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u/PopsicleIncorporated

🔥 Hot ▲ 71 r/MawInstallation

Does the average Order 66 survivor know that Palpatine is a Sith Lord?

Been some time since I've seen Rebels, so it's possible this is contradicted there and I've forgotten. That said, this is what I understand the average Order 66 survivor would know.

Things you know:

  1. One decade before the Clone Wars, the Sith were officially confirmed to be back.

  2. The Clone Wars, while mostly a political conflict, was tied up in some kind of Sith plot; you know this because Dooku was a Sith.

  3. You know there is political tension between the Jedi Order and the Supreme Chancellor's office. You're probably aware of him centralizing power. Your Master or your best friend in the order has probably griped about it.

  4. Suddenly, your clones turned on you and you barely managed to escape. You can't figure out why this happened.

  5. After a beacon initially calls you home, it suddenly starts blaring a message to stay away, no matter what. At about the same time, Palpatine, who you've likely had negative opinions of, if only from a political perspective, has declared himself Emperor. You are now a fugitive.

  6. A few months or years into being on the run, you encounter another Force user for the first time since the clones turned on you, except this one is working with the Empire and has the trademark evil red blade.

Things you don't know:

  1. You probably didn't know the extent of the Jedi Council's investigation into Darth Sidious. You might not even know he exists; I'm unsure of whether or not this was made public within the Order.

  2. You don't know Palpatine is Sidious. You very well might not know he's a Sith Lord, just that he's seized power. This was kept from the public, unless you were a high-ranking member who knew about the investigation or were present in the hangar when Anakin Skywalker rushed to tell Mace Windu something, you don't know shit.

  3. If you're lucky, when you encounter that other Force user for the first time, you live long enough to learn they're an Inquisitor. But you've never heard of an Inquisitor before. You have no idea where this person came from, all you know is that they're trying to kill you on behalf of this new world order.

  4. You definitely don't know who Darth Vader is.

With all of this in mind, being on the run as a Jedi during this time period has to be really, really confusing and terrifying.

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u/PopsicleIncorporated — 16 hours ago
▲ 4 r/ShittyFanTheories

A theory about one of the greatest crime movies of our time and about the hollowness of the American Dream. I am of course referring to The Room (2003)

Everyone knows The Room. It's widely argued to be the worst movie of all time, a total mess. Nothing redeeming about it as a piece of art.

I take issue with this. In this post, I will discredit this notion and instead make an effort to describe the events of the film through the lens of trying to understand what it is we do not see, and how we can use that to fill in the blanks. When I am finished, you will see that The Room as a masterpiece of American cinema which takes inspiration largely from Romeo and Juliet and The Godfather as well as contemporary television such as The Sopranos.

First, we have to redefine who four main characters are:

Johnny - Johnny is a member of some overseas mafia. For the purposes of his appearance and accent, let's say Poland. The Polish mafia is looking to expand overseas and has chosen San Francisco to be their base of operations which will allow them to expand their business in America. Johnny is the capo assigned to manage the San Francisco market. He works at "The Bank." The Bank is actually a euphemism for the crime family. Johnny dreams of getting a promotion, that being a higher position in the Polish mafia.

Claudette - Claudette is the leader of a crime family which already existed in San Francisco. Claudette's family has warred with The Bank since their arrival. Claudette wants to marry her daughter Lisa off to Johnny to unite the families and bring about peace. Claudette is the antagonist of the story and her name references Claudius, one of the worst of the Shakespeare villains.

Lisa - as stated above, Lisa is the daughter of Claudette, the leader of the existing crime family in San Francisco. Claudette wants to marry her off to Johnny to end the conflict between both her crime family and the Polish-backed Bank. Lisa wants to part of a life of organized crime, and she wants to get out. This all comes to a head when she meets Mark.

Mark - Mark is Johnny's best friend. I take this to mean that Mark is Johnny's soldier or at the very least works for The Bank along with Johnny. Maybe he's not a made man yet but he's on that path. Like Lisa, he is unsure about his life of crime - part of him wants to run away with Lisa, though by doing this he knows he would endanger both of them. Mark is the central character in this tragedy.

Okay, so now that we have this out of the way, let's get into the movie. Johnny, a captain in the San Francisco branch of the Polish Mafia, is engaged to Lisa. This is an arranged marriage designed to bring the crime families together. Johnny, like other mafia characters such as Tony Soprano, believes in the American dream. He has come to the United States, a land of opportunity, and made a good life for himself.

This is a man who believes in status symbols. He drives a fancy car, he owns a really nice apartment, and of course, he dotes on Lisa. However, to Johnny, he always wants more. Johnny dreams of a "promotion," that is, a higher position in the mafia.

His arranged marriage with Lisa will be enough to secure this position. Johnny's higher-ups are impressed at the deal made between Claudette's family and Johnny and if the marriage goes through, Johnny will be rewarded with his promotion. Early on, Johnny is seen complaining to Lisa that he did not get it - this is a hint at Johnny's true motives. He knows that Lisa does not completely love him (yet) and he tells her this in order to remind her that the only chance he has at getting this promotion is by marrying her. Essentially, Johnny is trying to guilt trip Lisa into staying with him so he can live an even better life with more status symbols.

Lisa, however, wants no part of the mob life. She's having a fling with Johnny's "best friend," his mafioso Mark. This is inspired by Romeo and Juliet - two people in love between opposing sides. Now, Mark is torn between his loyalty to The Bank and his loyalty to Lisa. This will be a running theme throughout the entire movie. What side will Mark ultimately side with? Which desire will win out?

Lisa, of course, wants this engagement called off, because she wants to be with Mark and escape the life of crime that a marriage to Johnny would entail. First, she tells her mother Claudette this - that she does not love Johnny anymore. Of course, Claudette is dismissive of her daughter's concerns. She tells Lisa that Johnny supports her financially and has bought her so many nice things. She never addresses Lisa's real concern - that she does not love Johnny. Instead, she subtly threatens her daughter - saying that Lisa could not support herself alone. This is a warning - ruin this marriage that will unite the two crime organizations, and I will not support you. You will be on your own.

Unsure of what to do, Lisa begins to spin wider and wider lies. Next, she tries to claim that Johnny hit her to her friends and family. This is a not so secret allusion to The Godfather, a similar movie about crime in which Carlo abuses Connie Corleone. Allusions such as these cement the idea that Tommy Wiseau knew exactly what he was doing as he wrote this screenplay.

Unfortunately for Lisa, the calculated lie that Johnny hit her does not take off anywhere. Claudette again rebuffs her and even goes so far as to say "Men are assholes. Men and women use and abuse each other all the time, there's nothing wrong with it. Marriage has nothing to do with love."

This is not something that a loving and caring mother would say to her daughter! Instead, this is Claudette telling her daughter that the marriage must occur, or else. The last sentence that marriage has nothing to do with love supports the argument that Lisa is being married out of politics, and not for her own personal feelings.

Claudette tries to extract her revenge by taking out someone that Lisa loves. She can't kill Lisa, Mark, or Johnny, obviously, because that would destroy the alliance. Instead, she sets her eyes on Denny, Johnny's adopted son who has nothing to do with either Claudette's Family or The Bank.

Claudette proceeds to sell Denny drugs through an intermediary, Chris R. Once Denny is hooked, she sends Chris R after Denny to retrieve money that she knows he does not have. Unfortunately, Johnny manages to chase him off. Because Denny is unaware of the mob violence developing around him, Claudette is forced to pretend to be concerned for his safety, despite the fact that she was the one who hired him to punish Lisa for her feelings.

Meanwhile, Mark is still torn between his loyalty to The Bank and his love for Lisa. Unluckily for him, Peter is in town. Peter poses as a psychologist when in actuality he is a high-ranking mobster from the old country. Peter asks him how he met Lisa - not that he doesn't already know. Johnny tells about how he showed up in town - in San Francisco - with a check he couldn't cash because it was an "out of state bank." This hints that The Bank which Johnny works for is actually just a front, and suggests that there was an existing criminal enterprise in San Francisco (Claudette's) before the Polish got there.

Anyway, after he speaks to Johnny, Peter also speaks to Mark. Peter accurately guesses that Mark, the lowly associate, is having an affair with Lisa. Knowing that this will send the alliance between the families into chaos, Peter processes the information and stores it for future use. Realizing the secret is out, Mark tries to silence Peter by throwing him off the roof before ultimately deciding against it. However, this is still a subtle hint of Mark's eventual choice and signals towards his eventual fate.

Later, Mark and Johnny meet for coffee. Johnny says he got a new "client." Of course, because it's in public Johnny must use the euphemism "at The Bank" instead of saying that the client is Peter, who has told him everything. Mark pries at it, trying to figure out what exactly Johnny knows. Johnny is a clever man and knows he can't admit anything in public, so he pretends to change the topic of the conversation while informing Mark that he knows the truth and that Peter told him with a simple question - "how's your sex life?"

A little while later in the movie, Peter just disappears and is not seen again throughout the entire movie. If he was really just a friend of Johnny's and Mark's, he would be at Johnny's birthday party for sure. Instead, he has almost certainly gone back to Poland to tell the mob bosses about the current developments of the alliance in San Francisco.

His life spiraling out of control and his "promotion" in jeopardy, Johnny lies and tells everyone at his birthday party that he and Lisa are expecting - one final attempt to salvage the arranged marriage and earn his coveted promotion. Lisa, completely blindsided by this, laughs along and tells her friends that she said it "to make it interesting." In reality, Lisa did no such thing and is trying desperately to escape the wedding, which is less than a month away.

Lisa and Mark kiss while she believes everyone is outside - almost everyone. One of Claudette's enforcers catches the two of them kissing. The truth comes out as the party continues and Johnny is overcome by rage when he realizes that Mark has been conspiring against him. The marriage has been ruined and the alliance between the Polish backed Bank and Claudette's Family is in shambles. And Johnny doesn't have his promotion.

Realizing he has no chance of advancing up the ladder, Johnny does the unthinkable. Remember, to Johnny, everything is about status. He owns nice cars and a nice apartment. He spends ludicrous amounts of money, far more than he would be earning if he actually worked for a legitimate bank. So when he realizes he has no chance at his "promotion" - his induction into the higher ranks, Johnny truly believes his life is ruined. So he commits suicide.

Lisa, Mark, and Denny find him dead. Denny, of course, is heartbroken. The mob violence around him has spiraled out of control and he is nothing but a victim. But here we get the final scene, the kicker, the smoking gun to support the rest of this theory.

Mark bends over and kisses Johnny's cold forehead. This is a very weird thing to do for someone who was just friends with the guy. Instead, I believe it's a mob gesture. A sign of respect for the fallen. This supports the notion that Mark has been working for Johnny - working for The Bank.

It is here that one of the two sides warring in Mark's head comes to a close. Lisa blubbers and says, "Well, I still have you, right?" Perhaps now, there's a chance to run away, leave the mafia behind.

But Mark's inner desire for power finally wins out. He tells her to shut up, that she "killed him, she's the cause of all of this." It gives him an excuse to ditch her, while finally, just like Michael Corleone in The Godfather, he rises, planning to rise to Johnny's old position and claim power over The Bank for himself.

Mark is a man tempted by the power of organized crime and the innocence of love. Though he starts out innocent, a man in love with a woman, the allure of power corrupts absolutely. Foreshadowed by his brief consideration of murdering the consigliere Peter, Mark's lust for power ultimately triumphs over his desire for love. Inspired by works such as William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and Coppola's The Godfather, The Room is a character study of how a man goes from being a youthful and loving Romeo to a cold and calculating Michael Corleone.

u/PopsicleIncorporated — 2 months ago