Star Wars Episode One The Phantom Menace (1999) — I: A Status Quo Vulnerable
*SPOILERS*
Overall arc of The Prequels is one of Anakin becoming disillusioned with the Jedi before triggering the downfall of both the Jedi and himself. In this context Episode I’s purpose in this greater arc is to characterize the two dominant galactic power structures at the start: the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order.
The Jedi Order
We see a very different Jedi order than the one we find in the original trilogy. Here the Jedi seem to be in a golden age. The entire galaxy depends on them for law enforcement and arbitration. However as Kenobi says in Episode II, the Jedi are peace keepers, not law enforcement/military. So we come to understand that the Jedi, despite lacking the ability to project enough force to ensure the galaxy’s security, have replaced its security apparatus. And as Tales of the Jedi clarifies, peace keeping has led to the Jedi Order abdicating much of its status as an independent entity. Luke’s assertion in the Disney trilogy that the Jedi fell under the spell of vanity makes more sense in this context.
Jedi vanity constitutes a bid for control at the level of galactic politics, shown by the galaxy’s dependence on them. Furthermore a desire for control is something that is associated with the Dark side, showing that even an order obsessed with the Light side of The Force couldn’t avoid the other half of the very life essence they worship, betraying a sort of egotism. Not to mention that choosing to honor only your favorite half of The Force also constitutes a bid for control at the level of The Force itself. The Jedi were those that would rigidly impose a binary view on a spectrum. This can be further illustrated with Qui-Gon’s discovery of Anakin.
Qui-Gon Jinn
Qui-Gon finds Anakin, discovering that he is a Force vergence, which represents some kind of concentration of The Force. He even discovers that Anakin has no father; his mother was simply impregnated by The Force itself, a story of immaculate conception referencing the conception of that guy from that book. This also aligns with The Prophecy ™️ (that’s referenced but never stated in any of the trilogy movies a single time) that the Jedi acknowledge and revere. Yet when the Jedi council learns of this exceptional vergence, they adhere to their institutional rigidity instead of their own Prophecy and resist training The Chosen One.
Galactic Governance
The other dominant power structure is the governance apparatus of the galaxy. I use this phrasing to include the Trade Federation in the same consideration as the Galactic Senate. My partner pointed out that the TF is something analogous to OPEC, NAFTA, or the TPPS (that paradoxical isolationist and free market fundamentalist darling Donald Trump nuked). She also explained to me that Naboo is smaller, less influential, and vulnerable to abuse (similar to maybe Lithuania or Bhutan) — context necessary to set the stakes and illustrate the significance of the blockade. This is NAFTA bullying Haiti (all simultaneously UN countries), so when the TF sends its own droid army to occupy Naboo, we are seeing a militarized multilateral trade organization — something that should have set off alarms in the Galactic Senate (The UN).
Why does the TF do all this? Because galactic governance has key weaknesses that can be exploited by a cunning, shrewd tactician. And this is part of the message of Star Wars, created by an anthropologist who said “[the interplay of power structures] is what all Star Wars was first and foremost always about.”
Knowing that Senator Palpatine is Darth Sidious, let’s quickly list the chess moves that helped him move toward grabbing absolute power in the Galactic Republic:
- Manipulates Trade Federation into placing a blockade and invading Naboo, counting on the Jedi to learn of it
- When Padme flees (which he trusts will happen since she’s under the protection of the Jedi), he sends Maul to kill both Jedi and retrieve Padme to heighten her sense of threat and urgency
- By leveraging Padme’s urgency he manipulates her into proposing a vote of no-confidence in Chancellor notSting in order to nominate himself into Chancellorship
We see by examining Palpatine’s decisions that his arc in Episode I is revealed to be a blueprint for how one might begin as senator from a minor planet like Naboo and grab power to become the Chancellor of the galaxy, in the context of a galactic senate where each planet no matter the size has equal power to put forth motions. And it explains how to grab power while concealing your presence behind a multilateral trade organization from the large and immediate military check against such a transition — the Jedi Order, who still have a limited degree of autonomy from the Galactic Republic.
Given these chess moves, I see the purpose of the first prequel movie to be setting up the dynamic of power structures that will form the context for Anakin’s arc in the next two movies, since I also see Anakin as the protagonist of the prequels overall.
The key plot-mover of Episode I, however, is Palpatine and gets like 4 minutes of screen-time despite his arc being crucial to Anakin’s. This is totally acceptable if we look at the prequels as noir films though. If each film is a story of a character investigating the emergence of a new evil to catch glimpses of the shifting power structures behind the scenes, it wouldn’t make sense to simply give you the grand conspiracy without the incremental revelation that would heighten it.
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Star Wars Episode One Essay —
I: A Status Quo Vulnerable
Star Wars Episode Two Essay —
Star Wars Episode Three Essay —
Star Wars Prequels Overview Essay —
