The Skywalker Paradigm
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Now, I'm not gonna tell you about Star Wars. If you're listening to this, you're a dork, like me, and you've seen this a hundred times. What I'm gonna do is show you the things that you missed, and what I think you're gonna find is that you haven't been paying very close attention to it at all. Let's go!
—The Skywalker Paradigm Intro
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What do you get when you subject one of the most beloved science fiction films of all time to political propaganda analysis techniques?
Depending on your outlook, either a hilarious Affectionate Parody, a bastardization of the work, or an interesting new way of looking at a beloved classic.
Created by Jack Eggers, The Skywalker Paradigm is an exercise in propaganda analysis in which the original Star Wars trilogy is assumed to be a series of rebel propaganda films made after the fall of the Galactic Empire created from compiled historical footage, and then subjected to propaganda analysis techniques. It took the form of a series of clips from the film with annotation and commentary, pointing out various points of interest and drawing conclusions. An audio version in the form of a lecture by Eggers synced up to the first hour of the original theatrical release of A New Hope, meant to be played alongside the film, was also available for download.
Among the Paradigm's many conclusions, some of the most important are that Darth Vader is the real hero, Obi-Wan is the real villain, and Luke is being brainwashed into an assassin.
- Alternate Character Interpretation: Too much to list as its own entry.
- Cluster F-Bomb: The audio version.
- Dude, Where's My Respect?: Vader, who is pretty low on the totem pole in Episode IV, despite everything he's done for the Empire prior to the film.
- Enemy Civil War: Tarkin may be planing to use the Death Star to start his own coup.
- Even Evil Has Standards: Vader, who is against weapons of mass destruction and torture. Thereby making him a nicer guy than Dick Cheney.
- How can he be against torture when he uses it on his own daughter?
- Because he didn't. Take note that we're never actually shown any scene of torture, it's only implied, and Leia is visibly unhurt and awfully assertive for a torture victim when she gets rescued.
- How can he be against torture when he uses it on his own daughter?
- From a Certain Point of View: Much is made of Obi-Wan's use of this excuse. The Paradigm itself is this, as it relies on the assumption that everything in the films is real footage of actual events edited together, justified as being done for fun.
- Magnificent Bastard: Obi-wan Kenobi, who manipulated Luke every step of the way.
- Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Eggers describes the Jedi as "hypnotist samurai."
- Rooting for the Empire: The Empire is actually a much better government than the Old Republic it replaced, or the Rebels trying to overthrow it. For one thing, it brought law and order to Outer Rim worlds like Tatooine.
- Star Wars: The source material.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Vader, who has realized his mistakes prior to Episode IV, and is now looking to fix them from within the system.