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 | What's up with The "Phantom" Menace? |
 Why did George call that first movie "The Phantom Menace" and who or what do we assume is the "Phantom"?
I was reading this fascinating book last night called " Word Origins" (recommend you check it out) and I came across an entry for the word Fantasy.
As it turns out, this word is from the Greek " phantasia." This concept was used by Greek philosophers to describe the mind's ability to put something before itself. Could be a visualization, could be a concept, could be a person.
From that, we get the word " phantom." Originally, the word phantom described something which was not real. It was only imagined. Usage in the 20th century has expanded to include something which is unconfirmed-- could be real, could be unreal. For example: when "a phantom shape sneaks through the hall" we often assume the "phantom" is real but unidentified.
In the case of the "Phantom Menace," I think we assume that the "Phantom" is a mysterious but very real character. Most of us figure it's a reference to Darth Sidious.
But let's take the word back to its origin for a moment. Maybe the "Phantom" menace truly is a phantom-- it is unreal. Sidious' attack on Naboo and corruption of the government is really just a phantom. Although the Dark Side is at work, who is really the menace?
Anakin Skywalker.
Without Anakin, would any of Sidious' plans have come to fruition?
I suggest that we can take the title as a double-meaning. On the surface, the "Phantom" is Darth Sidious, manipulating events behind the scenes. But the second meaning exposes the entire scheme as a smokescreen, a ruse. The real battle is for the soul of Anakin Skywalker-- the battle for Naboo, the Clone Wars, all just a distraction.
And so the "menace" to the galaxy is truly a "phantom." Just an imagined fear in the mind of the galaxy.
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http://blogs.starwars.com/RyanKaufman/41 |
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The Guardian of Light
Light Shines Brightest in the Dark
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date Posted: Jul 21, 2006 11:30 AM
I do believe that you are absolutely correct. If it could have a deeper meaning I do believe that that would be it. I think that is truly it.
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Darth Rex0
So be it....
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date Posted: Jul 21, 2006 11:38 AM
Well said and something to think about. Sounds good to me though.
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rj_peters
Memos from the Imperial Finance Department
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date Posted: Jul 21, 2006 1:16 PM
"The Phantom Menace" is a title that started out sounding somewhat goofy and has completely grown on me. I like it precisely because it isn't straight forward. It's the most elusive of the movie titles, I think.
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DarthSafady
You ain't Sith!
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date Posted: Jul 21, 2006 1:17 PM
Darth Maul was the Phantom Menance. Phantom :A. something (as a specter) apparent to sense but with no substantial existence. B. something elusive or visionary.
Menace: one that represents a threat
The title is a reference to the return of the Sith after 1,000 years.
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Oboe-Wan
Oboe-Wan's Hive of Scum & Villainy
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date Posted: Jul 21, 2006 2:29 PM
Wow. I never thought "Phantom" referred to Sidious, you have opened my mind to something new today. I always thought the "phantom menace" was the dark side's perpetuating the return of the Sith. The movie poster w/little anakin casting the DV shadow made me think Anakin himself was the phantom menace... meaning what he will be is not in existence yet, but we, the viewers know, what will happen. WE create the phantom as we cannot watch the story unfold w/o knowing where it will end....
did you hear that little pop? That was the main screw that holds my brain together....
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RyanKaufman
Look, sir! Zombies!
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date Posted: Jul 21, 2006 2:36 PM
did you hear that little pop? That was the main screw that holds my brain together....
I only consider it a successful blog if someone's head explodes. And so thank you Oboe-Wan and Bubba!
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anakinside1
Echoes from the Asteroid Field
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date Posted: Jul 21, 2006 3:44 PM
It's the most elusive of the movie titles, I think.
Nice point, and what a fitting beginning to the PT where the menace is so elusive it's hard to really know who's a friend and who's an enemy, let alone which way the Force is flowing. Very interesting blog. It also reminds me of when Anakin says in ROTS novel "I am the disturbance."
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macewindu882
Don't Go All Chewie On Me!
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date Posted: Jul 21, 2006 3:44 PM
Hmmm...Interesting thoughts. I once made a blog about the same subject.
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jedivan2
Jedivan's Viewpoint
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date Posted: Jul 21, 2006 7:46 PM
I suggest that we can take the title as a double-meaning. On the surface, the "Phantom" is Darth Sidious, manipulating events behind the scenes. But the second meaning exposes the entire scheme as a smokescreen, a ruse.
I always thought that GL used "phantom" poetically, as a synonym for "invisible" or "hidden". In TPM, the Sith threat is, for most of the film hidden, or, as Obi-Wan says (at the begining of said film), "elsewhere... elusive." Your thoughts seem to be along the sames lines as mine, although I saw the menace as a ruse to give the Sith control of the galaxy, not neccessarily for the soul of Anakin.
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viagoangel2
Were Anakin and Padme' really one?
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date Posted: Jul 21, 2006 7:47 PM
Well I'll be a monkey's Uncle! ? That was FANTABULOUS!! Wow! Now that whole analogy or concept that you conjured up would have made my head *spin*! Nicely done. ANGEL 
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Kenobi-fan
The Jundland Wastes Journal
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date Posted: Jul 21, 2006 9:40 PM
Just as 'Return of the Jedi' (Return of the Order, of Anakin, of Luke, etc.) seems to have multiple meanings, I'm not surprised that 'phantom' offers the same ambiguity. As for myself, I always believed phantom referred to the behind-the-scenes doings of Palpatine. On the one hand, he's offering help to Amidala at the same time he's working against her. Additionally, I loved the fact that we see Sidious as a 'phantasmic' figure by way of his hologram. Spoooooky!
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gencrs
Technical Manuals from The GFFA
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date Posted: Jul 21, 2006 10:41 PM
I always looked at the title as talking about the Sith's return to prominence (sp?) and not necessarily regarding either Sidious or Maul by themselves. I never thought about Anakin being the menace, even though we all know what happens to him 15+ years later. This is a new angle for me to ponder furthur. Thanks for the blog.
R, TFWBWY, A.
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JediMelindaWolf
Try not. Do. Or do not. There is no try.
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date Posted: Jul 21, 2006 11:02 PM
Like Kenobi-fan and others, I always took the phantom menace to be Darth Sidious/our old friend Palpatine. (Darth Maul was just his agent.) As DarthSafady noted, the phantom is something ... apparent to sense but with no substantial existence. Qui-Gon noticed something was not right, as did Obi-wan, when they arrived on the Neimoidian ship when PM opened. The Dark Side/DS was at work.
I have to admit I never thought of Anakin as the menace. I understand how you reached your conclusion. I just don't think of Anakin as the true PM. He was naive. He was so easily manipulated. But phantom? Menace? I'm not sure about that.
Good blog!
MTFBWY
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EvilDarthBear
The Grand Admiral's Club
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date Posted: Jul 22, 2006 6:08 AM
I've always taken the "phantom menace" to be a looser concept, meaning a resurgence of the dark side, or the evil times to come. But......then again, it could be Ani 
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napalm229
Republic Enemy: thoughts on the CIS
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date Posted: Jul 22, 2006 6:37 AM
I have thought this as well. Of course, with SW, there is a lot of duality with characters and situations. So I tend to think that it means both things as relates to Sidious and Anakin Skywalker. Great observation.
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Korto Vos3
Korto Vos - Hero for Hire
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date Posted: Jul 22, 2006 8:14 AM
Allright, listen bub. The Phantom Menace is refering to Darth Sidious. Nobody knows he exists - Hence "The Phantom". He is a menace to the galaxy - hence the "Menace". You can use all the greek definitions in the world but Sidious is clearly the answer. And yes, Sidous's plans would have come to fruiton without Anakin. In Ep 1, Anakin was a curiosity to Palpatine, not the key to his success. If Palpatine's plan relyed on one man, he never would have set them into motion. What if Anakin didn't choose the dark side? Palpatine's plan would be ruined and the Sith would be exposed. Anakin was just a powerful apprentice to Sidious, nothing more. Nice work on the blog but too much analyzation gets tedious and annoying.
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knott@capital.net
Blogs By Grace
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date Posted: Jul 22, 2006 6:12 PM
Good Blog!! I never thought of it that way, i just thought it was reffering to the sith in general. mostly maul since he was the only one known to the jedi at the time, and the audience. Saying that, the sith supposedly extinct were now back. I was thinking of 'phantom' more as a ghost like figure,
once again, good blog!!!
May the Force be With You.
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masterjay_em_kay
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date Posted: Jul 22, 2006 6:42 PM
And yes, Sidous's plans would have come to fruiton without Anakin.
I'm not so sure. Mace Windu had Sidious defeated before Anakin interfered. Although, if Palpatine hadn't specifically told Anakin he knew the dark side, Mace wouldn't have had that fight with the emperor... I'm up in the air on this one.
In Ep 1, Anakin was a curiosity to Palpatine, not the key to his success.
He was also a curiosity to Qui-gon but that didn't stop him from seeing Anakin as the chosen one. Perhaps Palpatine,as a sith, interpreted the prophecy differently than Qui-gon. He also trusted his ability to forsee the future. Maybe he "forsaw" the jedi finding Anakin.
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Jedi Master Ed Rosary
Jedi Master Ed's CIV Costume Search
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date Posted: Jul 22, 2006 10:04 PM
Perhaps this would make for a good question if Mr. Lucas attends Celebration IV I have always believed it could be the Sith and their rise with out the Jedi knowing, but I also thought it is at the same time refering to Anakin
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jdimstr3334
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date Posted: Jul 22, 2006 10:49 PM
Called it the Phantom Menace because there were evil forces coming about he did. Imagine something that is Phantom, "not real." Now imagine that it is a menace, all around you, and you were trying to figure out where it came from. It was a menace. The dark side of the force!
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masterzohtunee
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date Posted: Jul 23, 2006 12:10 AM
OWEY!!!!!!!!!!!!! my head hurts!
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RyanKaufman
Look, sir! Zombies!
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date Posted: Jul 23, 2006 9:03 AM
One thing I've noticed on these blogs is that it's hard to communicate the notion of ambiguity to people: That an idea can have more than one meaning.
Although I mentioned Anakin as a possible "menace," this doesn't at all mean this is my only interpretation.
The great thing about Star Wars are the multiple layers of meaning in the films.
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usetheforce19
MasterMonkey13
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date Posted: Jul 23, 2006 1:47 PM
The great thing about Star Wars are the multiple layers of meaning in the films.
True, that is one of the reasons I love Star Wars.
May the Force be with us all! God bless!
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Master Obi-Dan Kenobi
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date Posted: Jul 23, 2006 3:02 PM
As stated earlier, a Phantom is something unreal, but we see it. It can be in the showdows but it can also be something used as a divice to hide what is really going on. I always took the Phantom Menace to mean Darth Maul. This is because he is a menace, but he's only a silk screen to what's going on in the background. He's the distraction from the real menace of what sidious is planning. As RyanKaufman rightly pointed out, it means unreal, so that's why i take it to mean Maul, because he isn't a real menace.
I think you've got the right idea though I'm not overly sure whether or not you've drawn the right conclusions. Still that's what makes it fun to discuss. Good one to chew on though. Good blog RyanKaufman.
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cbern
Omega Squad's 5th member
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date Posted: Jul 23, 2006 5:27 PM
so i'm the only one that thinks its maul.....but i may have to think again
these points show it to not be maul
but of course, everyone takes the gffa in their own way, so....
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DJ Maul: Got Feet?
DJ Maul's Dancin' Cantina Party
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date Posted: Jul 23, 2006 5:31 PM
Now see I would never have connected the "Phantom" to Anakin. At that point he's young and still innocent, and it isnt really until the END that Palpatine even comes to NOTICE Anakin or his abilities...unless future EU brings to light whether or not Sideous & Plageous really had a hand in Anakins creation or NOT.
So to me the "Phantom" was always the Sith in general and Sideous in specific, the puppet master the Jedi wernt even sure EXISTED,
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DJ Maul: Got Feet?
DJ Maul's Dancin' Cantina Party
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date Posted: Jul 23, 2006 5:33 PM
I also think Palpatine/Sideous had that scheme to (eventually) make him Chancellor set up LONG before his involvement with Anakin, and would have happened with our without his involvement.
But with the loss of Maul and his taking notice of Anakins unique abilities in The Force he shifted gears in his otherwise established plans to include taking Anakin as his new apprentice.
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lovelucas
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date Posted: Jul 23, 2006 6:50 PM
Funny that this is the title that seems to please people the least yet it says it all.....
The Phantom - hiding in plain sight - Menace - somehow menace seems to be too small a word for all the damage that Sidious will do..
and yes - I agree - the Trade Federation, the Battle for Naboo - heck the Clone Wars were all red herrings.......they all served a purpose, especially the Clone Wars decimating the number of Jedi and splitting them all up, including Anakin and Obi Wan - but Anakin was always the prize - and a means to an end....Palpatine keeps his eyes on the prize.
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DarthLilja
A Rogue's Point of View
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date Posted: Jul 23, 2006 9:47 PM
I see Darth Maul as the "Phantom Menace" as he is always in the shadows wreaking havoc but I do agree with you that Sidious could also be considered the menace. The Force flows through all of us and gives us different answers.
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Killer Karade
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date Posted: Jul 24, 2006 8:00 AM
The phantom menace is really very literal. The titles of the Star Wars movies we're not intended to be thought through; GL wanted them to sound like titles for old sci-fi serials: The Empire Strikes Back. Doesn't that title sound like something straight from the 50's? Instead of being called "Pearl Harbor" the original was titled "Tora Tora Tora" which means Attack Attack Attack in Japanese. Obviously movies are not given such cheesey, blatent titles as they were is the 50's but that is the feeling GL was going for. These serials were what he grew up watching and what inspired SW. The Phantom Menace simply refers to the bad guy in the movie.
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Killer Karade
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date Posted: Jul 24, 2006 8:01 AM
Yes Sidious had overall control of the evil but Darth Maul is the one seen doing all of the action. Not to mention, even at the end of the movie, not even Yoda knows whether Maul was the master or apprentice. They know there is another Sith, but from the Jedi's point of view, the other Sith is not even given a thought until that scene at the end. The only menaces they deal with are the Trade Federation and Maul. But Maul is the phantom-ish one. He suddenly appears after the Sith have suppose to have been dead for years and years. He is trained in the Jedi arts, looks scary as hell, and doesn't even reveal himself until the bad guys have passed the point of no return. He quite literally is the phantom menace.
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RyanKaufman
Look, sir! Zombies!
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date Posted: Jul 24, 2006 9:31 AM
The titles of the Star Wars movies we're not intended to be thought through; GL wanted them to sound like titles for old sci-fi serials:
You're right on the second count, but wrong on the first.
Anything and everything in pop culture can be thought through and examined for deeper meaning. That's the basis of all criticism and learning. So even though Star Wars is intended as popcorn fun (titles included) we can learn a lot from digging deeper.
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YoshiYoda
"No Slotting, No Disintegration, No Accidents." - "Not Even a Good Slap?"
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date Posted: Jul 24, 2006 3:02 PM
I always thought of the Phantom Menace as Darth Maul, because the movie titles seemed to stay with the events that take place in that particular film. Such as "Attack of the Clones". And since Darth Sidious was meant to be a more shadowy character at the time (I believe), I figured DM would be the main concern. I never thought of Anakin being the PM.
Nice blog! 
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21212121212
"So be it.......21212121212"
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date Posted: Jul 25, 2006 8:27 AM
I think that the real Phantom Menace here is supposed to be Sidious. Think about it, Sidious was always the one causing all these bad things to happen in the first movie. When the Trade Federation were instructed by Sidious to kill the Republic negotiators (Qui-gon and Obi-Wan), The invasion of the Trade Federation on Naboo, The blocade over Naboo, When Darth Maul was sent to assasinate the Queen on Tatooine, And the terrible battle of Naboo. The Jedi knew that sombody was pulling all these strings to cause these events.
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jSarek
jSarek's Infonet
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date Posted: Jul 27, 2006 7:25 PM
Yes, the title should be looked at as intentionally having multiple meanings. Lucas may have his faults, but failing to put deeper meaning in plain view isn't one of them. No amount of "Allright, listen bub"s will change that.
For those looking for evidence of Anakin being the Phantom Menace, one can look to the score of the film. Anakin's Theme has the seeds of the Imperial March sewn into it; there can be no doubt that his destiny weighs heavy on him even at this point. And how do the final credits end?
With the raspy, mechanized breath of what Anakin is to become.
Make no mistake, Anakin *is* the phantom menace. Perhaps not the only one, but one nonetheless.
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RyanKaufman
Look, sir! Zombies!
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date Posted: Jul 28, 2006 9:20 AM
And how do the final credits end? With the raspy, mechanized breath of what Anakin is to become.
Whoa! Give that man a cigar! Good call... I'd completely forgotten about those final moments of the movie credits. Even the soundtrack is telling us that Anakin is not what he seems.
And while we're on the subject, it's been pointed out that the "Gungan Celebration" song is actually just the Emperor's Theme, reinterpreted and speed up.
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Darth Minious
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date Posted: Aug 06, 2006 3:22 AM
I always sorta thought that THE PHANTOM MENACE referred to Darth Bane's long, drawn out plan to keep the Sith hidden until the Force went out of balance, towards the Dark Side, and they could make their move.
I believed that Obi-wan was sensing an undercurrent in the Force, almost a vision of the future, when he made that statement to Qui-gon on the Trade Federation ship.
But I'll buy that it had multiple meanings. Like Anakin and his destiny as the Chosen One... for better or worse.
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Sompeetalay
Sompeetalay's Source Blog
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date Posted: Aug 15, 2006 3:37 AM
To me the 'Phantom' could be following persons / things:
- Anakin
- Darth Maul (master or the apprentice?)
- Sidious / Palpatine
- The Naboo conflict (the real menace was the election of the new Chancellor)
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wartime consiglieri
The Headless Jedi
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date Posted: Nov 21, 2006 8:59 PM
I took the Phantom Menace to be the emerging Sith, including Maul because his face was transparent in the movie artwork. It's a brilliant title--when you think about it, it puts you in the point of view of the Jedi. We know that Sidious is out there, but the Jedi don't know if Maul is the Master or the Apprentice (Maul was so powerful he could have been the Master), they don't know where the Sith came from, they don't know what's going on. When you plug into the Jedi's anxiety, it puts a whole new, very scary light on TPM.
And yes, when you think of little Anakin, standing right in the Jedi Council Chambers, as part of the invisible, emerging threat, it rachets up the terror another notch.
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megatrends
Confessions of a Psychotic Jawa
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date Posted: May 25, 2007 11:17 AM
I have always taken it as the PM being the unknown trouble the Jedi Coucil could all sense. Mace even stated in the film that the Sith were extinct so it could not possibly be the Sith.
I just took it as they knew something was knocking but did not know what it was yet at that time.
Yep ... that simple.
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