Star Wars appeals to people of all stripes, even those the films’ creators would definitely say were more on the Dark Side than not. Case in point: A while back a Russian embassy account — part of an aggressor nation invading a less-equipped neighbor that has valiantly fought back — tried to paint themselves as the goodly Rebels. They even tried to dunk on Mark Hamill. Alas, they got dunked in return.
Hey @EmbassyRussia- tell me you don’t understand #StarWars without telling me you don’t understand #StarWars.
(hint: the Ukrainian people are the Rebels-YOU are the Evil Empire)Swing and a miss Russkies, but thanks for playing!
(PS: I remain profoundly honored to have… pic.twitter.com/0SSmOzTxDP
— Mark Hamill (@MarkHamill) February 26, 2024
It all started in late 2022 when the aggressor nation’s embassy in South Africa got steamed about the Star Wars vet had supplied 500 drones to Ukraine to help them fend off their invaders. In a Twitter/X post, they claimed “Luke Skywalker has joined the Dark Side.”
It took nearly a year-and-a-half for Hamill — hardly on the side of Vladimir Putin or his good pal Donald Trump — to respond, but respond he did. “Hey @EmbassyRussia,” he wrote, “tell me you don’t understand #StarWars without telling me you don’t understand #StarWars. (hint: the Ukrainian people are the Rebels-YOU are the Evil Empire) Swing and a miss Russkies, but thanks for playing!”
Hamill added remains “profoundly honored to have answered the call from President Volodymyr @ZelenskyyUa to become an Ambassador of Drones to protect his country from your criminal invasion.”
George Lucas has long been very clear that the original Star Wars films were political works. They focus on rebels fighting a tyrannical government — the Galactic Empire in the original trilogy, the copycat First Order of the most recent one. Lucas has even said when he was writing the movies, his heroes were modeled after the Vietcong, the whole thing being an allegory for the Vietnam War.
Star Wars was actually an allegory for the Vietnam War, with the US cast as the genocidal fascistic empire, as George Lucas talks about here with James Cameron pic.twitter.com/oxRhAh5ibK
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(@zei_squirrel) July 16, 2023
Of course, lots of people can see themselves as the heroes of Star Wars, even when they have more in common with Palpatine and gang. Heck, broken brained Donald Trump seems to think he’s a “dissident” and not some ousted despot who may return to power while talking like a comic book villain.