Star Wars Goes Philosophical and French in Depressing Reimagining

The battle against the Empire pales in comparison to the battle against the despair of the living.

It’s often been said that, as good as it was, the sci-fi classic Star Wars would have been immeasurably improved if it had been a platform for popularizing the existential views of French philosopher, Jean-Paul Sartre.

Ok, perhaps “often” is too strong a word – “rarely,” or maybe “never,” would be more appropriate – but that hasn’t stopped a group of sci-fi fans from mashing the two together in a short, depressing montage.

YouTube film makers, “One Minute Galactica” have taken some of Star Wars’ pivotal scenes and replaced the original dialogue with French. Don’t worry if you don’t speak French though, because not only have they handily subtitled everything to make it easier to understand, the dialog is actually just nonsense and bears no relation to what the subtitles say. In the video’s description, they say that nearly every subtitle is a direct quote from Sartre’s work; the only exceptions are the very short utterances, like “I die,” or “despair.”

It’s a hilarious juxtaposition, which is really quite the achievement when you consider how bleak the philosophy is. There’s even the small chance it could be educational, although if you start to find existentialism appealing, it might be time to go and buy a puppy, or look at a rainbow, or something similarly uplifting.

Source: Nerdist