This video essay analyes Star Wars’ Anakin Skywalker and how he transforms into Darth Vader over the Star Wars prequels. Darth Vader is one of the most iconic villains in all of cinema… but was he destined to go to the dark side of could the Jedi have saved Anakin from temptation? This video essay explores the character of Anakin and his evolution into the dark side. Star Wars was distributed by 20th Century Fox.
PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/justanobservation
FAIR USE NOTICE:
This video may contain copyright material; the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. This material is made available under section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976, allowance is made “fair use” for the purposes such as criticism, comment, review, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, education and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that otherwise might be infringing. All rights belong to its owners.
Timestamps:
0:00 Intro
2:23 Stage One
5:22 Stage Two
6:52 Stage Three
11:45 Stage Four
16:34 Darth Vader
Music used:
Nocturn Op 9. No 1 in B Flat Minor by James Langevin (Shutterstock)
In Another World by Big Score Audio (Shutterstock)
Titan by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au)
In Search of Solitude by Scott Buckley (www.scottbuckley.com.au)
Blinded by the Sunlight by Draganov (Shutterstock)
Long Journey Home by Little Red Church (Shutterstock)
&
Beethoven 7th Symphony by Philadelphia Orchestra (Public Domain)
#starwars #darthvader #anakinskywalker
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Wait, you DIDN’T include The Clone Wars!
It fleshes out Anakin’s transformation outside of the films.
A incredible analysis. I never saw Anakins point of view, but after this video, I understand him. It wasn’t just Palpatine who turned him into the dark side. The Jedi Council made big mistakes, which lead to Anakins and there own downfall…
I need more of these
Great analysis, Pete. Anakin's story is a very tragic one.
Great video. Please do more Watching a Man Change vids. Bravo
This is an amazing video! Thank you so much for respecting all 3 prequels and not just ROTS as proper films.
"When something doesn't align with his desires, he immaturely cannot accept it. It feels like an injustice to him". This is precisely why the people who hate the prequels hate Anakin, he reminds them of their own flaws and they can't accept that George Lucas doesn't wanna validate their childish behaviour. He instead shows where this behaviour leads people and it's a lonely and pathetic world.
I loved the Yoda's fear point! And that so much was gleamed from these often criticised movies. Best one yet!
Interesting how , in an almost Freudian way, Anakins attraction to Padme stemmed from him seeing her as his new source of maternal and emotional comfort after leaving his own mother as a child
Be cool to see you do a followup on the redemption of Vader in ep 6.
I was waiting for another good 1!
Make a bigger video about Thomas Shelby
Would you consider doing a video on Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace or just the author’s issues with Postmodernism and irony?
Could you do a video about Jedis and Palpatine? As I understand, the Jedis wanted to maximize their well-being collectively, while Palpatine wanted to maximize only his. Neither of them really cared for the galaxy. If neither of them cares for the big picture, then choosing Palpatine makes complete sense. At least he promised to help save Padme.
If Jedis believed in what they said they believed in, then there wouldn’t be Star Wars. Jedis did not believe in democracy or compromise. When Phantom Menace begins, Confederacy and Republic are willing to go to war because both sides are unwilling to compromise. If separatists had been allowed to go their own way, the war wouldn’t have happened. Instead, the Jedis were mercenaries for the Republic.
This video’s great, but it’s missing Stage 6: Redemption, which is arguably the most important part of Anakin’s arc
Awww snap! He did a Breaking Bad video for Star Wars
Obi-wan: “Slippin’ Ani with a Jedi master degree is like a chimp with machine gun.”
Thank you for this episode!! Greetings from germany
“They’ll smile at you, they’ll pat you on the head — but they’re never, ever gonna let you in.” – Anakin to Ahsoka about the Jedi order
Anakin: “I love you.”
Padme: “I love you too, but so what?”
"I want some bacon" -random guy
"fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to BDSM." -Master Yoda
Brilliant Video
Natalie Portman looks so good in this movie
I really like this channel, this dude either has talent in writing or just really good at analysis, there's lots of channels like this that just mostly talk about obvious stuff but its not easy bringing up points that sometimes even a big fan can miss and actually deep analysis.
In my philosophy class, we're discussing free will and determinism right now. Looks like this video was dropped at just the right time😊
I love your videos!
‘Watching a Man Change: How Darth Vader became Anakin Skywalker’
I hope this hits every YouTube accounts recommended
Out of curiosity, why do you think all of these videos are about men becoming a worse person? Why haven't you covered a more traditional arc of someone becoming more of a hero?
I’ve always found there’s a big disconnect between how Anakin and Vader is portrayed and how the story treats him.
Anakin is meant to be a tragic figure who was corrupted by the dark side and became Darth Vader but in the prequels Anakin is kind of portrayed as a bad apple from the start, that he was always a psychopath just waiting for an excuse to murder everyone around him.
It’s so weird cause both ideas are interesting in their own right
I'm honestly not interested in Star Wars (not hating, it's just not my thing) but I was really intrigued through this whole video, thank you JaO.
The Jedi Council did not believe Anakin was doomed to be evil. Yoda even says, "Clouded this boy's future is." The reason they rejected him is because Anakin refused to admit he's afraid. You can't overcome an issue if you refuse to acknowledge it. If someone drags you to therapy but every time the therapist identifies a problem you keep on saying it doesn't exist then nothing's gonna get done. The Council didn't allow Anakin in because he proved he wouldn't overcome his fears. They didn't reject him because he was afraid, they rejected him because he was afraid and he won't admit it. Yoda even admits later in the movie that he, himself, is afraid for Anakin's training. So obviously the Jedi are allowed to be afraid, they just need to overcome and confront it. They reject him because Anakin represses his feelings, which is dangerous. He refuses to get help for his issues. It's eventually part of what makes him turn. He refuses to face his fear of Padme dying and instead just trusts the first guy who will tell him he can save her instead of accepting that there's nothing he can do.
This is proven by the fact that overcoming fear is a big part of the Jedi teachings, as shown in multiple media. George Lucas also agrees with Yoda, as you see in quotes by him when talking about the movie. Lucas echoes Yoda's exact statements about fear leading to the dark side, so Yoda isn't supposed to be wrong in his reasoning. Throughout the 6 movies, Yoda is oftentimes a vessel through which George Lucas conveys his own philosophy and ideas. You listen to his commentary in any scene with Yoda and he always agrees with him.
I'm so glad you did one of these ON Anakin, he's always been one of my favorite characters in cinema.
Honestly good on you for analyzing this character because I find him to be one of the most overrated one dimensional shitbags in all of fiction. These movies are an insult to the audience and if you had the good faith to rewatch them and also give george lucas more credit than he deserves then you must be some sort of saint.
If audiences at large didn't know that he would turn into darth vader, if they were forced to take this prequel at face value without the giant IP success looming over it I believe it would have made 11 dollars and 22 cents at the box office.
Obi-wan: “Have you given any thought to sending him on a trip to Belize?”
Luke: “Belize?”
Obi-wan: “Yeah, Belize. You know, where uhm where Owen went to. Off on a trip to Belize.”
Luke: “Ben, you better not be saying what I think you are saying.”
Obi-wan: “It’s just a conjecture on my part…”
Luke: “My father is family. Do you understand that?”
Obi-wan: “It’s an option that has worked very well for you in the recent past.”
Luke: “Jesus! What is wrong you?”
Obi-wan: “My mistake. Family off limits of course. I’m just throwing thoughts out there. This is the safe room, right?”
Luke: “Jesus. Sending him to Belize. I’ll send you to Belize.”
But the ultimate irony of all of this is that he wouldn't have been able to achieve the level of power needed to overthrow the emperor if all of that didn't happen leading him to the dark side, and not only that going against the Jedi council having love with padme, he would have never ever been persuaded by the love for his son and padme to go against that darkness that he had learned and use it for good thus actually fulfilling his destiny! He never would have been able to overthrow the emperor if he hadn't learned the dark side and the good side would have failed so what was truly unique about Anakin was that he had to be strong enough to learn to be as terrible as you can be and strong enough to change that at the most important time, he was kind of a pawn or tool in that way but nobody else could have done that and everybody else who was a victim in that would have been a victim anyway in this whole you know story of their destinies but this would have been the only way that good could overcome at the end through the loss of countless innocent lives and the terribleness which took its toll on the soul of somebody who was never truly bad but just gave up and gave in until Luke showed him that there was still good in him and that's all it took was somebody believing in him, when he was younger he would have never been able to stop the dark side it's an infinite paradox it's amazing
Now I really want to see an observation on how Darth Vader became Anakin Skywalker again.
Beautiful video
The title of this video would be really wierd out of context