a Jedi and I'm a Senator, it wouldn't work out) let her pretend not to care as much as she does. It's only when she thinks they're going to die that she goes "aw what the hell."

At least that's my interpretation. I could be wrong...