This post was originally given by Emily as a paper for DePaul University in Chicago’s Pop Culture Conference: A Celebration of Star Wars on May 4, 2024.
From its origins, Star Wars has been centrally concerned with our human struggle against the Machine. As early as 1973, Lucas wanted to depict “a large technological empire going after a small group of freedom fighters.”(1) Darth Vader is an emblem of encroaching technological domination and the loss of individual choice, vulnerability, and transcendent connection with others; the emblem of his Empire is a cog. But another Machine-man has, of late, come to dominate the franchise: the Mandalorian. Stories of Mandalorians reveal a rich heritage of belief and tradition. Yet they perennially hover on the brink of extinction—often due to their own technology and warlike ways. From Din Djarin to the Fetts to Sabine Wren, Mandalorians offer a nuanced—even ironic—exploration of Star Wars’ central concern with technology and how to use it without becoming it.
Many sources inform Lucas’ preoccupation with machine existence in Star Wars. One is arguably most important: Arthur Lipsett’s 1963 art-house short for the National Film Board of Canada entitled 21-87. It is a mind-blowing 10-minute experience, available on the National Film Board of Canada’s website. Lipsett was a scavenger who pieced together his colleagues’ rejected material into highly symbolic montages. 21-87 juxtaposes images and audio of modern, machine-based existence (always absurd or horrific) with those of human suffering and of humans in natural, dignified states of wonder. The film derives its name from a recorded discussion about the mechanization of society. A voice, arguing mechanization fulfills the human desire to “fit in,”(2) says, “And somebody walks up and you say, ‘Your number’s 21-87, isn’t it?’ Boy, does that person really, uh, smile.”(3) This audio is repeated at film’s end, leaving the impression that the Machine Age will triumph—if we let it. Lucas watched the film two dozen times as a student, fascinated by its grim message about the Machine age as a threat to our humanity, yet also the potential of nature, art and transcendent spiritual connection to overcome it. (In the film, Lipsett featured recorded dialogue calling such spiritual power and connection “a Force… or something,” and this phrase seems to have stuck in Lucas’ mind.)
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