Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Star Wars "Imperial March" used as a metaphor for real world dictatorships - explain?

How did the 'Imperial March' from Star Wars become a popular metaphor for real-world dictatorial regimes? A lot of mock videos use it to paint a politician as authoritarian. (When Hugo Chavez tried to expand his powers last year, some web sites said "Cue the imperial march!")





It's obvious that the Galactic Empire was totalitarian, but why THIS music of all the hundreds of themes they could have used?

Star Wars "Imperial March" used as a metaphor for real world dictatorships - explain?
Lucas tried to make the Empire represent all that is bad. Williams did a great job capturing that. Lucas mentioned in an interview that he wanted the moment when the Republic voluntarily stopped being a democracy (exchanged the rule of the people for safety) to harken back to the times when this happened in our world: Hitler's Germany; Napoleonic France; and Julius Caesar's Rome. The Empire certainly resembled the Nazis (most notably with the uniforms and "Stormtroopers").
Reply:Ok....let's try this: cue Barry Manilow's "Copacabana" on the Chavez power video. Bigger laugh?? cue Devo's "Whip It"...ok....now....play the Chavez power video that cues up "Imperial March".





You tell me: Which really does sound better????





Star Wars composer John Williams really hit on-target, recording "Imperial March" to sound oppressively evil and sinister---which really does match it's application to videos featuring brutal dictatorships.


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