Star Words: Episode II, Part 22

[matril]

We see a number of funerals in the Star Wars saga, but most of them are wordless, with mournful music as the only audio component. Shmi's funeral, however, has not just one but two eulogies. And once again we are provided with a marked contrast between Cliegg and Anakin.

I want to point out as an aside that this scene is filmed so beautifully. First we pan down from the sky as we hear the opening words of Cliegg's tribute -- "I know, wherever you are, it's become a better place..." and we can almost imagine Shmi looking down wistfully from some heavenly realm. We have a long shot of the mourners, their figures small and lonely in the stark emptiness of the desert. Then we get a closer look at each of their faces, one by one. I love little touches like the fact that Owen and Beru are holding hands. Yeah, I ship them. ;)

Cliegg's words are simple but moving, focused on Shmi and what she meant to him. "You were the most loving partner a man could ever have." Anakin, meanwhile, is fixated on his own shortcomings. "I wasn't strong enough to save you, Mom. But I promise, I won't fail again." Does he imagine that preventing some future tragedy will undo the sting of this one? It certainly won't bring back his mother. But he's wild with grief and guilt, focused inward on his pain instead of outward on honoring his mother's life. Their concluding words only illustrate this difference further.

"Good-bye, my darling wife. And thank you."/I miss you...so much."

Could Cliegg have blamed himself for Shmi's death? Perhaps he relived that fateful morning over and over, wondering if he could have kept her from going out to collect those mushrooms, or if he should have gone with her....replayed the failed rescue attempt that lost him his leg and obsessed over what he could have done differently to save her....

But whatever regrets he might have had, he's not dwelling on them now. This isn't about him, this is about Shmi.

Why is Anakin's response so much more selfish? I think we can cut him a little slack, considering his traumatic background. This inward-focused reaction isn't outright evil; it's just immature. And Anakin's relationship with his mother was basically stopped short at age nine. So in many ways, he still views her as a nine-year-old would. Unfortunately, while he has a child's simplistic mentality toward her, he has the extraordinary capabilities of a trained Jedi. The combination of those two things has made him believe that it is his privilege, even his duty, to keep those he loves completely insulated from any harm.

Of course all of these extenuating circumstances cannot excuse what happens in Episode III as he takes this mentality to toxic extremes, but it's easier to understand how he ends up there, and how even the slightest maturation in his understanding of grief might have led to a better path. If only.

Next time, Padmé demonstrates that Anakin isn't the only one capable of finding loopholes...

Comments

[krpalmer]

I've seen this contrast between Cliegg and Anakin's eulogies pointed out before, but I'll say simply that your elaboration on it feels a lot more palatable to me than some of the others. Anyway, I'd been contemplating another line from this scene in anticipation of this post. It did get my attention you also mentioned "I know, wherever you are, it's become a better place," if merely because I'd sort of rambled away from the "main character focus" I do think I shouldn't lose the way some seem to. I'll admit that speculation ties into how I'd once sort of supposed the mysticism of the Force could lead to a paradoxical sort of hard-edged "when ordinary people are dead, they're gone" materialism, given impressions it takes a Jedi's power to still speak to the living... These movies did change my opinion there given the sudden revelation "Force ghosts" are a new discovery, although I can still wonder whether some ordinary people would resent what the Jedi can manage should they know about it.

[matril]

I do often wonder why only Jedi can manifest as Force ghosts, and only certain Jedi at that. I like to think that there is at least a conscious afterlife for other beings, even if they can't manifest themselves to the living world.