To be fair, even though the movies use words like “Empire” and “Rebels” the political world building in the first movie is paper thin. The focus is really on the boy becoming a hero, on having a big adventure. The empire is powerful and looks scary, but we never get into the actual system of government, and at no point do the rebels ever say they want to restore democracy. They just want to take down the empire.
It has always seemed to me like George Lucas painted himself into many corners with the first movie because he didn’t actually think about what these throw-away references meant. Like, people latched onto the term “The Clone Wars”, but I don’t think he ever thought about what that actually meant, other than some words that sounded cool together.
“The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.”
Grand Moff Tarkin in A New Hope, moments before starting the board meeting.
So we do get some glimpse into the state of government and how it’s been degraded. And then it’s not too far a stretch to figure what the Rebels are fighting for.
And it has also been worshiped constantly. There has been no event in the past where all of Christianity suddenly disappeared.
Also, since the translation of the Bible from Latin to common languages back in the Middle Ages, Christianity has become a whole lot less mysterious. It’s not mysterious today, it’s mundane.
The way A New Hope portrays Jedi (by the way characters talk about it), it sounds like Jedi have been a dying breed for a very long time, perhaps centuries, and now there’s just Obiwan and Vader. Turns out it was only a generation ago, and the reason why people consider it mysterious and distant is because nobody in the Galaxy has been exposed to Jedi as we the viewers have.
To be fair, even though the movies use words like “Empire” and “Rebels” the political world building in the first movie is paper thin. The focus is really on the boy becoming a hero, on having a big adventure. The empire is powerful and looks scary, but we never get into the actual system of government, and at no point do the rebels ever say they want to restore democracy. They just want to take down the empire.
It has always seemed to me like George Lucas painted himself into many corners with the first movie because he didn’t actually think about what these throw-away references meant. Like, people latched onto the term “The Clone Wars”, but I don’t think he ever thought about what that actually meant, other than some words that sounded cool together.
“The Imperial Senate will no longer be of any concern to us. I have just received word that the Emperor has dissolved the council permanently. The last remnants of the Old Republic have been swept away.”
So we do get some glimpse into the state of government and how it’s been degraded. And then it’s not too far a stretch to figure what the Rebels are fighting for.
A theocracy under the Jedi religion?
No. A New Hope gave the impression Jedi were much older and mysterious than recent events.
Christianity is much older and more mysterious than recent events, but a lot of people want to make the USA a christian theocracy.
And it has also been worshiped constantly. There has been no event in the past where all of Christianity suddenly disappeared.
Also, since the translation of the Bible from Latin to common languages back in the Middle Ages, Christianity has become a whole lot less mysterious. It’s not mysterious today, it’s mundane.
The way A New Hope portrays Jedi (by the way characters talk about it), it sounds like Jedi have been a dying breed for a very long time, perhaps centuries, and now there’s just Obiwan and Vader. Turns out it was only a generation ago, and the reason why people consider it mysterious and distant is because nobody in the Galaxy has been exposed to Jedi as we the viewers have.