Nixon in Star Wars

I have been reading J.W. Rinzler's The Making of Star Wars Return of the Jedi and came across a great quote about George Lucas' early conception of politics in Star Wars. In one the July 13-17, 1981, story conference with Richard Marquand, Lawrence Kasdan, and Howard Kazanjian, Lucas explained about Emperor Palpatine:

... he was a politician. Richard M. Nixon was his name. He subverted the senate and finally took over and became an imperial guy and he was really evil. But he pretended to be a really nice guy. He sucked Luke’s father into the dark side.

It is well known that Lucas based parts of the Original Trilogy on political events in the 1970s, with the concept of primitive natives defeating a technologically superior army taken directly from the Vietnam War (as discussed here). Nevertheless, I was taken with how directly Lucas equated Palpatine with Nixon. To what extent does Palpatine really reflect Nixon?

Attachment is not so much forbidden

Don't do it, Ani, marriage is evil!

George Lucas has removed himself from the ranks of the Jedi bachelorhood. As we all know, Jedi are forbidden from attachments. Attachments lead to things like fear, anger, hate, and suffering. And Darth Vader.

Fortunately, when George Lucas got married to Mellody Hobson this past weekend, he looked like anyone but Vader. Frankly, he looked happier than he has in a long time. And that calls for congratulations!

(for those of you interested in the wedding gossip and photos, check out this Huffington Post article)

So, George Lucas' recent marriage made me wonder if or to what extent The Maker's personal life influenced his art. Some speculate that George Lucas' divorce from Marcia Lucas made him pessimistic about love and marriage, even to the point that love and marriage were the driving force behind Anakin's downfall. We do know that the divorce was a traumatic experience for him and it's not hard to imagine that George Lucas the artist drew upon the pain he felt in real life to breath more life into his characters.