I started a thread on this subject over at the SW.com forums. It's been a major discussion that's collected several thousand posts, so I thought I'd start it here too.
How corrupt was the Republic? EU sources, as you all know, say that it was rotted from within, but the point of this thread is to find evidence of it in the movies themselves. Several people have said that in the movies, there is no direct evidence of widespread corruption, and because of that, it's not what Lucas really intended. Here and there, yes. But not to the point that it made the Republic ineffectual.
I do know of a few quotes from Lucas where he says that the Republic was indeed rotted with corruption, but those were mostly dismissed, because of the date of those quotes. Some feel that during the course of filming the prequels, he changed his mind on this. Others feel that if this was his intention, it wasn't communicated well to the audience.
Another argument against widespread corruption is the fact that it supposedly would mean that the Jedi turned a blind eye to it. That the Jedi wouldn't have so strongly supported a government that was that corrupt. Yet another point was made that if the Republic was that corrupt, it deserved to fall. Palpatine in fact did the galaxy a favor.
Discuss.
How corrupt was the Republic? EU sources, as you all know, say that it was rotted from within, but the point of this thread is to find evidence of it in the movies themselves. Several people have said that in the movies, there is no direct evidence of widespread corruption, and because of that, it's not what Lucas really intended. Here and there, yes. But not to the point that it made the Republic ineffectual.
I do know of a few quotes from Lucas where he says that the Republic was indeed rotted with corruption, but those were mostly dismissed, because of the date of those quotes. Some feel that during the course of filming the prequels, he changed his mind on this. Others feel that if this was his intention, it wasn't communicated well to the audience.
Another argument against widespread corruption is the fact that it supposedly would mean that the Jedi turned a blind eye to it. That the Jedi wouldn't have so strongly supported a government that was that corrupt. Yet another point was made that if the Republic was that corrupt, it deserved to fall. Palpatine in fact did the galaxy a favor.
Discuss.
