A Thousand Stars: Episode II, Part 35

[matril]

Hello there! I'm on Lake Michigan, having a lovely time with family, just stopping in for a quick entry. This laptop isn't letting me get as many images as I'd normally use, but we'll work with it.

The droid factory sequence is deeply evocative and symbolic. From the moment Anakin and Padmé enter the warrens, following the path of steam vents, we know that something secret and ominous, shrouded in mists, is awaiting them. Though evading an initial attack, they stand at the brink of doom. Just like their relationship; just like the Republic. A fall is imminent.

Padmé drops into peril, and Anakin dives after. Not only does he fail to rescue her, he becomes entrapped in the machinery.



The entirety of Anakin's arc in Episode III, encapsulated in this short sequence. It's quite stunning once you recognize it. He throws himself into a hellish landscape, vocalized by Threepio as "a nightmare." He willingly falls into hell, into the Dark Side, in a misguided attempt to save his wife.

I also doubt there's any coincidence that in this film, we see the manufacturing of the armies of both sides. Compare and contrast the imagery of the factory and the clone assembly lines. It's cleaner and brighter on Kamino, but is it really that different, after all? Both of them, mass production of beings intended to kill. And we'll learn later on that they were both orchestrated by one Sith mastermind. He literally created a war.

Next time, shadows of the future...

Comments

[krpalmer]

I hadn't quite expected a post in your series now, but I'm glad to see this one. I do have to admit I'm going to be leaving on a vacation of my own on Saturday, during which I expect to have spotty Internet connectivity at best. Conscious I haven't been making many comments here of late even before that, though, I thought I could at least say your interpretation of this whole scene as "anticipation" adds on others making a big deal of "Anakin's hand caught in machinery" and perhaps echoes a different anticipation of "Anakin and Padme's children wind up on a different brink..."