Yeah it's not actual communism but more like a reflection of the fears of communism in pop culture from the time when it was written in the late 70s. Comment was a bit inprecise but amended.

[–] dreugeworst@lemmy.ml 24 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Even the empire's uniforms were pretty obviously based on nazi uniforms, what makes you think the empire is supposed to represent communism?

[–] banneryear1868@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

George Lucas said Vietnam inspired the writing, and communism in American pop culture was synonymous with basically every "bad" thing.

[–] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

He said the Ewoks were inspired by the Viet Cong. Were the guerilla fighters fighting against the guerilla Empire?

[–] WldFyre@lemm.ee 1 points 10 months ago

The empire was the US

[–] yum_burnt_toast@reddthat.com 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

is it a coincidence that vader is derived from the german word for father?

[–] lugal@sopuli.xyz 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Is that the case? It's both written and pronounced differently

[–] yum_burnt_toast@reddthat.com 2 points 10 months ago

well i did say "derived from" and not "the exact same word" but as it turns out the connection to vater was a rumor george lucas himself started, likely to make originating vision for the series appear stronger and more planned. there is evidence that the name existed in the scripts before he was changed to be lukes father, so that does contradict the later assertion.

[–] Olhonestjim@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago (2 children)

I'm not sure about Vader being more than a coincidence, but the roots of the word for "father" goes a lot further back than German. Linguists have traced it back through many cultures into prehistory. It's probably more ancient than we can ever discover. This blew my mind the other day.

https://youtu.be/BUIQAGqhSj0?si=qnmadJhGOjcRM8G3

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[–] NoSpiritAnimal@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Why are you spreading this around like it's true? Also, this is you:

Very interesting! I knew the Vietnam thing but I'm not into Star Wars.

[–] banneryear1868@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

George Lucas mentions Vietnam as an influence
Fascism is clearly represented as well
Star Wars is not a politically consistent universe or critique
It's a typical story arc where the antagonist is an amalgamation of things that were considered bad at the time
It's Star Wars so I ultimately don't care that much

[–] cupcakezealot@lemmy.blahaj.zone 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

that makes sense! fair point!

[–] banneryear1868@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

It's just based on what other's have said about the Vietnam allegory but it's also whatever, I'm sure Lucas' wasn't thinking of it as a primarily political mission to produce Star Wars, since it's very much a standard plot with your usual archetype characters and roles.

There's a similar fan take on Lord of the Rings too which is interesting.