gffa:
Star Wars Episode III | The Chosen One Featurette
“Nobody who’s evil thinks of themselves as evil. They always believe they’re doing good, even though they’re not. And so it’s a matter of, ‘How does a person who is good turn into becoming an evil person?’“ –George Lucas
I really love this featurette and everything George has to say about Anakin’s character, especially the way he phrases some of the insights into the character, that he associations Anakin’s bad side with the justification that he’s doing this for Padme, that he frames Anakin saying, “
I will not betray the Republic.
My loyalties lie with the Chancellor. And with the Senate. And with you.” as a rationalization for everything he’s done.
It’s connected with the above quote as a summation of this section of the featurette, an exploration of how someone who was good becomes evil, how they can believe they’re doing good even though they’re not.
George Lucas has always been really clear that Anakin’s feelings for Padme have become possessive and unhealthy at this point in time, that he’s become greedy and selfish instead of compassionate and selfless. That his attachment to her (and his mother before her) are specifically what leads him to becoming Darth Vader.
And all of this ties right into that, that it’s about using his feelings for her as a justification for the things he does. That the good in him is going, “WHAT ARE YOU DOING??” while the bad in him is going, “I’M DOING THIS FOR PADME.”
These two moments of explanation are both about justification and an inability to admit to what he’s doing, even when some part of him is screaming out about it. That Anakin won’t let himself think of what he’s doing as evil (even though it is) because he cannot face it.
This is the heart of Anakin Skywalker, that he was a good person, that there is still good in him, but his problem has always been that he refuses to listen to the good and instead justifies his actions with the bad. That his love for Padme wasn’t inherently evil by any means, but that what Anakin did with it led him to an evil path, because it was a justification. Just as his loyalty to the Republic was a justification for what he was going to do. And neither one of them were really about those feelings (he idealized his relationship with Padme, he idealized his loyalty to the Republic and democracy), but instead about the idea of them and what he wanted them to be and what he wanted to do in their name, but really for his own reasons, because of his own fears.
It’s all so much rationalizing what he’s done instead of stopping and turning back.
queensmulders:
The Star Wars trios (insp. x x)
