Art in A Time of Decay

Two events over the weekend reminded me that art is a necessary fingerprint upon a thriving society.

Last week, while I was in Montana on business, I received a text from my youngest son.

“Did you see that Revenge of the Sith is coming out this weekend for the 20th anniversary?”

“No, we should go!”

I jumped online and grabbed enough for us to all attend. It was the last movie my wife and I saw before our twins arrived in July of 2005. I remember liking it, and I have seen it since on streaming services. When my youngest son was eight years old, I remember showing him the movies in order, and when Episode Three was over, my son was in tears. His hero had done something tragic, and he had no knowledge of what was about to come in the next three movies. The story had captivated him, and his boyhood hero was not Luke Skywalker as mine had been, but instead was Anakin. The final scene is terribly sad and an incredibly artistic depiction of the tragedy.

The chance to see it on the big screen again with all the theatrical sound was not something I was going to miss. As all algorithms do, my Instagram feed was suddenly filled with Revenge of the Sith videos and memes. There are classic lines from the movie by both Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor. The performance by Ian McDermott is really special. He converts from political leader to authoritarian villain in perfect pacing and with pure sinisterness. I had always dismissed, to some degree, the prequels of the Star Wars world. They were too computerized, and the dialogue was clunky. I liked them, but not enough to really understand their artistic brilliance and great storytelling. I was the victim of high expectations, and the prequels never measured up to the Star Wars of my youth.

But in that Instagram feed, came a video of Camille Paglia speaking about the modern art of Revenge of the Sith. It’s a good argument, and in our strange twenty-first century filled with war and pandemics, it was a reminder that at one moment in our culture, we venerated the creativity of George Lucas. The Star Wars world wasn’t burdened by contrived scenes for DEI story mandates. The discussion that Ms. Paglia brings to light is worth listening to.