Walker Battles
The second episode of each Star Wars trilogy features a major battle involving mechanized walkers.
In the original and most iconic walker battle, in the first act of The Empire Strikes Back, Imperial AT-ATs attack the Rebel base on Hoth. The lumbering war machines travel from right to left across the frame, while the Rebel speeders travel left to right to fight them off. At the end of the battle, the Empire proves victorious and the Rebels flee.
The third act of Attack of the Clones pointedly inverts this scenario. The Republic attacks the Separatist base on Geonosis using walking AT-TEs, which travel from right to left across the frame. Once again, a rebel force is driven from its base by the army of the ruling government, which uses mechanized walkers and armies of troops in white. This time, the rebels are the “bad guys” and the walkers are the “good guys” – but although the Republic proves victorious and the Separatists flee, the reversal of The Empire Strikes Back insinuates what Yoda knows to be true: “Victory, you say? ... Not victory. The shroud of the dark side has fallen.” The Jedi have betrayed their principles by acting on fear and aggression, and the walkers and troopers who helped them “win” the battle will go on to exterminate them and snuff out any resistance to the Empire’s reign.
In The Last Jedi, the First Order attacks the Resistance base on Crait using mechanized walkers – but this time, the walkers travel from left to right across the frame, while the rebel speeders travel from right to left. Once again, this twist on the visual language of The Empire Strikes Back suggests that something is wrong. As in Attack of the Clones, the heroes are reacting out of fear, aggression, and desperation, and the speeder attack on the First Order’s walkers proves futile, nearly culminating in Finn throwing away his life. It is only when Luke Skywalker appears to overcome Kylo Ren without violence that the Resistance can successfully make their escape.
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Films: Episode II: Attack of the Clones / Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back / Episode VIII: The Last Jedi
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Concepts: aggression / good and evil / victory and defeat / war and peace
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