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Darth Vader is a central character in the Star Wars saga, appearing as one of the main antagonists in the original trilogy and as the main protagonist in the prequel trilogy.
The films also establish that he was originally a Jedi Knight named Anakin Skywalker who fell to the dark side of the Force; he is also revealed to be the father of both Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia Organa, the two main protagonists of the original trilogy. Luke ultimately redeems his father in Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi when Anakin sacrifices himself to save his son.
The character was created by George Lucas and numerous actors have portrayed him. His appearances (as both Vader and Anakin) span all six Star Wars films, and is an important character in the expanded universe of television series, video games, novels, literature and comic books.
He has also had an impact on popular culture such as politics and television, being commonly regarded as a synonym for power and evil.
Concept and creation
While the first draft of Star Wars includes a tall, grim general named Darth Vader, the character came closer in line with his final depiction in the second revision. A character named "Anikin Starkiller" also appears in an early draft of Star Wars, playing a role similar to Luke Skywalker's, as the 16-year-old son of a respected warrior. Vader's mask was originally designed by Ralph McQuarrie as part of Vader's spacesuit, and not intended to be part of the regular costume. Brian Muir sculpted Darth Vader's costume based on McQuarrie's design.
After Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was successful, Lucas hired science fiction author Leigh Brackett to write Star Wars II (later retitled Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back) with him. They held story conferences and, by late November 1977, Lucas had produced a handwritten treatment called The Empire Strikes Back. The treatment is very similar to the final film, except that Darth Vader does not reveal he is Luke's father. In the first draft that Brackett would write from this, Luke's father appears as a ghost to instruct Luke. George Lucas was disappointed with the script, but Brackett died of cancer before he could discuss it with her. With no writer available, Lucas had to write his next draft himself. In this draft, he made use of a new plot twist: Darth Vader claiming to be Luke's father. According to Lucas, he found this draft enjoyable to write, as opposed to the year-long struggles writing the first film.
This new story pointing out that Darth Vader was Luke's father had drastic effects on the series. Michael Kaminski argues in his book that it is unlikely that the plot point had ever seriously been considered or even conceived of before 1978, and that the first film was clearly operating under an alternate storyline where Vader was a separate character from Luke's father; there is not a single reference to this plot point before 1978. After writing the second and third drafts of Empire Strikes Back in which the point was introduced, Lucas reviewed the new backstory he had created: Anakin Skywalker had been Obi-Wan Kenobi's brilliant student and had a child named Luke, but was swayed to the dark side by Emperor Palpatine (who became a Sith and not simply a politician). Anakin battled Kenobi on the site of a volcano and was badly wounded, but then resurrected as Darth Vader. Meanwhile, Kenobi hid Luke on Tatooine while the Galactic Republic became the tyrannical Galactic Empire and Vader systematically hunted down and killed the Jedi. This change in character would provide a springboard to the "Tragedy of Darth Vader" storyline that underlies the prequels.
For Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, the first film in the prequel trilogy, Lucas made Anakin nine years old to make the character's departure from his mother more poignant. Movie trailers for The Phantom Menace focused on Anakin, and a one-sheet poster showing him casting Vader's shadow informed otherwise unknowing audiences of the character's eventual fate. The movie ultimately achieved a primary goal of introducing audiences to Anakin Skywalker.
After deciding to create the prequels, he indicated the series would be a tragic one examining Anakin Skywalker's fall to the dark side. He also saw that the prequels could form the beginning of one long story that started with Anakin's childhood and ended with his death. This was the final step towards turning the film series into a "Saga".
Michael Kaminski, in The Secret History of Star Wars, offers evidence that issues in Anakin's fall to the dark side prompted Lucas to make massive story changes, first revising the opening sequence of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith to have Palpatine kidnapped and his apprentice, Count Dooku, murdered by Anakin as the first act in the latter's turn towards the dark side. After principal photography was complete in 2003, Lucas made even more massive changes in Anakin's character, re-writing his entire turn to the dark side; his fall from grace would now be motivated by a desire to save his wife, Padmé Amidala, rather than the previous version in which that reason was one of several, including that he genuinely believed that the Jedi were plotting to take over the Republic. This fundamental re-write was accomplished both through editing the principal footage, and new and revised scenes filmed during pick-ups in 2004.
Portrayals
Bodybuilder David Prowse's size and stature allowed him to fill out the large Vader costume in the original Star Wars trilogy, although stunt performer Bob Anderson portrayed Vader during the intense lightsaber fight scenes in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Sebastian Shaw originally portrayed the unmasked Vader in Return of the Jedi, although stock footage of Hayden Christensen replaced Shaw's appearance of Vader as a ghost in the 2004 DVD release. James Earl Jones, who provided the voice of Darth Vader, was initially uncredited in A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back because Jones felt his contributions were too small to warrant recognition.
Jake Lloyd was chosen from over 3,000 prospective child actors to play Anakin in The Phantom Menace. Casting director Robin Gurland initially thought Lloyd was too young to play the role; however, upon another meeting several years later, Gurland believed Lloyd was an appropriate choice for the part.
Hayden Christensen played Anakin in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith; he also donned Darth Vader's armor for the final scenes of the latter film. Mat Lucas voiced Anakin for the Clone Wars animated series and in various Star Wars video games. Matt Lanter voiced the character in the CGI The Clone Wars film and subsequent TV series.
darth vader is from inception he played leonardo decaprio
Characteristics
In Attack of the Clones, Anakin feels "smothered" by Obi-Wan Kenobi and is unable to control his life. By Revenge of the Sith, however, Anakin's "father-son" friction with his master has matured into a more equal, brotherly relationship. Once he becomes Darth Vader, each evil act he commits makes it harder for him to return to the light, but Vader ultimately escapes the dark side and redeems himself before he dies by saving his son and killing Palpatine.
Eric Bui, a psychiatrist at University of Toulouse Hospital, argued at the 2007 American Psychiatric Association convention that Anakin meets six of the nine diagnostic criteria for borderline personality disorder (BPD), one more than necessary for a diagnosis. He and a colleague, Rachel Rodgers, published their findings in a 2010 letter to the editor of the journal Psychiatry Research. Bui says he found Anakin Skywalker a useful example to explain BPD to medical students. In particular, Bui points to Anakin's abandonment issues and uncertainty over his identity. Anakin's mass murders of the Tusken Raiders in Attack of the Clones and the young Jedi in Revenge of the Sith count as two dissociative episodes, fulfilling another criterion. Bui hoped his paper would help raise awareness of the disorder, especially among teens.
Cultural impact
Darth Vader's iconic status has made the character a synonym for evil in popular culture; psychiatrists have even considered him as a useful example to explain borderline personality disorder to medical students. Anakin's origin story in The Phantom Menace has been compared to signifiers of African American racial identity, and his dissatisfaction with his life has been compared to Siddhartha's before he became Gautama Buddha. A Mexican church advised Christians against seeing The Phantom Menace because it portrays Anakin as a Jesus figure. A slime-mold beetle of the genus Agathidium is named after Vader, and several buildings across the globe are regularly compared to him. A grotesque of Darth Vader looms over the south side of the Washington National Cathedral's northwest tower. During the 2007–08 NHL season, Ottawa Senators goaltender Martin Gerber performed so well in an all-black mask that fans endearingly termed him "Darth Gerber". Many commentators and comedians have also evoked his visage to satirize politicians and other public figures, and several American political figures have been unflatteringly compared to the character. For example, Al Gore referred to Tele-Communications Inc.'s John C. Malone as the "Darth Vader of cable", and political strategist Lee Atwater was known by his political enemies as "the Darth Vader of the Republican Party".
On June 22, 2006, U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney referred to himself as the Darth Vader of the Bush administration. Discussing the administration's philosophy on gathering intelligence, he said to CNN's John King, "It means we need to be able to go after and capture or kill those people who are trying to kill Americans. That's not a pleasant business. It's a very serious business. And I suppose, sometimes, people look at my demeanor and say, 'Well, he's the Darth Vader of the administration.'" Jon Stewart put on a Darth Vader helmet to address Dick Cheney as a "kindred spirit" on The Daily Show on January 25, 2007. Cheney's wife, Lynne, presented Stewart with a Darth Vader action figure on her appearance on the show on October 10, 2007. Both Stewart and Stephen Colbert have occasionally referred to Cheney as "Darth Cheney". In the satirical cartoon show Lil' Bush, Dick Cheney's father is portrayed as being Darth Vader. At her presidential campaign event on September 19, 2007, Hillary Rodham Clinton also referred to Cheney as Darth Vader. At the 2008 Washington Radio and Television Correspondents' Association Dinner, Cheney joked that his wife Lynne told him that the Vader comparison "humanizes" him. George Lucas told The New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd, however, that Cheney is more akin to Emperor Palpatine, and that a better stand-in for Vader would be George W. Bush. An issue of Newsweek referenced this quote, and compared Bush and Cheney to Vader and Palpatine, respectively, in a satirical article comparing politicians to various Star Wars and Star Trek characters.
Many films and television series have paid homage to Darth Vader. Marty McFly in Back to the Future (1985), dressed in a radiation suit, calls himself "Darth Vader from the planet Vulcan" to convince the past version of his father to ask his mother to a dance. Rick Moranis plays "Dark Helmet" in the Star Wars parody Spaceballs (1987). In Chasing Amy (1997), Hooper X speaks at a comic convention about Darth Vader being a metaphor for how poorly sci-fi treats black people; he is especially offended that Vader, the "blackest brother in the galaxy", reveals himself to be a "feeble, crusty old white man" at the end of Return of the Jedi. In Laugh It Up, Fuzzball: The Family Guy Trilogy, a parody of the first three Star Wars films, the characters of Family Guy portray the characters of the films; Stewie Griffin (Seth MacFarlane) plays Darth Vader. In Night At The Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, Kahmunrah rejects Vader for his army ("Is zat your breezing?"). Also, a commercial for the 2011 Volskwagon Passat features a boy dressed up as Darth Vader trying to use the Force on household items with "Imperial March" playing in the background.
The character has gained much positive reception as a classic film villain. The American Film Institute listed him as the third greatest movie villain in cinema history on 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains, behind Hannibal Lecter and Norman Bates. Darth Vader was also ranked number two on Empire magazine's 2008 list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters. Premiere magazine also ranked Vader on their list of The 100 Greatest Movie Characters of All Time. On their list of the 100 Greatest Fictional Characters, Fandomania.com ranked Vader at number 6. Darth Vader was also the #1 supervillain on the Bravo series Ultimate Super Heroes, Vixens and Villains. Darth Vader was also ranked as #1 in IGN's list of top 100 Star Wars characters. Furthermore, Darth Vader's quote in The Empire Strikes Back — "No, I am your father" (often misquoted as "Luke, I am your father"), — is one of the most well known quotes in cinema history. The line was selected as one of the 400 nominees for the American Film Institute's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes, a list of the greatest American movie quotes. It is often been parodied and mimicked in other forms of media such as film and television.
See also
- "The Imperial March" – the theme music that accompanies Darth Vader's appearances in The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi
Notes
- ^ Bowen 2005, p. 94
- Helinski, Keith. ""Revenge" Is Just Too Sweet", moviefreak.com. Retrieved May 5, 2007.
- Winzler, Jonathan W. "The Making of Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith (Star Wars)", Powell's Books, April 2005. Retrieved May 5, 2007.
- Thornton, Mark. "What is the "Dark Side" and Why Do Some People Choose It?", Ludwig von Mises Institute, May 13, 2005. Retrieved May 5, 2007.
- ^ Insider Excerpt: Vader Sculptor Brian Muir, StarWars.com, March 24, 2010
- Rueda, Andres (April 18, 2009). "Darth Vader Costume". Flickr. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
- ^ "Vader, Darth". Databank. Lucasfilm. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
- ^ "Skywalker, Anakin". Databank. Lucasfilm. Retrieved August 12, 2010.
- Biodrowski, Steve. "Star Wars : The Original Trilogy – Then And Now". Hollywood Gothique. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
- (Bouzereau 1997, p. 144) harv error: no target: CITEREFBouzereau1997 (help)
- Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back (DVD). 20th Century Fox. 2004.
- Kaminski 2008, pp. 120–121
- Kaminski 2008, pp. 164–165
- "Lawrence Kasdan". Star Wars. Archived from the original on June 6, 2008. Retrieved March 28, 2008.
- Bowen 2005, p. 22
- Kaminski 2008, pp. 299–300
- Kaminski 2008, pp. 380–384
- Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith documentary "Within a Minute" (DVD documentary). 2005.
- ^ Bowen 2005, p. 3
- Bortolin 2005, p. 17
- Kapell, Matthew (2006). Finding the force of the Star wars franchise: fans, merchandise, & critics. Peter Lang. p. 137. ISBN 0820488089.
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- Bortolin 2005, p. x
- ^ Hsu, Jeremy (June 8, 2010). "The Psychology of Darth Vader Revealed". LiveScience. TopTenReviews. Retrieved June 8, 2010.
- Nama, Adilifu (2008). Black space: imagining race in science fiction film. University of Texas Press. ISBN 9780292717459.
- Bortolin 2005, p. xiii
- Bowen 2005, p. 97
- "Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld are now species of slime-mold beetles – but strictly in homage". Cornell News. Cornell University. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
- An architectural Star Wars clash at Sierra Point, San Francisco Chronicle, News Page 4, April 17, 1986
- Property Values Reduced,Sun Sentinel, October 27, 1991
- Egan, Timothy (June 29, 1986). "Focus: Seattle; Creating An Office Empire". NY Times. Retrieved May 8, 2008.
- "the bell awards – Tom Graff (interview)". Belltown Messenger. June 2007. Retrieved May 8, 2008.
- Day Out Results: BNZ Building.
- "Grand Canyon Scale for Wellingtonians" Wayward Wellingtonians, July 11, 2008.
- "About Darth Vader". Washington National Cathedral. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
- "Sens' Gerber has new mask, new outlook on season". Tsn.ca. September 24, 2008. Retrieved June 17, 2010.
- Gunther, Marc (August 22, 2005). "Al Gore Battles Old Cable Demons". CNN. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
- "Harvey Leroy "Lee" Atwater, was a Republican political consultant". Retrieved April 27, 2008.
- "Transcripts". The Situation Room. CNN. Retrieved April 27, 2008.
- "The Daily Show: Cheney Camera 3". Comedy Central. January 25, 2007. Retrieved December 6, 2008.
- Dowd, Maureen (April 19, 2009). "The Aura of Arugulance". The New York Times. Retrieved April 19, 2009.
- Newsweek
- "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Heroes and Villains" (PDF). afi.com. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
- "Empire's The 100 Greatest Movie Characters". Empire Magazine. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
{{cite web}}
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(help) - "Premiere Magazine's The 100 Greatest Movie Characters". Filmsite.org. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
- "The 100 Greatest Fictional Characters". Fandomania.com. Retrieved May 21, 2010.
- "Ultimate Super Heroes, Vixens and Villains Episode Guide 2005 – Ultimate Super Villains". TVGuide.com. Retrieved November 7, 2010.
- "Darth Vader/Anakin Skywalker is #1". IGN. Retrieved December 6, 2010.
- Michael French (2003). "The Common Concept of In". TheRaider.net. Retrieved February 26, 2007.
- "AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movie Quotes: Official Ballot" (PDF). AFI.com. Retrieved July 2, 2010.
References
- Bortolin, Matthew (2005). The Dharma of Star Wars. Wisdom Publications. ISBN 9780861714971.
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(help) - Bowen, Jonathan L. (2005). Anticipation: The Real Life Story of Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace. iUniverse. ISBN 9780595347322.
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(help) - Kaminski, Michael (2008). The Secret History of Star Wars. Legacy Works Press. ISBN 0978465237.
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Further reading
- Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace Novelization, 1st edition paperback, 1999. Terry Brooks, George Lucas
- Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones Novelization, 2003. R. A. Salvatore, ISBN 0-345-42882-X
- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith Novelization, 1st edition hardcover, 2005. Matthew Woodring Stover, George Lucas, ISBN 0-7126-8427-1
- The New Essential Guide to Characters, 1st edition, 2002. Daniel Wallace, Michael Sutfin, ISBN 0-345-44900-2
- Vader: The Ultimate Guide, 2005.
- Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 1998. Dr. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-7894-3481-4
- Star Wars: The Phantom Menace: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 1999. Dr. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-7894-4701-0
- Star Wars: Attack of the Clones: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 2002. Dr. David West Reynolds, ISBN 0-7894-8588-5
- Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith: The Visual Dictionary, hardcover, 2005. James Luceno, ISBN 0-7566-1128-8
- "Darth Vader in Games: A Visual History". IGN. October 28, 2010.
External links
- Anakin Skywalker in the StarWars.com Databank
- Darth Vader in the StarWars.com Databank
- Anakin Skywalker on Wookieepedia, a Star Wars wiki
- Template:Imdb character
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