Film Analysis: The Empire Strikes Back

In the film, The Empire Strikes Back, Luke unconsciously follows in his father’s footsteps by being corrupted by anger and impatience in his training with Yoda, his encounter with his own soul in the cave on Dagobah, and in his showdown with Darth Vader in the carbon freezing chamber in Cloud City. First, Luke subconsciously follows in his father’s footsteps when he exhibits anger and impatience in his training with Yoda. After the battle of Hoth, Luke travels to Dagobah with his trusty droid companion, R2-D2, and the two crash land on Dagobah in search of the infamous Jedi Master, Yoda. Luke sets up a camp right outside the crashed X-wing Starfighter, and as he prepares his camp, a strange creature appears and the two converse. Luke tells
Lucas delineates this first part of the transformation, so that Luke will proceed to face other transformations by the time he faces off with Darth Vader later in the film. Secondly, Luke unintentionally follows in Darth Vader’s footsteps when he faces his anger, which expresses itself as Darth Vader, in a cave on Dagobah. With Yoda training Luke, they both go through a set of exercises with Luke carrying Yoda on his back. Following, Yoda warns Luke that anger, fear, and aggression led to the dark side, and Luke challenges what Yoda says and shows his impatience and Luke doesn’t understand how to distinguish from the good and bad side and Yoda does not tell him a straight answer so Luke challenges him “But tell me why I can’t…” and Yoda replies “No, no, there is no why.” This shows Luke and his impatience before going into the cave to face himself. Luke enters a cave because he senses cold and death. Luke enters the cave only to find Darth Vader, and quickly, Luke shows his anger and impatience, just like his father. Luke “sidesteps perfectly and slashes at Vader with his sword”
. lunges, but Vader repels the blow” and then “aggressively drives Vader back” (82). The duel between Luke and Darth Vader shows that Luke is becoming just like Vader himself because Luke uses aggression instead of the calm, serene nature of the Force. It shows that Luke is impatient and angry because he results to violence first instead of waiting, again, for his opponent to strike first. Luke uses his anger to try and wear down Vader, but instead Vader gets the upper hand because Luke is impatient and does not plan his moves accordingly and Vader beats him. He also lets his anger get to him and strikes wildly instead of letting the Force flow through him like most Jedi allow the Force to do. Lucas uses this to show, ultimately, that Luke is unintentionally following in his father’s footsteps and that without a change in path Luke will most likely go over to the dark side just like his father before him, who was overrun with anger and impatience. In the film, The Empire Strikes Back, Luke unconsciously follows in his father’s footsteps by being corrupted by anger and impatience in his training with Yoda, his encounter with his own soul in the cave on Dagobah, and in his showdown with Darth Vader in the carbon freezing chamber in Cloud