Star Wars: How Anakin’s Toxic Masculinity Made Him The Villain Of The Universe

Anakin Skywalker, or should we say Darth Vader is the most influential villain in cinema history. The character of Darth Vader was first introduced in the 1977s Star Wars: A New Hope, where he was portrayed as the badass villain that defies bullets with his lightsaber. Before that, little to no information was available about Anakin’s history and how he became the notorious Darth Vader.

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Years later, Anakin Skywalker’s past was shown, which was depressing and full of agony. Being brainwashed into believing something you wouldn’t dare to believe is so daunting. In the prequel show, Anakin’s past was revealed, and it also highlighted the arc where the Jedi’s Chosen One became the biggest threat to the whole universe. But we can’t blame Anakin for his fall because he was brainwashed to be the Sith Lord Darth Vader by the Emperor.

In Anakin’s childhood, things like love, care, and family were non-existent and the only thing he had was hate, abuse, and toxic masculinity, which was developed by the brainwashing sessions that made him into the villain of the universe.

However, the Jedi did not teach him toxic masculinity. Instead, it was developed by the fear of emotions taking over his mind. From an early age, Anakin was forced to suppress his emotions while making decisions. For any child, repressing emotions is not a healthy way to learn emotional intelligence. Anakin’s dual personality is the outcome of the emotional abuse that resulted in toxic masculinity, driving Anakin to a corner of hatred and anger.

As Anakin grew older, his ideals and goals shifted from being a savior to a destroyer, and his way of expressing emotions was violent, dark, and unethical. He chose violence over compromises, and Darth Vader’s dawn is the outcome of the feelings Anakin hid inside his heart that made him the angry badass villain.

One theory that makes more sense and could have been a lot better for the young Anakin is that his upbringing could’ve been better. If the Jedi haven’t taught him to suppress his emotions and instead allowed him to utilize healthy coping mechanisms, Darth Vader could never have existed in the first place. After rejoining with the love of his life, Padme, Anakin’s toxic masculinity takes over him, and instead of loving her the way he should have, his alter-ego personality takes over and what we witnessed is a deprived man, fighting with his emotions of love. Instead of genuinely loving her, he chose to be secretive about his identity and created a bad impression of how love is supposed to bloom. If the Jedi would have taught him about love and family, things would have been so different for Anakin and the rest of the universe.