A New Hope

Special Edition Laserdisc Side 1, Chapter 9

The story continues. Luke has left Artoo and Threepio in the garage and joined Owen and Beru for dinner:

L: You know, I think that R-2 unit we bought might have been stolen?

O: Why do you think that?

L: Oh, I stumbled across a recording while I was cleaning him. He says he belongs to someone called Obi-Wan Kenobi. <Owen and Beru exchange glances.> I thought he might have meant old Ben. Do you know what he’s talking about?

O: Mmm. No.

L: I wonder if he’s related to Ben?

O: That wizard’s just a crazy old man. Tomorrow I want you to take that Artoo unit to Anchorhead and have its memory erased. That’ll be the end of it. Belongs to us.

L: But what if this "Obi-Wan" comes looking for him?

O: He won’t. I don’t think he exists anymore. He died about the same time as your father.

L: <Setting down his blue milk> He knew my father?

O: I told you to forget it. Your only concern is to prepare those new droids for tomorrow. In the morning I want them up there on the south ridge working on those condensors.

L: Yes, sir. I think those new droids will work out fine. In fact, I uh…I’m also thinking about our agreement. About me staying on another season? And if these new droids do work out, I want to transmit my application to the Academy this year.

O: You mean the next semester, before harvest?

L: Sure, there’s more than enough droids!

O: Harvest is when I need you the most! It’s only one season more! This year we’ll make enough on the harvest that I’ll be able to hire some more hands and then, you can go to the Academy next year. You must understand I need you here, Luke!

L: But it’s a whole ‘nother year!

O: Well, it’s only one more season.

L: Yeah, that’s what you said when Biggs [and Tank?] left. <Luke stands>

B: Where are you going?

L: Looks like I’m going nowhere. Guess I’ll go finish cleaning those droids. <Leaves>

B: Owen, he can’t stay here forever. Most of his friends have gone. It means so much to him.

O: I’ll make it up to him next year. I promise.

B: <Sighing> Luke’s just not a farmer, Owen. He has too much of his father in him.

O: That’s what I’m afraid of.

Comments:

1) Owen and Beru are hiding things from Luke about his past, his ancestry.

2) Owen schemes to keep Luke on the farm.

3) Owen knows more than he’s telling about Ben, and he wants to wipe Artoo’s memory. Clearly this is a reminder that droids’ memories can be erased, and for audiences that have already seen Threepio’s memory erased, this could be a significant threat. Another example of how things we learn in episodes II and III can affect our interpretation of scenes we’ve watched many times before.

4) "I don’t think he exists anymore" and "he died" are semi-contradictory statements. If Owen knows Ben is Obi-Wan, why would he suggest Obi-Wan has died? Does "death" have a second meaning in the GFFA? Is Lucas making a suggestion that Obi-Wan has done what the Apostle Paul suggested in his letter to the Ephesians when he talked about putting off the old man and putting on the new? Does Lucas intend for us to take the Christian imagery in Star Wars that literally? I believe he does. And I believe this is the Clintonian use of language that allows Ben to tell Luke with a degree of truth a few scenes later that Vader "betrayed and murdered" Luke’s father.

5) Owen and Beru know who Luke’s father is. But it’s not clear they know he’s alive. Owen seems intent on keeping Luke away from the fighting. Beru seems not to be so worried. If Beru understands Luke’s potential value to the Empire, wouldn’t she be equally anxious to keep Luke down on the farm and prevent him from "seeing Paree?"

And when Beru says, "He has too much of his father in him," she uses a kindly, motherly vocal inflection. If she were supposed to be thinking "Darth Vader" at that point, I contend she would never have been instructed to speak that line the way she did. Beru remembers Anakin fondly! And that leads me to conclude that Beru doesn’t know, and Owen probably doesn’t know, that Anakin is Darth Vader. I think they simply believe that Anakin was a brave young man who became too involved in the ways of the Jedi and lost his life trying to be a hero. They’re just trying to protect his offspring from the same fate. Think about it: if future audiences know at the beginning of ANH that Luke’s father Anakin has become Vader, Beru’s line will come across as extraordinarily creepy and virtually inexplicable. It will certainly get a laugh. Based on this logic and other evidence to be examined later, I contend that at this point in the story audiences will be just ignorant about the origin of Darth Vader as they always have been.