One thing no one would argue is that the Star Wars movies are full of moral lessons. This follows from Star Wars being modern myth--myths always set out to teach lessons, and usually, a myth will contain more than just one message.

For instance, the Star Wars movies teach such lessons as the value of loyalty, the importance of being true to and trusting in one's self, and the merit of hope.

The Prequel Trilogy itself has a number of themes all its own, the most prominent of which is a lesson in the politics of creating a dictator. Mr. Lucas said these inspirations came from Rome's Caesar, Germany's Hitler, and America's Nixon. His lesson was how a dictator could rise to power in a climate like our own, as our country seems, at least in its current state, unlikely to fall to a rival power.

Nevertheless, there is one broader, more over-reaching theme than even all of these.

It has been said that Star Wars is a tale of Good Versus Evil. I'd have to say this is incorrect, in the same way it is incorrect to call Lord of the Rings a tale of Good Versus Evil--as I have been reminded, Lord of the Rings is a tale of "the choices people make in the face of evil."

Star Wars, then, has something to tell us about that battle between good and evil. It is perhaps pronounced most prominently in the way Darth Vader has gone from the Evil Man in Black Armor to a Fallen Jedi, the Empty Shell of a Man.

We must consider: Is anyone in Star Wars truly evil, or anyone truly good?

The only character who can be categorized as such is the Emperor. Only he is an absolute.

What does this mean? It means that everyone else is either a good person who sometimes does bad things, or a bad person who sometimes does good things. Anakin falls to the Dark Side reluctantly and redeems himself in the end. Luke using a Force Choke on guards in Jabba's Palace.

But then we must ask ourselves, Which ones are the good guys doing bad things, and which are the bad doing good? Anakin jumps to mind as a character who could go either way.

And that's where the beauty of Mr. Lucas' creation erupts: There are no good people or bad people. There are just people, who sometimes do good and sometimes do bad. Certainly, some do far more of one than the other, to the point where they can be categorized as one or the other--but this is, in essence, a person being made what he is by his own actions.

For a tale so callously categorized as about "good versus evil," this is an important realization.

Star Wars is in fact a tale of people who choose good or evil, always a mixture of the two over their lifetimes. Good and Evil do exist--the Light Side and Dark Side of the Force prove it--but people themselves are not good or evil in absolute terms.

Along with this theme of people choosing to act good or act evil, in fact, necessary to it, is the theme of redemption--there are no deeds so terrible, so evil that one cannot still perform good actions in the end. That is what Vader's sacrifice and redemption is about: Yoda was wrong. "If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny..." Yoda was mistaken. One always has a choice.

I write this blog today because last night, I finished the Seventh Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. (For those of you who haven't read it yet, I promise the following discussion will only give away very minor spoilers, the sort you'd learn about a movie from reading its review.) It was a wonderful book, with some beautifully written passages. And it contains some important moral lessons.

However, I have to admit I feel that J.K. Rowling dropped the ball on one moral lesson, that being the internal struggle between good and evil. The book feels as though it's setting up for it: Harry uses one of the three Unforgivable Curses, in a way that can almost be construed as an accident; he is then forced to keep using it due to circumstances. There is discussion of "for the greater good," and how moral an idea that really is. Then Harry goes on to use an Unforgivable Curse again, this time when it definitely feels like overkill...

...and then he is followed in that pursuit by a clearly moral character, a supporting character, a "good guy" character, who I would have expected to reprimand him for his actions rather than joining in. And for whatever reason, the theme is never really touched on again. What could have shaped up to be an internal struggle over what evil really means, what could have been a look at when the ends justify the means, what could have been an exploration of the differences between Harry and Voldemort, is all left up in the air. We are given the brief lesson, disconnected even from Harry's struggle, that "Voldemort kills even when he doesn't have to," and then the subject is dropped, to leave us wondering where that leaves Harry.

While I certainly enjoy the Harry Potter novels, Star Wars feels much deeper. Its mythology strikes at the inner core of what it means to be human, of that internal and eternal struggle between right and wrong every person must undertake on his own. Star Wars does not rest on its laurels and tell us "he's the good guy because he's fighting the bad guy"; Star Wars leaves us with moral ambiguity: what to make of Luke Force Choking those guards? Is Anakin a good guy or a bad guy? And, in the end, we realize that such simple terms cannot be used to define such complex characters as live in the Star Wars galaxy, and by extension, such complex people as live in the real world.