We’re all pretty aware the world’s richest man is not the world’s smartest man, but this one might take the cake. On Sunday, Elon Musk took to his personal playground, X, to post an image of the Skywalker family from Star Wars. In it, Anakin and Padme are their younger selves, as Anakin sits on some kind of throne surrounded by Imperial soldiers, and young Luke and Leia wear Imperial officer outfits. “This is what they stole from us,” Musk wrote.
What the hell does that mean? Who is “they?” Is Musk implying Imperial life is preferable to freedom? Honestly, we have no flipping clue. But Musk’s post and its origins do point to a larger conversation that’s currently happening. Most likely, Musk is piling onto a trend this week of right-wing thinkers painting Anakin Skywalker in a positive light as a poster boy for the white, male experience, and it’s all very, very weird.
Memes from the prequels, like Anakin’s clashes with the Jedi Council or his Mustafar burning, pair with captions about modern grievances over family, culture, and recognition. Conservative voices flipped criticisms of the films to portray Jedi as out-of-touch gatekeepers, with Elon Musk posting about the Skywalker family as something ‘stolen’ and Lauren Chen blaming Padmé’s death on ideology over kids. While some defend Anakin as a victim of corrupt systems, others highlight his murders of Jedi younglings and choking of his pregnant wife, mixing humor with debates on romanticizing his dark turn.
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