Check out this very interesting opinion piece from the Weekly Standard [weeklystandard.com], wherein the author argues - somewhat compellingly, too - that the "off-the-shelf" moral cues George Lucas provides in the "Star Wars" movies are flat-out wrong. The rebels, he argues, are the bad guys, while the empire are just a bunch of misunderstood capitalists.

Okay, that's a bit of an oversimplification, but go read it for yourself. I found it very intriguing, and although he glosses over a lot on the path to his conclusion and makes a fair number of only semi-reasonable assumptions, it's an interesting examination and an entertaining read.

Beeeej