#My Star Wars Vietnam TedTalk

[former-ly-darth]

Vietnam and Star Wars

Okay, y’all, I’m not going to write an entire essay just yet, but I don’t think we talk enough about the Vietnam war and how strongly Star Wars was influenced by that conflict. I’m sorry for the following incoherent ramblings...

I would like to organize my thoughts about this, but I think there is so much to be discussed about this. I am currently taking an American Literature course focused entirely on the Vietnam war. Plenty of scholars out there have already written about the connection of Star Wars and real world conflicts. We all know the Empire and The First Order are based heavily upon Nazi Germany. The term “stormtrooper” is a literal translation of the original Nazi militia that helped bring Hitler to power. The uniforms, the helmets, and so much more in the movies and shows allude to real world militaries in order to help viewers identify the “good guys” from the “bad guys”. Of course, if you put photos of the Rebels and the Resistance fighters next to real US military pilots and soldiers, the similarities in uniform are pretty obvious. But I really think we need to look at Vietnam and The Clone Wars in particular.

I’m sure most American and some non-American will recognize this kind of monument. Coming from an American who is entirely unfamiliar with different War Monuments throughout the world, this particular scene seemed to specifically call upon the Vietnam Memorial in Washington D.C. That seems pretty obvious, but I would like to look much deeper into this.  George Lucas began writing the scripts for Star Wars during the Vietnam War, and although in the beginning of the war there was plenty of public support for American troops to be sent in to Vietnam, by the time George Lucas began writing Star Wars, the G.I movement and Kent State protests would have already been in full swing.

(I don’t know how many of you guys knew this but George Lucas is actually 79 years old and would have been the prime age to be drafted to fight in Vietnam. A few sources I am finding say that he was exempted because of diabetes.)

My point is, at the time that George Lucas wrote Star Wars, the United States was in turmoil (The Civil Rights Movement was also stirring up a lot of unrest amongst the general public). I want to go further into this later, but while the original trilogy echoes themes found in World War II, the Prequels have so much to do with the Vietnam war, especially when looking at Order 66 and how the lore has been expanded upon with shows like The Clone Wars and The Bad Batch.

Vietnam was the first war that the United States lost. Ever. (I’m talking international wars here) And that loss absolutely shattered the perception that the general public held of the country. We were undefeated. We were untouchable. We thought we were hot shit. By all calculations, the United States should have won the Vietnam war, so when a small nation such as Vietnam managed to overthrow one of the most powerful nations on the planet, the US and it’s citizens were shaken to the core. That was a lot more history than I wanted it to be. I was meaning to talk more about the fact that the prequels and the use of Palpatine, the Empire, the Republic, the Clones, and the ambiguity of it all so strongly mirrors a lot of the nuances of the Vietnam war. American soldiers fighting in Vietnam were becoming increasingly aware that they were not in Vietnam to defend freedom, but to dominate. American soldiers were unwelcome in Vietnam, and when they returned home, they found that the general population wanted nothing to do with anyone who had served in the war. I look at that and I see so many similarities between the movies, shows, and real life..... I said this wasn’t going to be an essay, but oh my god I just feel like there is so much we need to talk about!!!