Star Wars: Episodes IV-VI – Various Destruction of Various Things
There is a very good reason for including this entry on the list, and that is that the ethics of who blew what up in Episodes IV, V and VI is already a recognized debate in the Star Wars world – and it is deep. We’re talking Ivy League Philosophy Department deep. There is some dangerous blurring between the realms of reality and fantasy in what follows here, but we’re largely ignoring that (frankly I’m just glad to have made it out alive) – because in terms of looking at how ethics are usually relevant in some way to most movies, the debate does make some legitimate points. Even if they were likely made by the same 176,000+ people who keep entering ‘Jedi’ in the religion section of Britain’s censuses.
The problems begin with Grand Moff Tarkin ordering the destruction (by Death Star) of Princess Leia’s home planet of Alderaan – and its almost 2 billion sentient beings – in Episode IV: A New Hope. Given that Tarkin knows the planet is not the Rebel base of operations, and that it is peaceful, the action is nothing but a show of power and clearly flaunts a basic moral rule of war, which is to avoid the innocent. But, this being Star Wars – i.e. possibly the only film franchise in history whose cultural impact is so vast that it is occasionally referenced in Presidential speeches – it wasn’t quite as simple as that.
A few bright sparks have done the math and worked out that proportionately speaking, the killing of the 1.97 billion residents of Alderaan would only have amounted to an equivalent 135 lives from the population of Earth, which essentially means that the USA’s use of nuclear bombs in WWII was literally thousands of times more destructive (yes, I know, dubious reality parallels – see disclaimer above), and that in any case the Empire was attempting to bring a corrupt galaxy back into line. Others, of course, argue that the loss of lives cannot be ignored just on the basis of relativism – and that often includes Luke’s own murdering of the 3 or 4 million people on the Death Star.
The argument went on to the point at which a whole other film – Kevin Smith’s cult-classic Clerks – famously got involved, the conversation between Dante and Randall outlining the moral problem of the Rebels destroying Death Star II in Episode III: Return of the Jedi, which – despite ending the evil reign of the Empire – would have involved the deaths of thousands of innocent workers who were building it at the time.
Finally, George Lucas himself waded in, and during the commentary to Episode II: Attack of the Clones, put Randall’s fears to rest by confirming that it was the Geonosians who were probably contracted to build the second Death Star, and their loss wouldn’t have been a problem given that they were basically “just a bunch of termites.”
Which then prompted a load of people to accuse Lucas of being a racist.
I think you all get the point about this one. I’m out.
