Though true that the film could be seen more generally as a critique of colonialism and imperialism, the more direct link to the Middle East comes from the film’s imagery. This is the life of a citizen under a despotic dictatorship the life many will have experienced in the countries carved from the Sykes-Picot agreement. Jyn expresses in the film that if she accepts silently her pseudo-enslavement to the Empire, then a satisfactory existence is possible.
She is passively a player and beneficiary of the Empire’s exploitation but only comes to realise its dark side (excuse the pun) after her family becomes dissident. She also represents the colonial era British citizen. In the modern day, Jyn resembles the western internet community a land where a million sad smileys are sent and nothing tangible is done. She learns to hate the Empire, but not before spending years resigned to a life of apathy towards its dominion. Her childhood holds memories of the ‘enemy’ as normal life. She is the daughter of a defected Imperial scientist. Jyn Erso offers a very diferent and valuable perspective. Aleppo was no doubt a horrific moment of the conflict in the Middle East, but the reluctance to engage critically towards the rebel force’s story covers up implications that a Star Wars film helps to reveal. The rebels of Aleppo were painted as something close to martyrs and the dark side of their fight has been glazed over in favour of anti-Assad sentiment. The film would have already been made by the time of the siege of Aleppo, but what is important is the similarity of how events turned out between the Star Wars galaxy and our current reality.
The world’s sadness and pity appeared directed at fighters who weren’t as harmless as they appeared online rather than the helpless civilians left within the walls of the city. That the rebel forces in Aleppo carried out executions and launched missiles at civilians was forgotten. As the rebels broadcasted messages across the web, the sound of bullets and bombs echoed in the background. On social media the defenders against Assad’s soldiers were seen to be fighting for a greater good. Here Cassian appears strikingly similar to the rebel defenders of Aleppo. He may kill and commit atrocities, but as long as he keeps telling himself that those actions are ‘good’, then he is in the right. A child brought up to adulthood through continuous conflict will grow to accept it as normality, no matter how tough or how much suffering and loss it inflicts.Ĭassian’s speech to Jyn before the final assault of the film highlights the beliefs such a life creates. For some countries the fighting has continued for generations. This is the situation we now face in the Middle East. A roguish character who has been embroiled in conflict since a child, he knows only war. Pressured by an unwelcome power from far away, each rebel is a lost soul fighting for what they or their family once knew.Ĭassian Anor epitomises this resentment. The Rebel Alliance represents the resulting anger that eventually developed throughout the Middle East. Their uniforms also without a doubt have a certain 20 th century vibe a time where the British Empire was at its strength. The empire’s leadership of course has always spoken with a British accent, although the British do seem to traditionally be evil in American films anyway. If we look to history for the main causes for conflict in the Middle East, the topic of European colonialism – predominantly British – appears promptly. The Star Wars world pitches the ‘Rebels’ against an evil ‘Empire’.
The latest film goes a step further and can be seen as a damning critique not only of current events, but also of the western meddling of over a century. In doing so it has also accentuated possible existing themes related to conflict in the Middle East. The new addition to the Star Wars world, Rogue One, has painted a much darker picture than its predecessors.
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