Okay, this is probably going to get scoffed at, but it's merely an observation not a statement of definitive fact, but as the prequels were being made I kind of wondered if perhaps Lucas was going for a "failed Messiah" motif with Anakin.
I mean after all he was hailed as the "Chosen One" to fulfill prophecy and bring balance, etc, and we had the supposed virgin birth from humble origins in the desert, being discovered by outsiders and hailed for his amazing gifts, etc.
Then the trailers for ROTS come out showing Vader shackled to the table with his arms out, almost hinting that he's being "crucified" symbolically. While the shot itself I thought looked goofy (Hayden's tiny hands) apparently as did others, it would have fit with this theme.
So anyway, apparently Lucas bowed to pressure from fans by altering the shot to something more like Frankenstein (which was still made fun of by people).
Still, it's quite interesting. In a parallel to The Last Temptation of Christ this false messiah "comes down from the cross" though it's not to pursue the woman he loves, because he "killed her," says the Demonic Palpatine. What I mean is, TLTOC portrayed Jesus as somebody everyone thought was the Messiah, but by his choices fell away from that path (and it portrays Christ as the everyman with free will).
This wouldn't be a straight parallel with the Bible's antichrist (Order 66... or is that Order 666!), but its fun to think about. After all, Lucas keeps saying he's using old myths for inspiration in his stories. He even compared Mustafar to "Hell" in interviews before the film. Anakin isn't Jesus, and he isn't the antichrist, but there are some similarities that would fit in with the whole mythology-influence in the rest of the series.
Vader on the cross... what could have been?
Moderator: Vympel
And in the third film he rose again! 
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EBC - "What? What?" "Tally Ho!" Division
I wrote this:The British Avengers fanfiction
"Yeah, funny how that works - you giving hungry people food they vote for you. You give homeless people shelter they vote for you. You give the unemployed a job they vote for you.
Maybe if the conservative ideology put a roof overhead, food on the table, and employed the downtrodden the poor folk would be all for it, too". - Broomstick
EBC - "What? What?" "Tally Ho!" Division
I wrote this:The British Avengers fanfiction
"Yeah, funny how that works - you giving hungry people food they vote for you. You give homeless people shelter they vote for you. You give the unemployed a job they vote for you.
Maybe if the conservative ideology put a roof overhead, food on the table, and employed the downtrodden the poor folk would be all for it, too". - Broomstick
Wait a second....
If Mustafar is hell, and Anakin is Satan, wouldn't that make Obi the J-man?
If Mustafar is hell, and Anakin is Satan, wouldn't that make Obi the J-man?
'After 9/11, it was "You're with us or your with the terrorists." Now its "You're with Straha or you support racism."' ' - The Romulan Republic
'You're a bully putting on an air of civility while saying that everything western and/or capitalistic must be bad, and a lot of other posters (loomer, Stas Bush, Gandalf) are also going along with it for their own personal reasons (Stas in particular is looking through rose colored glasses)' - Darth Yan
'You're a bully putting on an air of civility while saying that everything western and/or capitalistic must be bad, and a lot of other posters (loomer, Stas Bush, Gandalf) are also going along with it for their own personal reasons (Stas in particular is looking through rose colored glasses)' - Darth Yan
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Darth Wong
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What you have to understand about Lucas' use of cultural and mythological motifs is that he sprinkles them in there in order to sustain the larger-than-life mythological feeling. He is not consciously attempting to produce an allegory for any one of the particular myths that he plunders for their imagery.
"you guys are fascinated with the use of those "rules of logic" to the extent that you don't really want to discussus anything."- GC
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http://www.stardestroyer.net/Mike/RantMode/Blurbs.html
What Mike said.
Relying too much on mythology tends to end with your story ending up as a big crapfuck. Case in point: that trilogy about reality being a computer simulation etc..
Relying too much on mythology tends to end with your story ending up as a big crapfuck. Case in point: that trilogy about reality being a computer simulation etc..
"..history has shown the best defense against heavy cavalry are pikemen, so aircraft should mount lances on their noses and fly in tight squares to fend off bombers". - RedImperator
"ha ha, raping puppies is FUN!" - Johonebesus
"It would just be Unicron with pew pew instead of nom nom". - Vendetta, explaining his justified disinterest in the idea of the movie Allspark affecting the Death Star
"ha ha, raping puppies is FUN!" - Johonebesus
"It would just be Unicron with pew pew instead of nom nom". - Vendetta, explaining his justified disinterest in the idea of the movie Allspark affecting the Death Star
Oh I agree with you there. Lucas is all over the place with this, I just wonder if that was another area he was going before before he changed it with the fan reaction.Darth Wong wrote:What you have to understand about Lucas' use of cultural and mythological motifs is that he sprinkles them in there in order to sustain the larger-than-life mythological feeling. He is not consciously attempting to produce an allegory for any one of the particular myths that he plunders for their imagery.
I know the "allegories" thing is overdone. A lot of stories contain allegorical bits, without being a straight allegory itself (like the Chronicles of Narnia). There's probably very few of those in fact.