Star Wars is in again. Star Wars is hot again. Star Wars is the shizzle again. Why? Because it's finally good again. Thank. Fucking. God! So we've all been chugging Oktoberfest-levels of SW culture, and let's face it: most of us can't get enough. We've seen a lot of SW stuff of all sorts lately, both new and classic. However, there's one thing about classic Star Wars that I haven't seen or heard from anybody that deserves attention: the progressive incest politics of the original trilogy.
In the late '70s and early '80s, most of the world was staunch in its belief that family members shouldn't get all sexy with each other. But in that oppressive environment, one brave, determined, trailblazing social justice warrior named George Lucas stood up and said: "Hey, it's okay to try to fuck your sister, so long as you don't know you're related and don't actually succeed." Wow, what a visionary. Truly.
He understood that some communities are large enough that you might not know you're related to someone, but also small enough that you might try swinging to a familial branch because the pool of candidates is limited. We all know he was probably thinking of Oklahoma, Arkansas, Alabama, Mississippi, and Tennessee. But this doesn't only happen in America. Lucas was an intelligent global thinker; he knew this happened all over the world. In England, twins separated at birth ended up marrying each other. Iceland is small and big enough that there's an app to check if the person you're about to hook up with is related. This is a global issue and ever the visionary, Lucas didn't just think globally: he thought universally.
He invented an entire fictional galaxy to address this issue. In doing so, he made it feel far away and just fantasy, so we could maintain mental and emotional distance, while simultaneously letting us know it's okay because this shit happens all over the universe. That in and of itself is already brilliant, but he didn't stop there. He didn't even let us know until the THIRD movie that Luke and Leia are related. We spent the entire first film watch Luke desperately try to fuck her, thinking he failed only because Han is just so cool and badass. He got us comfortable with the idea of siblings almost hooking up, and we didn't even know it! After it's repeatedly clear that Leia chose Han and only ever wanted Han, then Lucas drops the bomb that Luke and Leia are twins. Kaboom! Mind blown.
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| Still better than the dialogue of the prequels... |
All the sudden, we're all looking back at the first film going, "WTF? She kissed him. Luke wanted to fuck her brains out. I can't believe it. This is so messed up!" Suddenly, though, it's okay, because it didn't happen. They didn't commit real incest. They just almost did. "Leia only ever kissed him to make Han jealous, and deep down she sensed they were related, so it wasn't a romantic kiss. It was just innocent sibling lovies!" So we forgive and happily move on, even though there's always a part of us that feels icky about it.
Meanwhile, deep in our subconscious, the idea has been planted: you might have a long lost sibling or a distant relative you're not aware of, and you might try to bone them, and that's okay. As long as you fail and then eventually learn who they are, it's okay. It's wasn't a huge step for incest, since we still feel that incest is wrong. We all instantly hated Jamie and Cersei because they're siblings doing the nasty. At the very least, Star Wars was an acceptance of accidental incest, and that's a start. One step at a time. Progress will come, and it's all thanks to the great vision of a true social justice warrior: George Lucas. Praise be the Sith Lord!
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