According to George Lucas, Palpatine actually has good intentions??

[gwinna487]

So, I was rewatching the Star Wars prequels recently, and it occurred to me that I had never listened to the audio commentary for Revenge of the Sith. Accordingly I went and did so, and it was very interesting, but there was one thing George Lucas said which struck me as rather bizarre and incredible. I quote:

One of the issues in all of this is

Comments

[wyncatastrophe]

Saw this through jedi_news. And I agree with you about that odd quote on the commentary - it's always struck me as rather dissonant, too. But the commentary track for RotS seems like more a ramble to me than a cogent discussion of what's going on in the films or behind the scenes. And, let's face it, that's what most DVD commentary tracks (at least the ones I've encountered) do: they ramble around in a way that is amusing rather than analytical.

Anyway, Roland Barthes says we're free to ignore what the author was trying to do, and I believe him! Let's forge ahead with the text itself!

[gwinna487]

Sorry for the extremely belated reply. I also agree that the author's intent is not paramount, and I don't feel the need to change my interpretation to match GL's, but it still surprised me that his intent wrt Palpatine was so vastly different from what most people perceived. And it did make me kind of curious as to what a well-meaning Palpatine would look like. Even if he believes the end justifies the means, starting galaxy-wide wars and blowing up entire planets in order to end government corruption seems like, idk, burning your house down to prevent thieves from stealing your property or something... so clearly well-meaning!Palpatine is way more crazy than self-seeking!Palpatine. Though that might actually explain the apparent discrepancy between his cleverness in the prequels and comparative stupidity in RotJ.

[ansketil_rose]

The other day I read someone commenting somewhere that George Lucas doesn't understand Palpatine, which I thought was a pretty odd thing to say... this statement makes me reconsider that somewhat. But, possibly more than any other character, Palpatine is a symbol. He isn't deeply examined, he's a Machiavellian, totalitarian, sorcerer-dictator. One of the reasons I don't believe there will ever be an origins of Palpatine novel. Lucas was probably thinking more of the archetypes he drew on rather than what we saw on screen.

Ha! A Voldemort quote - I agree with that interpretation of Palpatine's character. I don't think he regards himself as evil; rather he sees himself as extraordinarily clever and other beings as fools. If evil is the best way to gain power than evil it is... I can't imagine he'd believe his own propaganda, since he was the one who essentially manufactured the demand for peace in the first place.

I'm with Wyn - the text is what matters.

[chameleon_irony]

One of the reasons I don't believe there will ever be an origins of Palpatine novel.

I wish! In case you weren't aware, the Darth Plagueis novel is coming out this fall. I hate to imagine how badly the EU is going to screw up Palpatine's backstory.

[ansketil_rose]

Gosh, really?-! The last I heard about it was that they'd cancelled the novel - was it around two years ago now?

Oh dear. I have a very bad feeling about this. o_O

[chameleon_irony]

It wasn't cancelled, only delayed. Last I heard, the manuscript was complete. Luceno wrote it, which is only slightly reassuring.

There is a rumor that the novel is going to reveal that Palpatine isn't really from Naboo.

[chameleon_irony]

Personally, Lucas's comment didn't surprise me at all. To the contrary, it confirmed the perception I had of Palpatine. All dictators believe they are doing good. They see their own actions through the twisted lens of narcissistic arrogance and complete suppression of cognitive dissonance. I love that in Star Wars, psychological realism trumps archetypes.

(“Your feeble skills are no match for the power of the Dark Side”), suggest to me that he believes evil is more powerful than good

To him, the dark side is good. As he says to Anakin, "good is a point of view", and his point of view is that it's the Jedi who are evil.

[luminations]

He certainly isn't saying "and we shall have peace" out of a true desire for peace, as I'm sure he's well aware of the "peace is a lie" code of the Sith!

I agree with your assessment. And... you know, I don't know that I ever listened to the commentary either. That kind of boggles my mind now. I was OBSESSED with RotS when it came out. How could I not devour the commentary? But I do remember every time I thought about watching it, I wanted to get absorbed in the movie itself so I didn't WANT to listen to the commentary.