10 Films That Make You The Bad Guy

4. Star Wars

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The original Star Wars movie presented us with a nice binary system that was easy to align with: the Jedi were the good guys, and the Dark Side was evil. It was easy to relate to the good ol' Jedi rebels, who were just trying their best to survive in this crazy galaxy. It was even easier to view the nasty Empire as an analogue for every evil military outfit that's ever existed, seeing as they looked like space Nazis and spoke like British Imperialists.

However, the following sequels and prequels threw everything we thought we knew into question, really making us question if the Jedi we supported were much better than the Sith we hated.

After all, Obi Wan Kenobi straight up lies and manipulates Luke Skywalker into joining the Jedi Order. He neglects to tell Luke the true fate of his father, or that the Princess they're saving is his sister. Is this all that different from the tactics Palpatine used to convince Anakin to become a Sith Lord?

We also learn that Jedi believe in emotionally repressing their followers from birth, teaching young children that missing your parents makes you evil and falling in love is a path to the Dark Side.

If you really want to see exactly how Star Wars turns its fans into bad guys, however, just read any message board in which people discuss The Last Jedi. No other film franchise seems to evoke such polarising, angry, passionate debates between its audience members. Truly terrifying.

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Jimmy Kavanagh is an Irish writer and co-founder of Club Valentine Comedy, a Dublin-based comedy collective. You can hear him talk to his favourite comedians about their favourite comics on his podcast, Comics Swapping Comics.