{"id":5879,"date":"2016-03-14T01:18:33","date_gmt":"2016-03-13T19:48:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/13.201.39.237\/?p=5879"},"modified":"2026-07-17T21:54:27","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T16:24:27","slug":"comfort-in-star-wars-week-of-distressing-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/13.207.105.184\/?p=5879","title":{"rendered":"Finding Comfort in Star Wars after a Week of Distressing News"},"content":{"rendered":"\nI<\/span>\u2019ve been a fan of the <\/span>Star Wars<\/span><\/i><\/a> franchise for nearly two decades, but I was finding it difficult to find much enthusiasm for the release of <\/span>Rise of Skywalker<\/span><\/i>, the ninth <\/span>Star Wars<\/span><\/i> film and final chapter of the generation-spanning Skywalker family saga. Happenings in the real world had soured my appetite for adventures taking place in a galaxy far, far away. Much more pressing were the demonstrations taking place in my own country, in my own city. To be honest, I was more interested in attending the August Kranti Maidan protest than catching a first-day screening of <\/span>Rise of Skywalker<\/span><\/i>. As it happened, I did both, and if not for the former, I wouldn\u2019t have enjoyed the latter.\n\nThe <\/span>Star Wars <\/span><\/i>films, like most great sci-fi and fantasy properties, have always appealed to our sense of escapism, which is why my enthusiasm was somewhat dimmed for <\/span>Rise of <\/span><\/i>Skywalker<\/span><\/i><\/a>. Don\u2019t get me wrong \u2013 I love <\/span>Star Wars<\/span><\/i> so much I even own underwear with Darth Vader\u2019s face printed on it, but the thought of forgetting the very real problems for another entertaining Jedi vs Sith battle was enough to cause a little guilt. But then, I ended up going for the protest against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Mumbai\u2019s August Kranti Maidan, and I realised that even here, there were people resisting the Dark Side of the Force.\n\n\"rise\n\n
\n

Resisting evil is what defined Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and Han Solo just as much as it does Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron.<\/p>\n

Lucasfilm Ltd\/Bad Robot Productions<\/p>\n<\/figcaption>\n<\/figure>\n\nIt\u2019s evident by now that I\u2019m one of \u201cthose\u201d people \u2013 some would call me \u201canti-national\u201d, others might say \u201cuseless liberal\u201d \u2013 who believes the <\/span>CAA<\/span><\/a> flies against the principles upon which India was brought into existence. Combined with the National Register of Citizens (NRC), I\u2019m worried what these developments could spell for the future of India. The single-minded determination with which Home Minister Amit Shah pushed the Citizenship Amendment Bill through Parliament and secured the President\u2019s approval, turning it into law, as well as the widespread approval it received, made me feel alienated, as if my discomfort over thinly veiled religious discrimination made <\/span>me <\/span><\/i>the odd one out.\n\nBut at August Kranti Maidan on Thursday evening, tens of thousands of people assured me of the opposite. It wasn\u2019t just me! The number of people turning out for the protest exceeded everybody\u2019s expectations, and to see solidarity in such numbers lifted my spirits. I went from feeling alone, to feeling that if like-minded people stick together, the future can in fact be changed. And the next day, a character in <\/span>Rise of Skywalker<\/span><\/i> expressed exactly what I was feeling: \u201cThey win when they make us think we\u2019re alone.\u201d\n\n

The thousands who took to the streets in Mumbai, their struggle is just beginning. May the Force be with them.<\/p><\/blockquote> \n\nThe people at the Mumbai protest were all dissenting with the establishment, they were braving the chance of meeting similar brutal repression as the protesters in Delhi and Aligarh, and voicing their opinions no matter how unpopular those might be among the establishment. They were \u2013 and any <\/span>Star Wars <\/span><\/i>fan will tell you, this is a compliment of the highest order \u2013 rebel scum. The fictional world of <\/span>Star Wars <\/span><\/i>needs this rebel scum \u2013 a ragtag band of heroes from diverse backgrounds \u2013 to challenge and defeat the evil, oppressive regimes of the Galactic Empire and the <\/span>First Order<\/span><\/a>, and our India needs her own rebel scum to fight against laws that will divide her citizens.\n\nFrom the first <\/span>Star Wars<\/span><\/i> movies, which were released in the \u201970s, to today\u2019s <\/span>Rise of Skywalker<\/span><\/i>, there has been a common thread of the plucky underdogs fighting the good fight. Resisting evil is what defined Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, and <\/span>Han Solo<\/span><\/a> just as much as it does Rey, Finn, and Poe Dameron. And at a time when resisting and speaking out feels more important than it has in a while, that is an inspiring message. It\u2019s probably one of the reasons why this franchise has spanned decades and generations. Despite the lightsabers and sentient droids and rampant escapism, there\u2019s an evergreen relatability to the theme of fighting the power. It is one of the main purposes of the genre, as the author Neil Gaiman once said: \u201cFairy tales are more than true: not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.\u201d\n\nRise of Skywalker<\/span><\/i> might be the culmination of a nine-film long saga, but for the thousands who took to the streets in Mumbai, many of them for the first time, their struggle is just beginning. May the Force be with them.\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The thought of watching another Jedi vs Sith battle while protests raged across the country was enough to cause a little guilt. But at the demonstration against the Citizenship Amendment Act in Mumbai\u2019s August Kranti Maidan, I realised that even here, there were people resisting the Dark Side of the Force.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":43,"featured_media":5882,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[82],"tags":[9804,9784,1370,9755,9805,137],"class_list":["post-5879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pop-culture","tag-august-kranti-maidan","tag-caa-protests","tag-han-solo","tag-nrc","tag-rise-of-skywalker","tag-star-wars"],"yoast_head":"\nFinding Comfort in Star Wars after a Week of Distressing News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The thought of watching another Jedi vs Sith battle while protests raged across the country was enough to cause a little guilt. 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