Hear me out.
Back in the day, there was this bad guy named Darth Vader. He was the quintessential bad guy. Great clothes, great theme music, horrible behavior. Dude could care less about your title, or your degree of loyalty. If you were in between him and his intended outcome, he’d kill you. He’d blow up entire planets just to show dominance and force. Sometimes he’d let people fight, sometimes he’d just choke them out without touching them. Spoiler alert (for a movie that was made 40 years ago…sooooooo,…if this spoils it for you, that’s on you): Vader was so bad, he cut off his own son’s hand to win a battle.
The first movie, New Hope, came out when I was 6. Vader wore all black, did awful things, and had a theme son g that called the hairs on the back of my neck to attention. “Ah. He’s a bad guy. Got it!”
When Empire Strikes Back came out, I was 9. He was still that guy. He’d upped his game. He was using some psy ops to futher mess with people’s heads. He was being a barrier to true love by ordering Han frozen in carbonite. He lusted for power, and oozed wickedness. His imperial march that played as he strode about was synonymous with corruption. As my little brain was growing, all this was helpful. I knew I’d be able to navigate future life experiences by paying attention the characters in black with their own march music.
Then, things got complicated.
Return of the Jedi came out when I was 12 years old. For reasons unknown to my 12 year old self and also unknown to my 48 year old self, we all learned a lot about Vader. We were funneled into compassion for him. He was unmasked. A face that looked like skin after a bandaid had been left on too long was revealed. Think about when you’ve been in the water so long that you’re pruney or maybe finding a grape when you’ve done that seldom task of moving the fridge to clean below it. That’s what Vader looked like.
The loss of his ability to strike fear wasn’t caused only by the stripping of his nefarious exterior. We were emotionally influenced by his intent with taking the mask off. He wanted to see his son with his real eyes instead of through his mask. Is that right, Vader? I’m just saying, the mask didn’t seem to be an issue when you CUT OFF HIS HAND.
Surely that’s as weird as it will get, right? Wrong. There’s a “heartwarming” scene where Vader is spiritually dwelling with Obi Wan and Yoda. The same Obi Wan that he killed. They were just chilling with no hard feelings. 12 year old me had some real “What the frick?!” moments.
The movies were re-released when I was a mostly formed adult. I was still saddened that Vader couldn’t have just stayed bad. Three more movies were released that furthered the narrative that Vader was complicated. That perhaps in the absence of adverse childhood experiences he’d have been good guy.
I’m not sure if movies are where we’re supposed to formulate our values, or if they’re a reflection of them. In my social work heart, I know that everyone has a back story. We are all products of our life experiences. And, grown up me knows that the world is very complicated. There is a whole lot about humaning that was left out the brochures. Maybe that’s what makes me miss just regular old bad guys. He’s fictional. We don’t need to try to help him live his best life. We should be able to dislike him and be okay with that.
Bifocals and Barbells 