According to Northern Exposure actress Janine Turner, Darth Vader’s costume is black because the Star Wars movies are based on the Bible and Jesus said so.
Political correctness gone mad
As we inch closer and closer to the much-anticipated release of Star Wars VI, the conversations surrounding the movies will grow. During one such conversation over the weekend, MSNBC host Melissa Harris Perry suggested there was a racial component to Darth Vader.
In her argument, Perry claimed Vader wore black and was voiced by a black man while he was working with the dark side, but when he turned away from the dark side, he was revealed to be a white man.
There’s a practical reason for this: Vader’s original actor was a Scottish body builder, who spoke with a thick Scottish accent. Lucas decided to dub over him using James Earl Jones because they wanted someone who had a deeper, more imposing voice.
However, Perry is right in pointing out Star Wars has some issues with race — prior to the most recent movies, the most prominent (and perhaps only) African character in any of the movies was Lando, a con man. One can argue Jar Jar Binks is also a prominent example, to the series’ everlasting shame.
Janine Turner, though, doesn’t think the criticism is relevant. She told Harris Perry during a Monday appearance on Fox Business News, “political correctness is going to be responsible for killing more Americans” and, “Regarding Darth Vader, please! The Bible talks darkness and light. This is about evil and good. Darkness and light.”
She continued:
Evil people come up on the black horses, the good people come up on the white horses. I mean, you know, this is darkness and evil.
Christianity doesn’t have a monopoly on Manichean dualism. I could make the same argument Star Wars is based on what Koran or the Avesta says, since both of those faiths have some elements of Manicheanism to them, and all of them feature elements of Joseph Campbell’s monomyth, which is what Lucas used to construct Star Wars.
Furthermore, this sort of simplicity is the bane of people looking to tell actual stories. Remember when Luke wore all black in Return of the Jedi? I wonder what Turner thinks of that.
Of course, Turner wasn’t done being stupid; in fact, she was just getting started. She claimed she found a clause in the Constitution (Article I, Section 10, Clause 3) that allowed “the states to take this back into their own hands,” and because the states were facing “imminent danger” they could form their own union and deal with immigration:
We’re in clear and present danger, we’re beyond imminent. So the states can legally and constitutionally come together to defend the American people.
Isn’t it amusing how washed up conservative actors and actresses always manage to know more than the people who actually study Constitutional law?
Watch the video below:
Feature image via Raw Story
Star Wars is racist eh?
The Stupidity is strong in her.
It’s not racism. It it theft. She claims that Lucas took the stories from biblical references. No. What he did was steal references from other popular Sci-fi and even Kurosawa. The sand worms were stolen straight out of Frank Herbert’s Dune. He wanted to remake Flash Gordon, but he couldn’t get the rights to it, so he picked and chose these other tales to string together to make Star Wars.
Lots of biblical references in “Star Wars.” Obi Wan could be likened to John the Baptist, wondering in the desert preparing the way for one much stronger than he, as he tells Vader before his death.
It’s a western, only in space. Good guys, bad guys, and a girl…a western.
I’m going to guess she never read Anna Sewell’s “Black Beauty,” because that would imply education and intelligence.
Please get these people some acting jobs. Their careers died nearly two decades ago so their minds turn to mush and they attempt to be relevant by going all conservative. Maybe they should reopen the old actors home then Turner and Dash could share a room because they already share a brain.
They can take Patricia Heaton with them!
She was great on Northern Exposure. times got hard for her after that. Another washed up right winger
If this is true why do most cops wear black? Special ops wear black can I go on?
You are misrepresenting what she said. Shame on you.
So what did she says?
Wasn’t she attractive once?
I liked her when she was in “Northern Exposure,” but since then she ahs done virtually nothing. in a way, she is right as to how Hollywood has always presented good and evil. The good guys wear white hats and the bad guys always dressed in black. The Lone Ranger wore a white hat and rode a white horse. Butch Cavendish didn’t. As for the rest, she’s the typical rightwing moron.
Zorro wore black.
Holy crap this is ridiculous. Seriously that is what you got out of this clip. You are making progressives look ridiculous with a comment like this.
Yup. And sometimes, a movie is just a movie…and people need to stop trying to find “deep meaning” when all they are supposed to do is enjoy the movie.
I went to opening night of the first Star Wars movie at Northgate in Seattle. It wasn’t a religion that night. Just a really great movie. My stepmom worked 50 hour that week but still didn’t break her promise to take me. She was so tired she sat on a rock while I waited in line for tickets. Thanks Mom.