Monday, May 12, 2014

Jediism-A Religion?

We have now made the jump to hyperspace and traveled by light speed 3 years into the future after the events of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and arrived at Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, which was released in theaters on May 21, 1980.  We left off with Obi-Wan Kenobi dying metaphysically at the hands of Darth Vader and the Rebel Alliance, which includes our trio of heroes Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo, destroying the Death Star. 




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IK0MLkYOz3g

Despite this crucial victory, the Rebel Alliance has been forced to flee their former base by the Galactic Empire.  The Rebel Alliance now has a new hidden base on the icy planet Hoth and Luke gets ambushed by a Yeti or Abominable Snowman-like creature called a wampa.  He manages to escape, but gets caught in a snow storm and he sees the Force ghost of Obi-Wan Kenobi telling him to go to the planet Dagobah and train under Jedi Master Yoda. 
 


 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITV0oLu5mqA

After Luke is rescued, the Imperial fleet discovers the Rebel base and launches an attack with AT-AT Walkers under the command of Darth Vader.  The Rebels fight back, but the base is ultimately captured.  Han and Leia escape on the Millennium Falcon with C-3PO and Chewbacca, but their hyperspace drive malfunctions forcing them to hide in an asteroid field until they can fix it.  During their time in hiding, Han and Leia grow closer and share their first kiss. 


Meanwhile, Luke escapes with R2-D2 in his X-wing fighter and crash lands on Dagobah.  There he meets Yoda, who initially refuses to  train Luke to become a Jedi because he is too old, impatient, has anger in him, and craves adventure and excitement making him reckless.  Luke and Obi-Wan manage to convince Yoda though and Luke and Yoda train learning the ways of the Force.  Before Luke can complete his training he is plagued by visions of Han and Leia in danger.  Yoda and Obi-Wan urge Luke to stay and finish his training, but Luke promises to return. 











Han and Leia go to Cloud City and meet up with Han's old friend, Lando Calrissian played by Billy Dee Williams who runs the city.  Shortly after though, Lando betrays them and turns them over to Darth Vader who arrived there before they did to avoid having his city taken over.  Darth Vader uses Han and Leia as bait so that he can carbon freeze Luke.  Han is used as the test subject for this and Leia confesses her love for Han before he is carbon freezed and sent to Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine.  Lando and Leia manage to escape in the Millennium Falcon.  



When Luke arrives at Cloud City he faces off in a lightsaber duel with Darth Vader and Darth Vader cuts off Luke's right hand, disarming him.  Darth Vader asks Luke to rule the galaxy with him and reveals much to Luke's horror that he didn't kill Luke's father, but is in fact Luke's father.  Luke refuses the claim and throws himself down the air shaft.  Lando and Leia rescue Luke and after Luke and Leia are safe at a Rebel port, with Luke receiving a prosthetic hand, Lando and Chewbacca fly off in the Millennium Falcon to rescue Han. 




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbjru5CQIW4

In the article, "Fiction-based religion: Conceptualizing a new category against history-based religion and fandom" from the academic journal, Culture and Religion: An Interdisciplinary Journal, the author, Markus Altena Davidsen, writes about how fictional-based religions like the Star Wars-based Jediism and the Tolkien-inspired Eleven community via The Lord of the Rings are practiced by people in real life and not just characters in fictional worlds. 
According to the article, "Fiction-based religion differs from conventional ('history-based') religion because it bases itself on fictional narratives..., while conventional religion is based on narratives that claim to tell of the actions of supernatural agents in the actual world" (390).  I find this article interesting because I had never thought about Jediism as a religious movement and that people could be practicing it as such outside of the characters in the movies.  I didn't know that the mysterious Force itself contributes to Jediism identifying itself as a fiction-based religion. 
What do you think about Jediism being practiced as a religion in the real world?  Leave your comment below. 

2 comments:

  1. The idea that a group of people would live for the purpose of promoting a higher cause - a noble sense of purpose - is attractive to us as humans. Many of us look for a purpose in our lives, so some may find that purpose through the practice of Jediism.
    As a reader, I am interested in what you think about Jediism being practiced as a religion.

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    1. I think it would be really cool to practice Jediism as a religion. I find it interesting that most of the people who practice Jediism are Aussies.

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