Far, Far Away? Star Wars and the Coronavirus Pandemic
Sabrina Kearney/The Exonian
By Clark Wu
Columnist
Spoiler Alert: This piece discusses plot details of Star Wars saga.
As most are aware, the Star Wars saga chronicles the Jedi Order, an ancient organization of intergalactic warrior monks who control the mythical “Force.”
The story begins when the Order locates Anakin Skywalker, a little boy on the deserted planet Tatooine. He happens to be Force-sensitive. Jedi representatives leave his mother enslaved to an unscrupulous junk dealer, taking little Anakin to train him as a Jedi warrior.
However, the Jedi Council, including powerful warriors like Yoda, reject Anakin as a Padawan (a Jedi trainee, if you will). The council sees that Anakin misses his mother, but Yoda senses more. “Afraid to lose her, I think, hm? I sense much fear in you. Fear is the path to the dark side!”
In other words, the Order publicly shames Anakin for his normal display of sadness and fear. They value emotional detachment above all else. In fact, a young Jedi is expected to sever all emotional connections, to hide their own emotions and deny their emotional selves. This leaves Anakin emotionally abandoned, firmly believing that his stoicism will lead to a personal triumph.
Later, Anakin suffers foreboding visions of his mother’s death. When Anakin talks about his dreams, the Jedi masters interpret them as remnants of attachment. Obi-Wan, his mentor, dismisses them: “Dreams pass in time. Be mindful of your thoughts Anakin. They betray you.”
When his mother does die, Anakin’s tears seem to reflect a demonizing corruption in his character.
Anakin’s visions soon arrive once again, this time featuring his secret fiancée Padme. In these new visions, he sees her passing away during childbirth. He consults Yoda, who gives a dangerous piece of advice: “The fear of loss is a path to the dark side. Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealousy. The shadow of greed, that is. Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.”
Yoda did not acknowledge, did not empathize and did not help. Why? Because the Jedi philosophy was built around a domino theory, a slippery slope fallacy. As Yoda said, “Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.” And the first step, fear, is specifically a fear of loss, which stems from attachment.
So, the Jedi’s solution: rid Jedi of romance or families or love, and we can stop them from going down the dark path. Ironically, that’s what turned Anakin into Darth Vader.
It sounds silly, but this is what’s happening under quarantine, under our stay-at-home orders. We crave belonging from our friends, but we’re separated by distance. We know full well that Zoom or telephone calls will never be fit to replicate genuine, face-to-face conversations. In the meantime, the longer we’re stuck at home with our family, the less we cherish their company.
Like Anakin, we love our family. But like Anakin, we’re told, for most of our lives, that emotional invulnerability and stoicism prove maturity. Therefore, we choose to hide our fear and love under a veil of carefree nonchalance. In the age of quarantine, we turn our unsatiated emotional outlet to the internet instead.
In the past two months, we have witnessed a sharp increase in the average user’s screen time, across devices. At the same time, the amount of content streamed online has reached unprecedented highs. The most often searched phrase on Youtube is now “with me,” and videos of Youtubers performing average chores have racked up millions of views. Netflix stocks stand high and proud.
These all point to our growing addiction to our devices. Why? Because laptops and phones, once a luxury, have now evolved into a basic necessity. Most employed adults work from home on their computers, and we, as students, Harkness on Zoom.
Reliance on these devices isn’t new. But a new, valid excuse to use them is. That is why we would rather scroll through Instagram for half an hour than to look out the window and notice the color green on the spring leaves or strike up a conversation with family. We have been ripped apart from real emotional connection.
Given this closed off and emotionally detached environment, it’s remarkably easy for fallouts to occur. When the government lifted the lockdown here in China, reports indicated an unusual surge in the number of divorce proceedings between cooped up couples.
This kind of lockdown also affects our mental health. A recent census conducted by British government agencies, along with the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, revealed that more than half of the Britons are having difficulty staying optimistic about the outbreak as time at home wears on. Consequences of isolation include disturbed sleep, heart palpitations, anxiety and mood swings.
We have to stop hiding this fear and reform our emotional connections. The truth is, when we love somebody, we often tell ourselves that they should be able to tell that we actually love them, that we’re only distancing ourselves to protect them. But physical separation is not the same as the emotional separation too many of us are trying to build right now. We expect them to be able to read our minds, then find ourselves disappointed.
We have to stop that. We’re taught that we can’t be vulnerable. We’re taught that we can’t show our fear, our weaknesses. But the coronavirus is a reminder that we are all vulnerable, and that our willingness to be vulnerable will make us good and lead us away from the dark side.
In a Star Wars video game adaptation, a heretic Padawan said something I think we should all remember. "The Jedi, with their damnable sense of over-caution, would tell you love is something to avoid. Thankfully, anyone who's even partially alive knows that's not true. Love doesn't lead to the dark side. Passion can lead to rage and fear, and can be controlled... but passion is not the same thing as love. Controlling your passions while being in love... that's what they should teach you to beware. But love itself will save you... not condemn you.”
“Love causes pain, certainly. Inevitably, love is going to lead to as much sorrow and regret as it does joy. I suppose there are perfect, eternal loves out there, but I haven't seen any. How you deal with the bad part of love is what determines your character, what determines the dark side's hold over you."