From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!

[Junkyard]

"From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!"


Why, in a sea of suck, does that line infuriate me so?

I'LL TELL YOU WHY.

He's betrayed his mentor, his order, his society, his ideals. He's just slaughtered a roomfull of politicians, and before that he killed twice that number in children.
He's pretty fucking commited to his current worldview, can we all agree on that?

Here comes along his old friend, Obi-Wan, who tries to convince him that, "Palpatine is evil!"
Did Anakin reply, "No! It is the Jedi who are evil!"
No, he says "From my point of view the Jedi are evil!"
From my point of view....
WHAT?!
You say "from my point of view" if you're able to acknowledge that there's another potentially valid perspective. That's what you say in a good natured debate.
ANAKIN IS WAY TOO FAR GONE FOR THAT! That would be like Pat Robertson saying, "Assuming you accept the idea of a God, I believe that God would have to be benevolent." A rational person might say that, but not a zealot!

It was infuriating partly because it was a noticably, ridiculously unrealistic line. It has plenty of equals in other parts of the film, but I think this is what really killed it: It was in the middle of a dramatic scene. If you'd made it that far, you've probably already accepted Anakin's annoying character, the many logical flaws in the film, and the impossible setting. The very last thing you, as a filmmaker, want to do now is draw attention to how absurd the scene is, and that's what THAT LINE DOES.

So there. Just wanted to get that out in the open. I've officially written more than is healthy about Star Wars now.

[Rude]

...

I don't get it.

-Rude

[Junkyard]

By the way, it turns out I'm not the only one to notice. Searching the line on google, I found this- From Chiefelf Presents: 91 Reasons to Hate Star Wars,
http://www.chefelf.com/starwars/ep3_71-80.php

Reason #74
"From my point of view the Jedi are Evil"
While Anakin and Obi-Wan are surfing along the lava pools, Obi-Wan tells Anakin that he has failed him. Anakin responds by saying that he should have known that the Jedi were going to take over. Obi-Wan shouts to Anakin, "Palpatine is evil!" to which Anakin replies, "From my point of view, the Jedi are evil!"

Do evil people say things like that? Do good people say things like that? In an irrational combat where each is trying to kill the other, do people really talk about their points of view? Suddenly, this has become a well-mediated debate rather than a fight to the death. "Please try to see things my way, Obi-Wan! Walk a mile in my shoes! Please! Or I will have to kill you!"

[Gaseous Snake]

Well then you are lost!

[bettertomorrowamy]

I wish they would have come up with a way of disfiguring Anakin that involved more hot sand.  If they could have had him on that beach of lava flow complaining about how the hot sand was burning him that would have tied the trilogy together for me.  Obviously he hated Sandpeople more for their love of sand than for the fact that they raped, beat, and killed his mother.  Sand brought about his downfall, and should have been more clearly expressed as the destroyer of his soul.  Sand was his Moby Dick.

[kodiakthejuggler]

All good arguments here, folks.

I've gone past the point of rationalizing ol' Georgie's reasoning. There comes a time when we all must put the past behind us and move forward, if we are ever to survive. I too was shattered by the level of absurdity I was seeing on screen, and was shaken to the core that my childhood dreams went up in flames, yadda yadda.

What we need is a time machine. We'll go back to the 70s when Georgie was writing his Star Wars epics. We'll make sure he writes all 9 movies, then we'll take the first and last 3 and bring them to the early 90s and start from scratch. Then, we'll force him to let someone else direct all three prequels, since he'll be next to worthless as a director when we do the prequels.

[bettertomorrowamy]

I wish they would have come up with a way of disfiguring Anakin that involved more hot sand.  If they could have had him on that beach of lava flow complaining about how the hot sand was burning him that would have tied the trilogy together for me.  Obviously he hated Sandpeople more for their love of sand than for the fact that they raped, beat, and killed his mother.  Sand brought about his downfall, and should have been more clearly expressed as the destroyer of his soul.  Sand was his Moby Dick.

Interestingly, when Alexander the Great was besieging the city of Tyre in Phoenicia, supposedly (Arrian tells us) they superheated sand and then flung it at his men.  The little grains got under their armor and burned them horribly, like phosphorus. 

Interesting.......Mr. Lucas, are you listening, enhance the trilogy by adding more hot sand.

[The Elusive Robert Denby]

That line drives me insane, too.  As already pointed out, it interrupts a duel to the death to engage in highschool debating tactics.  Introduce "my point of view", and it turns the conversation to THAT:  "Well, maybe your point of view is flawed, did you ever think of that?  Have you examined the basic premises behind your point of view?  Are you sure that you're able to make an informed decision, based on complete knowledge of the facts?  Are you relying for your information on biassed sources?"  Bleccchhh...

The other thing that I hate about it is that it really makes no sense at all.  It's one thing for Anakin to lie to Padme after he gets home from a busy day of child-killing, but who is he trying to fool in this scene?  He KNOWS there was no attempt by the Jedi to overthrow the Republic, because he was there!  He was the one who found out that Palpatine was the Sith Lord; he was the one who told Mace Windu and effectively sent him on his mission to confront the Chancellor.  Heck, he was on the point of killing Palpatine himself, and knew that it was the correct thing to do.  I can understand him wanting to cover up the truth from Padme, but when he trots out the same excuses in this scene, it sounds as if he's trying to pretend that he was never involved, when everyone knows he was.

A decent writer (working with a good actor) MIGHT have been able to inject some hint of moral uncertainty into the scene - a bit of bluster, as he knows he's wrong and tries to excuse what he's doing.  But that's not what's conveyed in the scene at all.  "My point of view" is presented as a genuine argument; we're supposed to believe that Anakin has conveniently forgotten the backstory, and now really, truly believes what he is saying.  It's too big a stretch to believe that he believes what he's saying.

[Junkyard]

Pretty funny stuff.

However, I think it's clear that it's there so that Obi-Wan, in Return of the Jedi, can say "Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own points of view."

You know, that just makes it all the worse. He interrupted the closest thing he had going to a dramatic scene with another stupid- ass reference to the original movies. The man is insane.

[MartyS (Gromit)]

A decent writer (working with a good actor) MIGHT have been able to inject some hint of moral uncertainty into the scene - a bit of bluster, as he knows he's wrong and tries to excuse what he's doing.  But that's not what's conveyed in the scene at all.  "My point of view" is presented as a genuine argument; we're supposed to believe that Anakin has conveniently forgotten the backstory, and now really, truly believes what he is saying.  It's too big a stretch to believe that he believes what he's saying.

I'm sure the line was put in just as an inane way of linking to Obi-Wan in the future, but you could take it as his "rebirth" on the dark side, what he was before is gone, his point of view is now completely with the emperor, so he does believe what he's saying.  Still is a monumentally stupid scene, if they wanted a philosophical discussion it should have been before the fight to the death, not during it...

There is one other reason to add the line, to show he still has some hint of an internal debate going on, and it's still there at the end when he fights Luke, but it's still a stupid place to say it.

[lord humongous]

It's all in how you look at things...........



........see?!!!  The bad guys think they're good.  Even though we stuffed every stereotype possible into them, they still have to give the obvious lesson

[BBQ Platypus]

My brother does a hilarious impersonation of that line.  He goes all over the top with it and everything, using the goofiest whine-voice possible.  He says he has a friend who can do it even better (and another one who always says "Then you really are lost!"), but I find it hard to believe.  Apparently, they do it a lot at random intervals.  That and "NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"

[bratpop]

Well, EVERYBODY does "noooooooooooooooo."

It should be, "The Jedi are evil! From a certain point of view, which happens to be mine. Also, I killed Anakin Skywalker."

[lord humongous]

"I take exception to your view, Anakin, and maintain that the Chancellor is evil and that you are gone to distraction.  Have at thee!"

[bratpop]

"I challenge you to a Shakespearian insult-off, until such time as one of us is immobily de-limbed!"