In a post-9/11, post-Iraq War world, a film about a shadowy Sith Lord using a trade dispute and a manufactured war to seize emergency powers no longer seems like boring politics. It feels prophetic.
Without the innocence of the little boy who says "Yippee," his fall to the dark side has no weight. Without the slow, boring politics, you cannot understand how the Empire rises with cheering crowds. George Lucas famously said Star Wars is meant to rhyme. The Phantom Menace rhymes with the fall of Rome, Weimar Germany, and modern anxieties. Star Wars- Episode I - The Phantom Menace
Opening Crawl: Turmoil has engulfed the Galactic Republic. The taxation of trade routes to outlying star systems is in dispute. In a post-9/11, post-Iraq War world, a film