{"id":152,"date":"2022-09-20T07:31:37","date_gmt":"2022-09-20T07:31:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/universalflyonthewall.com\/?p=152"},"modified":"2022-09-20T07:31:42","modified_gmt":"2022-09-20T07:31:42","slug":"star-wars-analogy-to-the-vietnam-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/universalflyonthewall.com\/?p=152","title":{"rendered":"Star Wars – Analogy to the Vietnam War"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Nobody in Star Wars would have anticipated that the Galactic Empire would be defeated by a group of cute, cuddly teddy bears. Similarly, nobody in the 1960s would have expected that America, the strongest nation in the world, would have lost to a small group of Viet Cong soldiers in Vietnam. In creating the original Star Wars<\/em> movies, George Lucas gleaned historical inspiration from the idea of a small rebel force using any tactics and resources available to defeat an unstoppable superpower. Highlighting the success of guerilla warfare and the failure of ineffective imperial weapons, George Lucas wanted his audience to carefully consider whether America was justified in its intervention in Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Viet Cong\u2019s strategic use of the environment around it\u00a0created confusion and fear for American troops. The U.S. soldiers\u00a0 had no idea of what the Vietnamese soldiers looked like, what they were capable of, or their whereabouts in the forest. The Vietnamese placed traps that made use of biological warfare, tunnels, and manufacturing traps that were able to be produced in great numbers. In Star Wars, the Ewoks were able to attack the Empire by surprise, as the Empire\u00a0did not expect that the native beings were going to successfully defend themselves. The Ewoks used rolling and swinging logs, stone spears, bows and arrows, and catapults to defeat imperial walkers.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Lucas likely wanted to showcase how a power such as the empire should never underestimate their enemy, even if it doesn\u2019t believe its\u00a0 enemy to be a legitimate threat. Lucas had witnessed himself the effects that American soldiers experienced due to their miscalculation of the Vietnamese\u2019s strategies and potential, and this raised the question of whether or not the U.S. should have been involved in the war at all.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In Vietnam, American troops brought in powerful rifles, such as the M16, hoping that they could beat the Vietnamese, but faulty ammunition and other technical difficulties rendered this weapon ineffective. The Viet Cong\u2019s use of traps and smaller weapons allowed it\u00a0 the ability to quickly navigate the terrain and avoid destructive weapons, even using the U.S. soldiers\u2019 own weapons against them. Similarly, in Star Wars<\/em>, we see the Rebels using the Empire\u2019s own resources against them, such as stealing their ships and weapons and disguising themselves in stormtrooper armor. The Empire uses weapons of mass destruction, but it fails to put them to great use, as they are inefficient in speed and also have exposed weaknesses that the rebels take advantage of.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bigger and more destructive weapons are not always going to be effective; sometimes using unexpected strategies is more successful. At first glance, people assume that the Empire is immoral and wrong due to its excessive involvement and cruel methods. In Star Wars, the Empire parallels the U.S, yet no one in America holds their own country accountable for this same action. Lucas is trying to spread awareness of the U.S.\u2019s flaws in the Vietnam War by showcasing the Empire\u2019s arrogance and humiliating downfall while making his audience sympathize with\u00a0the Rebellion and Ewoks.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nobody in Star Wars would have anticipated that the Galactic Empire would be defeated by a group of cute, cuddly teddy bears. Similarly, nobody in the 1960s would have expected that America, the strongest nation in the world, would have lost to a small group of Viet Cong soldiers in Vietnam. In creating the original… More Star Wars – Analogy to the Vietnam War<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":153,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-152","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nStar Wars - Analogy to the Vietnam War - Universal Fly on the Wall<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/universalflyonthewall.com\/?p=152\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Star Wars - Analogy to the Vietnam War - Universal Fly on the Wall\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nobody in Star Wars would have anticipated that the Galactic Empire would be defeated by a group of cute, cuddly teddy bears. 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