Luke Skywalker and Refugees

I find it interesting how movies allude to current world issues. Zootopia shows that people of all shapes, sizes, and genders can and do make an impact. Arrival highlighted the tensions that actually do exist between nations right now. And if you can stretch your imagination, think of how Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them highlights the counterproductive bureaucracy in politics. Such nuances woven in to movies are intentional and lead to a more thought-provoking experience for watchers. 

Most movies contain or reference wars. With most wars, comes a specific consequence—refugees, or people who are forced to leave because of an attack where they live. That’s a very basic definition*. Rarely do movies focus on the plight of refugees, but they certainly still exist. Why don't movies talk about refugees more? There are sixty million refugees in the world. Perhaps much of western culture cannot relate to refugees; North America hasn’t been successfully invaded in the past two hundred years. Additionally, there’s a sense of pride in fighting, not fleeing. Think of the Lion King: would it still be a great movie if Simba never returned to Pride Rock? Come to think of it, America's focus on freedom is probably why it's called Pride Rock. 

Luke Skywalker is one of the most noteworthy “refugees” in movies. In A New Hope, he lost the family he grew up with. He was thrown into a war and had to leave. He eventually teams up with another refugee named Yoda in an uninhabited disgusting swamp planet, which could resemble refugees' living conditions. Luke, about thirty years later, becomes a refugee again in The Force Awakens. This makes me think: I wonder if Rey will be a refugee somewhere down the road? Maybe I should finish this post after The Last Jedi comes out in December...

Here is my point: movies intentionally mimic our feelings towards today’s important issues. My hunch is more movies will come out with refugees in 2017 and 2018. Whether they will be portrayed as terrorists or as innocent humans will likely depend on us, because big movie producers will shape their messages to coordinate with our feelings and opinions of today's news.  

*The definition of a refugee given by the United Nations is rather wordy, though more accurate:

Any person who is outside any country of such person’s nationality or, in the case of a person having no

nationality, is outside any country in which such person last habitually resided, and who is unable or

unwilling to return to, and is unable or unwilling to avail himself or herself of the protection of, that

country because of persecution or a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion,

nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion.