Star Wars

The other day in History class we watched the movie Star Wars; A New Hope. I have seen this movie many times (my brother is a fan...) but I have never watched it while looking for different signs of religion playing into it. Or looking for relations to society today. It was really interesting watching the movie through new eyes. I picked up so much more this time watching the movie then I did all of the other times I have seen this movie. But also you realize how modern day issues in society can give authors or writers inspiration. Like in World War II, there were storm troopers and there were also storm troopers in star wars.  Darth Vader literally translates to Dark Father which can also mean the Devil. So it immediately lets you know who the bad guy is. The movie refers to something called the dark side and the good side. This plays off of the Dao notion, yin and yang. A jedi is kind of like a monk be because at a very young age they are taken in and train their whole lives and they can not marry. That is similar to a monk because monks are also taken in at a young age and aren't allowed to marry. For both, their lives are fully dedicated to being what they are (monk, jedi). I find all of the different references to different religions and cultures in this movie very interesting because seeing, things that you hear about everyday, in a movie so different from our society is very jolting. You look at this movie and think "this is so crazy and nothing like our world" but really there are more similarities then one would originally see or think.