Religion and Jedis

So when I was re-watching a couple of weeks some of the original trilogy movies, I was struck by how, well, religious it all seemed to be.  Grand Moff Tarkin mentions several times how Vader's ancient religion no longer exists.  In the original trilogy though it is much more Eastern, less organized, more focused on the self, while in the 2nd Trilogy, with  the Jedi Order, constraints of joining, how easy it is to fall into temptation, it is clearly more of Western (Christian) mythology getting involved.  After thinking through (and I hope to write a longer post one day) I tend to think of Jedis as an example of the failure of organized religion, showing inherently why and hoe easy it is to ruin whole societies just by religion, something that history can show.  Jedis then show what happens when religion is used in the lawful and chaotic ways (the good and dark sides).  And really, if one investigates any Jedi stories, they almost always involve a Sith who fell from grace. 

So I wandered, what did others think about religion and Star Wars?  Well, let's ask George himself:

NOTE: This is more a a run-on thinking about the concepts mentioned.  You've been warned.

http://www.next-wave.org/may99/starwars.htm

While the interview they have (a part of a greater Time Magazine article I am unable to acquire) is not complete, it is still quite interesting information.  Some tidbits...

"I don't see Star Wars as profoundly religious. I see Star Wars as taking all the issues that religion represents and trying to distill them down into a more modern and easily accessible construct"

The force then, according to Lucas, is religion; while there is much material outside the movies showing the various religions other aliens create, other than the good and dark side, no real religion wars are fought.  Deities simply don't matter to Lucas, or to his vision of the movies; it therefore has an impact on the rest of the expended universe (i.e. anything not in the movies). The Force has many elements of Buddhism obviously, but it has the organization of Christianity.  One could argue that it is the organization that corrupts the Force; yet there must be a force to combat the Sith.  Thus the Catch-22.  

In Star Wars, once Vader is killed, there is no organization; would the Sith arisetell again had Luke not created a new Jedi order?  It is the same type of paradox that arises in the world of super heroes?  Does the Joker exist without Batman?  Would Lex Luthor had been such a negative force had Superman not existed?  

Modern comics would tell you that yes, it is heroes that create villains; most recently, in Mark Millar's Kickass, it is only once the main character is caught on youtube as a hero that the idea of a costumed villain becomes possible.  Then again,there are plenty of villains, who as created, would be who they are even without the costumes.  For example, it is easy to imagine most of the villains of the Flash (i.e. Captain Boomerang, Captain Cold, Mirror Master) still being thieves even without their costumes.  And in the real world, there are clearly devious forces (which again Kick-Ass shows to great effect by killing Nicholas Cage's character).  But there is some sort of balance that does exist.

It is interesting to note that, for Lucas, that the force is a sort of new way to explain religion with any of the dogma associated with religion.  Lucas says he wanted a religion simple enough that it exist for thousands of year throughout a developed a galaxy.  But other than the Jedis, we are never really shown how it impacts people.  Han Solo clearly does not believe in the force in Episode IV and the other imperial officers don't either.  There are no temples, no prayers, nothing to show that it has an impact in people.  That is, except for the Jedis.

Now, one way to explain this is to simply say that Jedis are simply a sect of Organized Warrior Monks, using a form of Bushido and Buddhism.  Indeed,, the Saika Warrior Monk Sect were mercaneries, often fighting against the first Grand Unifier of Japan, Nobunaga Oda (and let's not compare him with the Emperor, not this time at least!) and the Ikko Religion Warrior-Monk Sect held power near the capital of Kyoto for hundreds of years; only whne Nobunaga burned the holy mountain of Mt. Hiei (which Japanese considered to be the center of Japanese Religion...think Mecca for Muslims) to destroy the Sect once and for all.  But Lucas insists that the Force is a representation of all relgions in his interview, stating 

"I didn't want to invent a religion. I wanted to try to explain in a different way the religions that have already existed. I wanted to express it all"

Yes, Buddhism is hugely influential (and so is the old Akira Kurasawa Samurai Movies) but it is NOT the end all be all.  The Force is a mixture of religious concepts, not just one religion.

The Force does not have an impact for most people, and yet we see the force being the domiant power.  One wonders then if Jedis are the embodiment of failure in religion, if then the lack of religion in most people is an analogy to the young.  Now, in the interview, Lucas says he wants young people to think about what is god, and what god would be like (he also thinks Young People to be stupid, and thinks they love Jar Jar.  Just saying).  But the fact the characters themselves don't think about religion proves that religion is simply not important in the average life.  And that, in itself, is a powerful, if negative, voice to say.

Another way to see this is that Lucas simply does not care; he tends to oversimply many concepts that are usually complicated in other sci-fi universes.  The ideas of clones, self-awareness, and even technology are either not mentioned or simply not elaborated.  Technology, besides hyderdrive, is not overly advance or imaginative in Star Wars traditionally.  While an unfair comparison, simply due to the differences of volumes of work, Star Trek has entire characters built on these concepts (Data, Seven of Nine, etc) and more, such as memories, realistic takes on racial interactions (yet another thing missing in Star Wars) and others.

Perhaps then because Star Wars has become such a cultural phenomenon that we are prone to simply giving an over-analysis.  But hey, that's what fans do, right?  At the end of the day though, Lucas believes the Force is religion and religion in this universe only has two forces, the Jedi and the Sith. And it is the Jedi and Sith that drag the galaxy to many of its most deadly conflicts, that has led to countless planets to be destroyed.  So, it is that way that religion exists, as a force, at the end of the day, of bringing more harm.  After all, for all the good the Force does for the Jedi, the battle caused by the mere state of having Jedi causes the Sith to do so much worse.

(Yes Jedi often fight pirates, restore order and fight alien invasions...this is however, the minority of what the expended universes spends its time on; writers and fans are most interested in these Jedi/Sith conflicts, thus creating more and more death and destruction)

So why are the Jedi allowed to exist in the first place in the Star Wars universe then?  Yes, as just stated, they do provide a good, but ultimately more evil is brought.  Should not the Republic, in its wisdom, just shut down the Jedis?  And while there are many realistic reasons why this would not happen (power struggles, more Sith, bad PR, etc) there is one powerful reason for doing this.  It is for the Greater Good; Utilitarianism would clearly state that the maximum utility (or happiness) will occur without Jedi.  But the Jedi obviously do not ever fall from its esteemed position, not even when its own members cause the Sith Wars.  It is often that recently fallen Jedi Masters are the leaders of the next Sith Rebellion (see Knights of the Old Republic, or Exar Kun).  So why are the Jedi allow to exist?

It is my postulation then this is how the Star Wars universe shows its religion; the people do not let the Jedi Order fall because it IS the religion, NOT the force.  The Jedi may use the force, and it may be the force that is in all people, but that is not what the average layman would think.  People allow the Jedi to exist because the good it brings, and most importantly, the HOPE that the Jedi bring.  And it is that hope that the people seek in the Jedi, that sense of order.  

And why is this important?  Because if the people allow the Jedi, or the embodiment of religion to exist, and if we establish that Jedi are as an organization, inherently BAD for the galaxy, then it is the people who will religion to hurt their lives.  And thus, while it is not Lucas intention, it is my belief then this merely shows the power and weakness that religion can bring.  The best example I can think of is the Original Trilogy after all; the Empire is considered to be simply evil, destroying planets just to show off really.  And who leads the Empire?  The last publicly known Jedi around, Darth Vader.  More than anyone in Star Wars, Darth Vader IS the classic Jedi, both in his good ways and evil ways.  He represents (though the 2nd trilogy failed to show this) the best and worse of the Jedi.  Thus bringing more evidence to my opinion that Jedi, by being religion in Star Wars, are in fact showing us, the audience, the sadly majestic ways that religion can be used to destroy entire civilizations and that, in itself, is the embodiment of pure folly.  

As Vader said "The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the force." That is the power of religion at both its greatest and fiercest.  And to me, that is the way of the Jedi.

I apologize for the randomness of this post and the stream of thinking style of writing; this is simply how I write at times.  I would love to hear, if you actually read all this way, to hear your thoughts about this post and of religion in the Star Wars Universe.  Otherwise...may the force be with you.......then again.......do you really want the force now?