Mara and I watched Star Wars: Episode III tonight. We finally got off of our asses and figured out that whole movie-on-demand thing. We've had digital cable for a while, but have never ordered a movie before.

Afterwards, Mara was kind of down. She just said (about the movie) “that was so sad.” I said something along the lines of “George Lucas redeemed himself.” Whatever else might be said, this movie affected me somewhat. The previous two didn't. Maybe some of it was nostalgia. I still remember being in the sixth grade and reading in one of the science fiction magazines about this movie that was coming out called Star Wars (which I thought was a stupid title). Now I'm forty years old, and the story that I and millions of others have had in our lives as part of our collective mythology has come full circle. That in itself would stir certain emotions.

But I don't think it's all nostalgia. I think this movie was solid. I also think that Lucas was right, in that he believes that now that people can see the series in its entirety as one continuing story, a lot of the things they didn't like about episodes I & II might be forgiven.

The thought that strikes me now is that the story of Darth Vader probably resonates with people not just because he's a good man who went bad. If you really want to break it down, that same story could apply to all of us just simply in growing up. All the hopes and dreams and ideals that we have as children fall by the wayside as we grow and realize that to function in the world we have to make concession after concession, and that we are led farther and farther away from the glow of moral and ethical absolutes.