Star Wars Annoys Me

I know.

I'm a bad person.  I should love Star Wars.  I should adore Luke and Leia and their family drama.  I should be excited about Anakin and his pod racing self.   I should be thrilled over Han and Chewie and C-3PO.

And I am.  Mostly.  There isn't a woman alive who doesn't find Han Solo just plain irresistible, with his swagger and cocky smile.  He may not always make the best choices, but he is witty and decisive.  And Luke is the quintessential white knight on a quest to rescue the princess.  It's a timeless tale for a reason.  Good is good, and evil is evil, and really, there is no in between.

And Darth Vader is one of the greatest villains ever.  Really.  Tall, dark, with just enough under that hood to make you wonder what's underneath that mask. That guy just looks at a person and they pee their pants.  And then they had to go and make those other movies.  George Lucas must have been high that day.

Why did they have to muddy the waters?  Anakin is an angry, whiny, entitled brat. He becomes an angry, whiny, entitled adult. He's rescued from slavery, but he leaves his mother behind.  For years, he can't be bothered to go and visit her, then he's mad that when he does decide to visit, she inconveniently dies on him. This is supposed to be the reason that he starts turning to the dark side.   He doesn't want to follow the rules of the Jedi, so he breaks them when he feels like it, such as secretly marrying Padme and fathering twins.  But then he gets angry when the Jedi don't promote him to master because he doesn't follow the freakin' rules of their order.

How am I supposed to have empathy for that?  How am I supposed to like that guy?  Why am I supposed to care that he becomes Darth Vader?  I get it--the road to the dark side is paved with good intentions.  I'm supposed to feel sorry for poor Anakin.  He meant well, after all.  He just wanted to keep his loved ones safe.  That's why he killed all those people.  Anakin is just misunderstood.

I hate that crap.  Even if Vader is ultimately redeemed by his final act, he is still a Big Bad. There's no reason to feel sorry for him.  He made his own choices, even if he was manipulated into choosing poorly.  To make him the dupe, doing the wrong things for the "right" reasons, cheapens the story and makes an excellent villain somehow less than he should be.

And it's annoying.  Stop it.