Fascism in Star Wars: The Difference Between Imagery and Endorsement

This post was originally posted on my previous blog in 2022.

So, here’s the thing. I’m kind of like a huge Star Wars fan. I’m also a big storytelling nerd and thematic freak.

See, for me, I find enjoyment in analyzing things, pointing out themes, political messaging, breaking down story tropes, noticing arcs, and deciphering symbols. Needless to say, some people are confused when I say that I genuinely love Star Wars and adore every movie in its own way.

Except for Solo and The Rise of Skywalker because they just…make me want to scream for multiple, vastly different reasons. But that is not what we’re talking about today.

You see, there’s this notion out there that Star Wars is conservative or even fascistic, and me being a leefft…leaning person and an anti-fascist, this was concerning to me. Like was one of my favorite franchises, fascist? and well… No, it’s not. In fact, I would argue that the films are more anti-fascist then fascist.

But you might be wondering what about the Nazi symbolism?

Well, that is what I really want to talk about today. Some low level “academics” and critics think that just because a film uses certain types of imagery means that they’re endorsing a particular ideology. But that’s not the case for a lot of media. So today, I’m going to explain why Star Wars is not fascist or even conservative really, so let’s get into it.

Part 1: Fascist Imagery

So, what is imagery? Well, imagery can mean a lot of different things, but in the context of what we’re discussing today, imagery means: The use of rhetorical images. Figurative description or illustration; rhetorical images collectively.

In laminas, terms imagery is something, whether directly in the text or in our collective society, images that represent something else to the masses.

Another way of putting this is symbolism. Now, they are not precisely the same thing. Symbolism in storytelling usually refers to the idea that a specific object has a particular meaning that symbolizes something else or a greater theme.

For instance, in Star Wars, the imagery of the death star is used as an image of the ultimate destruction and overwhelming power of the Empire within the Star Wars universe. But the symbolic meaning of the death star in our galaxy is also that but could be read as an allegory for the nuclear bomb—a plant-killing destroying weapon. In fact, in Rogue One, they correctly use atomic bomb imagery when the death star strikes. The bright lights, the ultimate destruction, the vaporizing of life forms, the massive shock wave. It’s clearly representative of the Atomic bomb.

For those out there who were confused by the idea that there was any symbolic imagery in Star Wars, let me give a few examples of fascistic imagery in Star Wars.

·       The imperial uniforms

·       The Empire created a death laser that can destroy entire planets, which can be read as a nuclear bomb that the Nazis were trying to build in ww2.

·       The fact that they basically worship their leader in an almost god-like way.

·       The fact that Darth Vader actually means dark father in what language oh that’s right German.

·       The fact that they wanted absolute control over the galaxy and were willing to sacrifice billions of people, including their own.

·       The fact that their soldiers are called fucking storm troopers, which is what Nazi soldiers were called.

And that’s just in the original trilogy.

In the prequel trilogy, we see the scapegoating of different types of peoples, in this case, the Jedi and the separatist.

The fact that the Empire rose “peacefully” just like the Nazis did.

In the sequel trilogy, the first order is obsessed with their idealized past, like the Nazis.

Kylo Ren is determined to exterminate his old enemies. Just like the Nazis did (though he might be more like a neo-Nazi but like still a Nazi).

In Star Wars Rebels, we see that the Empire enslaved many creatures such as Wookie's like in the Nazi “work camps.” We also learn that they had mass genocidal campaigns against the Lasats and the Geonisions.

And that’s just some of the stuff that I thought off the top of my head.

So, if there are fascist imagery and symbols in Star Wars, does that mean it’s promoting fas...

No, you see, noticing the imagery is just the first step. The next step is looking at framing.

Part 2: Framing

The obvious factor when determining whether the imagery is meant to indorse something or not should be framing.

For instance, everything I mentioned above is associated with the bad guys of the films, the unquestionable evil bad guys of the movies. These films aren’t using Nazis and fascist imagery to secretly indoctrinating people into the far right.

Instead, it’s using this imagery and assumes that the mainstream audience associates the Nazis and fascism as evil.

But intentions, at the end of the day, don’t really matter if things aren’t framed correctly. No matter how pure your intentions are, if you botch the end product, it doesn’t really matter. So how can you use imagery and allusions in a story without endorsing the ideologies behind it?

Well, there are two main ways you can do so. One is framing the imagery in an intimidating or threatening way. This approach takes the message behind the imagery very seriously. It tries to denounce it by showing its harmful aspects. It shows the horrors that threaten the main characters and the world in hopes that the audience will see the things they're symbolizing in a scary or threatening light.

The problem that can arise from this is that it could accidentally make the bad guys or the imagery cool and or edgy. Making the audience believe that the ideology behind these symbols should be taken seriously and thought over with serious intent. Now, this isn’t inherently a bad thing. Still, it can accidentally lead people to sympathize with the Nazis, and that can be a problem.

The other way to denounce a specific ideology through framing is to take a comedic root. Now, this is the more controversial way of condemning and ideology. Still, the idea behind it is to show the ridiculous aspect of the doctrine or sort-of denouncing the notion that it’s cool and showing that it’s just absurd.

Now the problem with it is that it also tends to humanize the characters or concepts there making fun of. People argue it makes people not take these positions seriously, and that could lead to people thinking that the particular subject is harmless.

However, if used correctly, I think the comedic root can be even more effective than the fear tactic. Because unlike the fear tactic, the comedic root doesn’t require you to think about the subject you're making fun of but rather revel in the fact that these positions are inherently absurd.

Of course, this is a lot harder to pull off and, if mishandled, it will lead to a lot of cringe and criticism. Now you don’t have to choose one tactic or the other. In fact, in my opinion, it’s best used together, and oh wait, that’s precisely what Star Wars does.

For instance, the stormtroopers are continually being used as ridicule in the Star Wars franchise. Still, they are also seen as grave threats in the Star Wars franchise. Another example can be seen in the drone army in the prequels, where the dynamic was essentially the same. (Though I would argue that the comedic elements were more intentional and frequent.)

Another example is General Hux from the sequel trilogy. Well, that was until the last movie when they decided to make him a good guy? I might make an entire post about that. But needless to say, in episode 8, at least this is handled well, showing his ridiculousness but also the darker, more horrific side of him. In fact, this worked so well (in episode 8) that it actively made everyone hate Hux. Like after The Force Awakens, there were definitely some who thought Hux was cool; he was the new Tarkin. Then episode 8 came out, and like everyone who liked his tuff, again fascists demeanor was like: eww he’s like soft and week and stupid and actually kind of ridiculous. Well, actually, since this was episode 8, they were like:

Rian Johnson completely ruined everything about Hux character. They made this big threatening man into a soft little boy, and I’m mad because whaa Kathlyn Kennedy/ Rayan Johnson ruined Star Wars whaa.

Ok, so obviously it wasn’t exactly like that, but you understand the point.

Still, you might be wondering, ok, so Star Wars isn’t fascist, but that doesn’t mean it’s anti-fascist.

Right, so let’s get into that.

Part 3: Counterpoints

So, if you are using imagery and parallels that you are trying to denounce, the best way to do this is by coming up with a counterpoint. This isn’t a necessary step, but it is a good way of thoroughly denouncing an ideology to make it evident to everyone that you’re denouncing X ideology or institution.

There is an apparent good vs. evil narrative set up by Luke vs. Vader, Empire vs. the Rebellion, Luke vs. Palpatine, stormtroopers vs. the Ewoks, light side vs. the dark side (literally). You get the picture.

So, if the Empire = Nazis or fascism, then what is the Rebellion? What do they represent? What is the ideology behind the Rebellion?

Well, the original trilogy sort of purposefully left it up to interpretation, but it does make one thing clear. They are anti-empire. They are thoroughly against the Empire AKA fascism, so, therefore, they are coded as anti-fascist.

They kind of remind me more of the free France movement. An insular group within Nazi-occupied territory that themselves were quite ideologically diverse. Ranging from communists to conservative liberals (and I mean that in the real sense of the word, not the American sense of the word).

If you look at extended canon (like Star Wars Rebels and Rogue One), we see that the Rebellion was quite factionalized. There are heated arguments not only on tactics but on what they should represent. However, they all come together to take on a common enemy, the Empire. In the original trilogy, the Rebellion was at a stage where its members are united that it doesn’t matter if they have different political disagreements with their comrades. They clearly care and respect each other, and their lives matter.

That’s actually one of the key differences between the Empire and the Rebellion. The Empire wastes human (or life forms, I guess) lives willingly. In contrast, the Rebellion actively tries to save them (even if they do a pretty lousy job at it.)

For instance, in episode 5, the main priority isn’t protecting their base but rather making sure everyone escapes safely. While in episode 4, when the rebels were attacking the death star, there was no evacuation or even attempts to escape.

Sure, this could all be hubris, but I mean they’re also willing to blow up an entire plant of people who quote on quote “rebel” against them. It was never explicit in the movie or any canon sores that I have seen. Still, we know that the Empire had many stations all over the galaxy, so there was probably at least some presence on Alderaan. Hence, they just killed a bunch of their own people when surely, they could have warned them to evacuate. Also, in Rogue One, they are willing to destroy their own military base because they think it might cripple the Rebellion. (Which as we all know fails miserably).

Second of all, these films never even for a second try to justify the Empire or its ideology. It’s again the pretty straight forward good vs. evil narrative.

Well, except for Vader’s redemption ark. But does that mean the films undermine its anti-fascist stance?

Um no. Vader’s redemption is by no way justifying the Empire in any way. But to really make sense of why this is the case, we have to look at Anakin’s ark as a whole. Meaning we’re going to have to talk about the prequels.

Part 4: Vader

There’s a reason why I haven’t talked about the prequels much, and it’s not because they’re bad or goes against my main points or anything. It’s just that the prequels don’t use a lot of fascist symbolism. Don’t get me wrong it alludes to the Empire a lot, which is an allegory for the Nazis or just fascism in general.

Still, the prequels are quite frankly a lot more complicated, and dare I say deeper than the original trilogy. I’m probably going to make an entire post about the prequels and the hidden meanings and symbolism.

But for now, let’s focus on the main villains of the first two trilogies: Vader AKA Anakin and Palpatine AKA Darth Sidious AKA, the emperor.

Wait a second wasn’t Anakin, the hero of the prequel trilogy?

No, Anakin was the protagonist of the prequels, not the hero. There’s a difference. A protagonist is a character your story centers around; it’s the main character. The hero of a story is the “good guy” or the main “good guy.”

This doesn’t mean that this hero can’t be complex or morally gray sometimes. Still, at the end of the day, the narrative has to frame that character’s true self or their actions as morally or the most ethically right thing for a given situation.

Anakin is not framed like that. Sure, there’s justification for his reasons for turning to the dark side. Some of which the films themselves point out are absurd and irrational, while others are more complex, which again is another topic for another post. But first of all, just because you give a villain motivation doesn’t mean that the story is endorsing the villain’s perspective. Again, you have to look at framing, and two, the films never really make a case for the dark side or the Empire. They just make a case for why Anakin would leave and betray the Jedi.

Furthermore, when he turns to the dark side, the film wastes no time demoralizing Anakin. Literally, his first act as a Sith is him slaughtering children, young children. Like in the eyes of what I hope are all audience members, Anakin is dead. He is no longer in any way a sympathetic character. He murders children. In fact, his demoralization worked so well that a lot of people don’t even think he should have been redeemed in episode 6. Now I don’t necessarily believe that, but let’s talk about his redemption.

Vader redeeming himself comes in two parts. One is killing Palpatine, who represents unredeemable evil in Star Wars (and no, we are not going to discuss the heresy known as the Rise of Skywalker). Two letting himself die because he realizes that he’s not worth being left alive. His whole redemption is basically him destroying the dark side and, along with it, the Empire, including himself.

That’s why Vader can’t live in the end (though Anakin does live on as a force ghost.) Still, Vader’s redemption ark doesn’t justify fascism at all. The only thing it says is that even terrible people can be redeemed or, at the very least, can see the error of their ways and try to fix their mistakes. Even then, the film says that they still need to die.

So clearly, Star Wars is not fascist, and even though it does use fascist imagery. The films don’t sell it as anything but terrible, and I would argue that for the most part, it worked. I mean, it’s not like the Star Wars fandom is notoriously known for consuming products with this fascist imagery. Oh, yeah, that’s right.

Part 5: Merchandising

So, when I started this whole thing. I wanted to try and figure out why so many people were reading these films as conservative or fascistic. Especially since, for me, these films bring out my inner rebel, these were the films that made me feel like I could take on the Empire.

This is why I always found it strange that a lot of Star Wars fans and people, in general, tended to buy merch that featured the Empire. Now, Vader, I could understand, but stormtroopers the Empire in general never really made sense. Why was (is) there so much merchandising related to the Empire/ First Order?

Ok, so here’s where things get a little more complicated, and to be honest, move into the realm of speculation. There is no way to prove any malaise intent on the CEO and marketing executives responsible for the perpetual reproduction and normalizing of the Empire which in turn, is propping up fascist imagery. So, I’m not going to claim that. Let’s just assume that these people were utterly ignorant of any context that this image might suggest.

But at the end of the day, the intent doesn’t really matter because the end result is still the same. Now there’s actually a good reason, from a marketing perspective, why they would use the imagery of the Empire specifically.

The reason why ships like the death star and the tie fighters and star destroyers are used so much is that by design, they were made to be striking and intimidating. In the films, they’re framed as terrifying and dangerous. But taken out of context and framed differently; It becomes a technical marvel or a powerful, inspiring weapon. (This also feeds into America’s fetishization of weapons and war, but that’s another topic for another post).

Vader is used because he’s the most developed and beloved character in the entire series. Plus, his design is simple and iconic, and it’s easy to put his image everywhere. Thisy67 is why Vader’s imagery is used more than Anakin’s; Well, that and because a lot of people still hate the prequels.

Then there are the stormtroopers, which is probably the most interesting out of all three of these examples. First, we need to talk about the stormtrooper design; it is quite simple, eye-catching, and, most importantly, at least for marketing, projectable. So right away, this was a merchandising cash cow.

In the movies, the design serves as another both practical and narrative purpose. From a practical standpoint, the simple design makes the costume easy to reproduce. This is good because a lot of extras would be wearing it, and you don’t want to spend too much time on extra costumes.

Second, notice how in Star Wars, there is rarely a stormtrooper alone. They are always with at least one other stormtrooper, which makes them feel more like a unified hive mind. (Which in our individualistic culture is the most terrifying thing imaginable) (and is also associated with fascism (and communism (but that’s a topic for another post))).

The helmet also covers up their face, which is meant to cover up their humanity and make them seem less than human. That’s why it is a powerful humanizing moment when they take off their helmets and usually symbolizes the people turning to the good side. Think of Vader in the last moments of his life, and Fin or Fn-2187 in The Force Awakens.

So, with the proper framing, the stormtroopers become a large menacing, and or incompetent force, but take the framing out, and what do you have? An empty vessel—the perfect merchandising vehicle. But there is one problem with using stormtroopers specifically in marketing/ merchandising, and that is they are closely associated with the Nazis. I mean, they are called Stormtroopers for god sake. The films make the Stormtroopers incompetent and disturbing enough that no one would want to be associated with them. So how do marketers separate the context they were created into the empty vessels of opportunity and profit they could be? Well, they change the narrative, and to explain how they could do this, let’s take this one piece of merchandise and break it down.

The first tactic we see being used is repetition. Obviously, this is on a very very small scale. Still, the repeated image of the stormtrooper normalizes and even trivializes its inclusion.

Of course, this can’t really work on a small scale, but when you see tons of Stormtrooper merch and several of your friends buying and enjoying it. The image overall becomes acceptable and, more importantly, typical in the public consciousness. However, this tactic does have its limits. After all, if you are making things using the stormtrooper image, and no one wants it. It doesn’t matter how much you produce; people aren’t going to buy it.

That leads to the second tactic of normalization, association. Most of the time, the designers will include other images in the product that people are more likely to buy. In this t-shirt, we see the popular image of Vader. So, maybe you wouldn’t buy this t-shirt if it were just stormtroopers. But It has Vader on it, and you should buy a T-shirt with Vader. You might not consume it or enjoy it for the stormtrooper imagery. Still, you consume the imagery and normalize it nonetheless. And that’s all businesses care about.

However, if the end goal is to make the image desirable, there’s one more tactic that is used to sell the stormtrooper image, and that’s humanizing the stormtroopers. Now, this can be done by showing stormtroopers living everyday lives, putting them in a comedic situation contactless, or imprinting another image.

In the example above, the shirt references a Beatles cover "Abby Road" to associate the Stormtroopers and Vader with the Beatles. In fact, the entire stick of this shirt is hay; it’s like that Beatles thing except for Star Wars.

That’s where the problem lies, not necessarily with this shirt, but with using the Empire in merchandising. It takes fascist imagery and directly associates it with the Star Wars franchise. In fact, one could argue that this imagery: The Empire, stormtroopers, and Vader are Star Wars. They are the symbols of Star Wars just as much as the literal Star Wars logo.

So, I can see how a casual observer can look at the face of Star Wars and think Star Wars is fascist.

But that’s ignoring the most important part of Star Wars, the movies. It ignores the anti-fascist imagery of the Rebellion, Resistance, and the Jedi and everything they represent. Are they perfect thematically? No, especially The Rise of Skywalker. But the fact that this merchandising can define what Star Wars is more so than the movies are, in my opinion, is kind of disturbing. From someone who loves all the movies and TV shows (except The Rise of Skywalker and Solo).

It drives me crazy because Star Wars, at its core, is an anti-fascist story about a small group of rebels taking on the big evil fascist empire. So, I guess what I’m trying to say is I want more rebel merch, please.

Part 6: Final Thoughts

So, I feel like I should clear up some things, just to make sure you don’t get the wrong idea. Not like anyone’s going to read this, but hey, if you’re here, thanks. I really appreciate it actually. I didn’t make this post to say that if you’ve bought or enjoy Star Wars merch with the imagery of the Empire you’re secretly a fascist or a fascist sympathizer. Because I would be a major hypocrite if I said that.

I wanted to make this post not only to shed some light on this topic but also because I’ve seen some Star Wars “fans” use fascistic rhetoric. And I’ve seen fascists or whatever you want to call them, using Star Wars as a gateway into fascism by manipulating the text or the fandom to suit their agenda. Let’s get something clear here, you are not a real Star Wars fan if you’re a fascist because only anti-fascists can be true Star Wars fans. I’m not saying that because I’m an anti-fascist. But because the core text of all of Star Wars is so inherently anti-fascist, there is no way a fascist can be a true Star Wars fan.

Now that doesn’t mean if you don’t like Star Wars that you’re a fascist or a fascist sympathizer. There are a million reasons for not liking Star Wars or being a fan of Star Wars.

But I still love Star Wars. After I revisited some of these movies and thought about them from a more intellectual level. I was reminded why I love these movies and TV shows so much. I hope you all can find that appreciation too. If not hopefully, you learned something about imagery and symbolism and the cruel world of marketing.

If you like this post, please let me know in the comment section below. It would make me feel better about myself.

Check out my video on this topic down below!