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Obi Wan Jesus
A hero rises out of the desert to lead a people to freedom from a Dark Lord… it’s Obi Wan Jesus!
Actually, they’re calling him “Obi-Wan Kerisst”, but that seems like a needlessly complex name for something which is otherwise straightforward and awesome. This little gem comes at you courtesy of Threadless T-Shirts, so check it out.
Here’s the website of the artist who created this sweet-ass design.
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October 12th, 2005 at 2:32 pm
But he’s dressed like Luke.
Give him a brown robe, and then he’d be Obi-Wan.
October 12th, 2005 at 2:37 pm
Dammit, that’s a really good point, isn’t it? The title for this t-shirt is totally off, isn’t it?
October 12th, 2005 at 5:24 pm
Too bad John The Baptist isn’t as iconic as Jesus i.e. recognizable enough to be on a T-shirt. He could be Obi John and then you’d have Jesus Crossbearer or something like that.
Of course, what’s interesting is that it doesn’t ruin the joke, to be off like that. People get it even if they deconstruct it– I still think it’s very funny. I guess that’s mythos at work.
October 12th, 2005 at 5:28 pm
Yeah, plus it’s just a fucking sweet graphic!
October 13th, 2005 at 4:24 am
Christ (Christianity) should be Anakin, IMO. Qui-Gon Jinn (Jinn being Arab for Ginni or spirit, and Qui-Gon being very close to Chinese Qi-Gong) represents a mix of Levantine and Oriental mysticism, perhaps a mysticism that was practiced in Persia before Zoroastrianism (the Magi). Qui-Gon trains Obi-Wan Kenobi (who is called an “old wizard”) who represents Occidental “paganism”. Qui-Gon is killed by Darth Maul (Zoroastrianism), who is the first Sith to be seen in a millenia. Likewise, Zoroastrianism nearly wiped out the religion of the Magi (though enough of it survived for the “Three Magi” to visit Christ). Zoroastrianism also introduced (or “re-introduced”) the concept of polar divinity, absolute evil and absolute good. Taking the dual concept further, the Sith operate under the oath of two, a master and an apprentice. Funny, how early on Palpatine (Sidious) is seen as a great guy, while his apprentices are seen as evil (God and Devil, Christ and Lucifer anyone?).
Getting back to Obi-Wan and Anakin. Anakin is trained by Obi-Wan, but also held the few lessons from Qui-Gon close to heart. This relationship can be seen in Christ/Christianity. The Magi visit Christ early in his life, just like Anakin’s early lessons are from Qui-Gon. Later, much of modern Christianity is actually taken from Pagan traditions (like Anakin learning from Obi-Wan), and eventually a massive resentment is built up (build up to the big fight of Ep 3). Thus Anakin is a symbol of Christ and the fall of Christianity to its current depths (Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell, etc).
Other Jedi, like Yoda (Yoga - Hinduism/Buddhism) and Mace Windu (possibly the Jedai (sp) religion of Africa, or warrior shamanism) represent other religions.
The only question in this analogy is the exact role of Palpatine and Dooku, and Judaism and Islam. One could take the argument that Palpatine is a representation of the fire in the “Cave”, Ruler of the Black Iron Prison, and thus Dooku would fit in as the symbol for Judaism, following along the monotheistic trail of Darth Maul (Zoroastrianism), Darth Tyrannus (Judaism), and Darth Vader (Christianity). The problem with that is that Christ learned from the Jews (like his incident at the temple when he was 12), but Anakin never has any “positive” interactions with Dooku. He does have (very) positive interactions with Palpatine though, so maybe thats good enough. Islam, however, I dont think shows up in Star Wars, at least not as an Individual. The Separatists could be viewed as Islam (especially with all the stereotypes and “war on terror”), but personally I dont think it shows up in Star Wars.
Luke, then, is the symbol of what is needed. He is the son of Anakin (Christianity - Levantine), he is first trained by Obi-Wan (Paganism, Magick, etc - Occident), and his final mentor is Yoda (Hinduism, Buddihism, Taoism - Orient). He is a master of technology (ace pilot), but also a master of the force (divine spark). His destiny is to redeem his father (the Levantine - Judaism, Islam, and Christianity gone awry), and take down the Emperor (The Demiurge). Eventually, in the books, Luke learns that there is no Light or Dark Side to the force, only good and evil in people who use it (greed vs. compassion).
So thats my gnostic take on Star Wars and why Anakin is Christ, or at least Christianity (Since Anakin was an innocent boy who was corrupted by Palpatine, the Demiurge).
How’s that for some food for thought!
October 13th, 2005 at 10:53 am
Why did Muad’dib pop into my head with the thought of all this?
October 13th, 2005 at 11:30 am
Because Star Wars and Dune follow very closely to the Hero Myth, which, if you follow Joseph Campbell’s outline of the “Hero’s Journey”, is closely related in themes and archetypes (Jung) to Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and the Gnostic Path.
There also some who may say that Lucas stole a lot of ideas from Dune.
October 13th, 2005 at 6:09 pm
What does that make Leia? Gaia, or Sofia? And is Queen Amidala Mary Madgalene?
October 14th, 2005 at 8:19 am
To be honest, I never really thought about the women of Star Wars. In my viewpoint, the original trilogy is pretty much the future, and the prequels represent pretty much the past up to the present. So the “new hope” of Luke and Leia (which, IMO represent the male and female elements of the “pure” hero, as opposed to Han, the “ambiguous” hero, the scoundrel).
Amidala could represent a number of things, but for some reason, Athena comes to mind. I guess because Athens was a central place of Democracy (and Naboo looked a lot like a futuristic Athens), and pretty much with Padme’s death, Democracy dies.
More than likely (if one were to do some additional thinking on the subject), one would find that most of the characters are a conglomeration of real-life influences. The only real characters to have singular inspirations, IMO, is the Emperor (Demi-urge) and Anakin (Christ/Christianity). All the other characters (including Jedi) represent a mix of metaphorical influences because you’re creating a metaphor for 4,000+ years of human history (it’s gunna be condensed).
One interesting note, while listening to some random radio broadcast I have of Jeff Rense (he’s actually interviewing David Icke, and his Zulu shaman friend, Credo Mutwa), I came across something quite interesting. They were talking about Icke’s theories of reptillian “elites” or “illuminati”, and Credo Mutwa was divulging a large amount of Zulu “history/mythology” (He’s the living historian of the Zulu culture, and the highest ranked shaman, probably in all of Africa). He talked about a race that came before humans, but was banished by God to another planet (reptillians). They later came back, and using their “worker class” (Greys), they slowly worked their way back into the bloodline…blah blah blah (it was 2+ hours long). The really interesting thing was when Credo started talking about their warrior class. He described them as having dark, sometimes painted faces, red and yellow eyes, and a bunch of horns. He then went on to mention that when he saw advertisements for Ep1, and saw Darth Maul, he was startled and shocked at how Lucas could have known about these “creatures”.
Like I said, something interesting.