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Star Words: Episode II, Part 10
Nov. 30th, 2017 01:06 pmWe'll be exploring two scenes and two quotes in this entry, because they cover similar themes and illustrate the same thing: Jedi arrogance and its troubling consequences.
First, Obi-Wan searches the Temple archives with his freshly-gained knowledge of Kamino. But alas, there is no sign of the planet. The librarian is less than helpful. At first Jocasta Nu seems friendly and eager to assist anyone seeking knowledge...but as soon as Obi-Wan implies that their records might be incomplete, she takes it as a personal insult.
"If an item does not appear in our archives, it does not exist!"
That's...absurd. The very idea that an entry might be missing from their records, and she's stomping off in a huff, refusing to even acknowledge the possibility. She's convinced not only that their archives contain every possible bit of information, but that they've never been tampered with. And rather than address a potential problem, she remains willfully, stubbornly blind.
(The sheer definitive manner in which she delivers this line is astonishing, even darkly humorous. It's a a highly quotable moment, useful any time you're searching for something that seems to have vanished from the face of the earth. It's not in the usual place? Then it does not exist!)
So Obi-Wan turns to Yoda for help. This scene is a charming glimpse at how he trains the younglings, with patience and humor and kind encouragement. It also shows how he uses Obi-Wan's question as a teaching opportunity. Does Yoda really have no idea how Kamino's record went missing? Doubtful. But he allows the children to puzzle it out for themselves. It also demonstrates to Obi-Wan how older Jedi, stuck in their long-held beliefs, might be blind to obvious answers that mere children can see. Even after the youngling's answer that someone erased the record from the archive memory, Obi-Wan is still skeptical as he discusses it with Yoda.
"That's impossible, isn't it?"
Impossible is a pretty strong word. (An absolute term, even. We can find so many lines spoken by Jedi throughout the prequels that make Obi-Wan's claim in Episode III about only Sith dealing in absolutes more and more ironic.) But that sort of broad assumption is all too common among the Jedi. The archive memories are infallible. No one with access to the archives could possibly want to tamper with them. No one could ever....and yet they did. Obi-Wan's going to encounter a lot of supposed impossibilities before this film is done.
Next, some prophetic words from Naboo's monarch...
First, Obi-Wan searches the Temple archives with his freshly-gained knowledge of Kamino. But alas, there is no sign of the planet. The librarian is less than helpful. At first Jocasta Nu seems friendly and eager to assist anyone seeking knowledge...but as soon as Obi-Wan implies that their records might be incomplete, she takes it as a personal insult.
"If an item does not appear in our archives, it does not exist!"
That's...absurd. The very idea that an entry might be missing from their records, and she's stomping off in a huff, refusing to even acknowledge the possibility. She's convinced not only that their archives contain every possible bit of information, but that they've never been tampered with. And rather than address a potential problem, she remains willfully, stubbornly blind.
(The sheer definitive manner in which she delivers this line is astonishing, even darkly humorous. It's a a highly quotable moment, useful any time you're searching for something that seems to have vanished from the face of the earth. It's not in the usual place? Then it does not exist!)
So Obi-Wan turns to Yoda for help. This scene is a charming glimpse at how he trains the younglings, with patience and humor and kind encouragement. It also shows how he uses Obi-Wan's question as a teaching opportunity. Does Yoda really have no idea how Kamino's record went missing? Doubtful. But he allows the children to puzzle it out for themselves. It also demonstrates to Obi-Wan how older Jedi, stuck in their long-held beliefs, might be blind to obvious answers that mere children can see. Even after the youngling's answer that someone erased the record from the archive memory, Obi-Wan is still skeptical as he discusses it with Yoda.
"That's impossible, isn't it?"
Impossible is a pretty strong word. (An absolute term, even. We can find so many lines spoken by Jedi throughout the prequels that make Obi-Wan's claim in Episode III about only Sith dealing in absolutes more and more ironic.) But that sort of broad assumption is all too common among the Jedi. The archive memories are infallible. No one with access to the archives could possibly want to tamper with them. No one could ever....and yet they did. Obi-Wan's going to encounter a lot of supposed impossibilities before this film is done.
Next, some prophetic words from Naboo's monarch...
