A few months ago, I tried to argue that Padme' was a hypocrite, since she was supposedly a champion of the common being yet wore a different extravagant outfit every time she showed up in public.

One of the recurring arguments against my stance was that Padme' was simply a victim of the times. She was forced to "accept" the trappings of wealth and power in order to better interact with her fellow Senators. She couldn't get the street cred she needed to enact certain legislation without being a part of the in-crowd.

I initially thought this was bunk, because if she was truly strong enough, she would have been able to work from a position of lesser extravagance to sway her fellow politicians. She also wore some pretty extravagant things in private, especially her pajamas and the outfits she wore when she and Anakin traveled to Tatooine.

It was also during this time that there were several blogs and posts that decried Padme's sappy performance in Ep.3, shouting that she was reduced to being a wimpy, lovesick, vapid little girl, instead of the strong-willed Senator and Queen we had previously seen.

Now, about a week ago, I was watching Ep.3 again, and all lof this came crashing back to me in a flash of insight. I was able to meld all these thoughts together and come up with a single vision of Padme'.

Given the argument that Padme' was a victim of the times and was forced to accept the trappings of wealth and power in order to exist, doesn't it also stand to reason that this forced her to bury her true feelings and emotional self whenever she was in public or in an uncomfortable position? Maybe, in order to co-exist in the galactic community, Padme' forced her emotional self deep within some inner core and never let it out unless she was fully comfortable with her companions and surroundings.

Consider: For most of Ep.1 and the beginning of Ep.2, we saw Padme' as Queen and Senator, fully engaged in the world of politics and not even thinking about falling in love. Once she meets Anakin, things start to change. The more she falls for Anakin, the more uncomfortable she becomes, and the deeper she buries her emotional self. However, at the end of Ep.2, she gives in fully to her emotional side, declaring her love for Anakin on Geonosis and later marrying him on Naboo. By the time Ep.3 starts, they are so in love that it hurts, and Padme' has become comfortable with this emotional state. Also consider that, for the most part, the only times we see Padme' in Ep.3 (in the film version, at least) are with Anakin, when she's comfortable enough to show her emotional side. We rarely get to see her in the political arena, so we didn't get much of a chance to see her less emotional, debate-hardened side.

So, in short, it appears that Padme' was truly a victim of the times. She was not unnecessarily goofy or silly in Ep.3, it was just that we finally saw her comfortable with her emotional side.

Thoughts? Arrows?

Bob
January 24, 2007