By John Tabin on 5.25.07 @ 12:08AM
Thirty years ago today, Biggs Darklighter articulated perhaps the most uncompromisingly libertarian critique a government has faced on film.
Thirty years ago today, Biggs Darklighter articulated perhaps
the most uncompromisingly libertarian critique a government has
faced on film.
At this point, some of our less-nerdy readers are wondering who
the heck Biggs Darklighter is. A minor character in Star
Wars, which first hit theaters on May 25, 1977, Biggs, played
by Garrick Hagon, is better known as Red Three, a pilot who
perishes during the assault on the Death Star.
Luke Skywalker's closest friend from his home planet of
Tatooine, Biggs makes his eloquently anti-statist critique of the
Galactic Empire in a scene that only appeared in a handful of
prints that were released to some drive-in theaters. The so-called
Anchorhead sequence, named for the town where Luke goes to hang out
with his friends, was deleted from the film to improve the flow of
the story. Rather than detour into Luke's social life, the final
cut follows the droids C-3PO and R2-D2. The droids' path serves to
efficiently introduce each of the main characters: They start on
the spaceship where we meet Princess Leia and Darth Vader, then
escape to the desert planet, where they run into Luke, then Obi-Wan
Kenobi, and later Han Solo. But while the deletion of the
Anchorhead sequence makes for a better film, it unfortunately means
that an important part of Star Wars' political content was
left on the cutting room floor.
While everyone knows that the Empire is undemocratic -- Grand
Moff Tarkin announces the dissolution of the Senate near the
beginning of the movie, happily announcing that "the last remnants
of the Old Republic have been swept away" -- few realize that it is
also anti-capitalist. Biggs, who has been trained as a pilot at an
Imperial Academy, confides in Luke
about his plan to desert. "I made some friends at the Academy,"
says Biggs, his voice dropping to a whisper. "When our frigate goes
to one of the central systems, we're going to jump ship and join
the Alliance." The Rebellion, Biggs says, is "the side I believe
in."
Luke is both astounded -- he doubts that Biggs can even make his
planned rendezvous with the Rebels -- and jealous. As we all know
from his incessant whining in the scenes that did make the final
cut, Luke is unhappy to be stuck on Tatooine. But he tells Biggs
that he can't leave; his uncle needs him for the harvest. This is
where Biggs warns that the galaxy is on the road to
serfdom:
What good's all your uncle's work if the Empire takes
it over? You know they've already started to nationalize commerce
in the central systems? It won't be long before your uncle is just
a tenant, slaving for the greater glory of the Empire.
In his characterization of Imperial economic policy, George Lucas
was most likely thinking of National Socialism; few viewers miss
the resemblance between Imperial and Nazi uniforms. But the flat
assertion of the fundamental injustice of nationalization is
striking when one considers the state of global politics in 1977.
Not only was half the world under the yoke of Communism,
nationalization was a perfectly respectable policy even in the
West. U.S. railroads were nationalized in 1970. Between 1975 and
1977, Britain nationalized much of its automobile, aircraft, and
shipbuilding industries; British Steel had been nationalized in
1967. One wonders if a different cut of
Star Wars would
have become a rallying cry for Thatcherites.
In Kevin Smith's Clerks, the lead characters discuss
the morality of the assault of the unfinished second Death Star in
Return of the Jedi. One character, arguing that
independent contractors were unjustly killed in the attack, equates
the Rebel Alliance to "left-wing militants." But if the Anchorhead
sequence is taken as canonical (there's disagreement among fans on
this point), it's hard to cast the Alliance as a leftist movement
in any conventional sense. The Rebellion, in fact, is a radically
libertarian undertaking. Thirty years after Star Wars
captured the world's imagination, it's past time that the Rebels'
fight for economic liberty was celebrated in those terms.
topics:
Socialism, Communism
