[In the ‘Star Wars’ prequel trilogy], the feminine energy, the anima, is slowly being destroyed. In Attack of the Clones, Zam Wessel, Cordé the handmaiden, and most importantly, Anakin’s mother Shmi, die violently. In ‘Revenge of the Sith’, the final phase of destruction takes place. We see the betrayal and murder of two female Jedi: Stass Allie and Aayla Secura. Aayla in particular is murdered in an especially gruesome way, shot repeatedly in close range by several clonetroopers. Ironically she was on Felucia, a world teeming with life and giant blooming flowers. It climaxes with Padmé’s death after performing the ultimate feminine act, giving birth. She dies far from her fertile living world where she’d planned to have her child(ren), in a cold environment deep in space, and attended to by droids that cannot understand what is wrong with her.

There is a literal way of looking at Padmé’s death and a symbolic way. Padmé was as much a symbiont with her time and place as she was with Anakin. When the Republic era passes, she passes. In a cut scene from ‘Attack of the Clones’, the lesson in Padmé’s story about the refugees she tried to help as a child was that those who cannot adapt die. She cannot adapt to this new galaxy. Moreover, she refuses to adapt. She tells Anakin he is going down a path she cannot follow. She bitterly utters, “So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause,” after Palpatine crowns himself Emperor before a cheering Senate. When Vader in a rage cuts off her breathing, it symbolizes that the Empire, as personified by Anakin, is killing her.

She suffers not only the death throes of the Republic and its ideals, she also suffers with the physical and spiritual pain Anakin endures in his transformation into the Darth Vader we know from the classic trilogy. The film intercuts between Vader’s agony on the operating table and Padmé’s dying moments as she gives birth. When Vader’s transformation is complete, she dies.

With Padmé gone, the aesthetics of the Star Wars universe changes: we see the utilitarian set of the Star Destroyer, the beauty of the earlier ships gone. The beautiful, colorful, and elegant costumes have been replaced by simpler and more drab garments in shades of gray. Even the last time we see Naboo in the prequels, all of the citizens are dressed in funereal black. We see of glimpse of the Empire’s new order, a Star Destroyer crew made up entirely of men. Instead of the natural beauty of a planet, we witness the skeletal beginnings of the Death Star.”

excerpt from The Perils of Padmé, by lazypadawan (via xezene)

My gosh, Sagajournal still exists in some form! This is actually really cool for me: I used to contribute articles here! (I won’t link to them, though, I’m pretty sure they were terrible. I did them when I was sixteen.)