Star Wars/Deleuze Guattari

To speak of Star Wars themes and machines like into Deleuze and Guattari’s philosophical concepts, we can draw on their ideas of assemblages, lines of flight, desiring machines, multiplicities, and the concept of the Body without Organs (BwO). The universe of Star Wars can be viewed through the lens of these dynamic forces and virtual realities, with both the Death Star and Tatooine serving as perfect embodiments of Deleuze and Guattari’s radical views on power, desire, and escape.

The Death Star as a Desiring Machine and Apparatus of Capture

The Death Star is not just a technological marvel but a powerful representation of what Deleuze and Guattari describe as a “desiring machine” and an “apparatus of capture.” In Anti-Oedipus, desiring machines are the elements of production in the unconscious—powerful forces that structure reality through flows of desire. The Death Star, as a massive weapon, embodies these processes of desire, not just for destruction, but as a projection of the Empire’s will to control, to dominate, and to suppress any lines of flight. It desires not only the annihilation of planets but the complete deterritorialization of space itself, flattening any resistance by dissolving entire worlds into cosmic dust.

The Death Star also acts as an “apparatus of capture” in that it represents the Empire’s attempt to capture and control all flows of desire in the galaxy. It is the ultimate tool of repression, a territorial machine that seeks to dominate, territorialize, and shape the galaxy according to the Emperor’s vision of total control. In this sense, it is also the product of an arborescent, hierarchical power structure, working against rhizomatic networks like the Rebel Alliance, which operates through decentralized, mobile resistance.

Tatooine as the Body without Organs (BwO)

Tatooine, in contrast to the cold, mechanical nature of the Death Star, can be seen as a Body without Organs (BwO)—a space of potentiality, intensity, and a raw, desiring surface. In Deleuze and Guattari’s terms, the BwO is a plane of immanence, a space unstructured by the rigid codes and stratifications of organized bodies and systems. Tatooine, as a desert planet, is vast, unformed, and open to a multiplicity of desires and possibilities. It is both barren and full of potential, a place where figures like Luke Skywalker, Anakin, and Obi-Wan emerge as powerful singularities with transformative destinies.

Tatooine resists the stratification and overcoding that is imposed by the Empire, and it is no coincidence that key figures of resistance and change—Luke and Anakin—begin their journeys here. The harsh environment of Tatooine, with its twin suns and constant exposure to danger, reflects the intensity of the BwO, which exists outside the norms of civilization and the oppressive structures of imperial power. Tatooine is an uncharted plane, an open horizon for lines of flight and becoming.

Lines of Flight and Nomadic Resistance in the Rebel Alliance

The Rebel Alliance represents a rhizomatic resistance to the Empire’s arborescent, hierarchical structures. Deleuze and Guattari contrast rhizomatic forms of organization with arborescent ones—while arborescent structures are rigid, centralized, and top-down (like the Empire and the Death Star), rhizomatic structures are decentralized, adaptive, and connected through multiple nodes, much like the Rebel cells scattered across the galaxy.

The Rebel Alliance constantly moves along lines of flight, evading the Empire’s apparatus of capture. Their base on Yavin 4, hidden and mobile, exemplifies the logic of deterritorialization—they avoid being pinned down, operating through a nomadic logic that keeps them outside the Empire’s control. The Death Star, as the ultimate territorializing machine, tries to capture and destroy these lines of flight, but the Rebellion’s rhizomatic structure proves difficult to contain.

The Force itself, as tapped into by the Jedi, can be seen as a line of flight—a transcendental force that offers an alternative to the strict codes and controls imposed by the Sith and the Empire. It opens up new dimensions and possibilities for existence, breaking away from the overcoded, stratified reality the Empire tries to impose.

Planets as Multiplicities and Territorial Assemblages

Each planet in Star Wars—whether it’s Coruscant, Hoth, or Tatooine—can be viewed as a territorial assemblage, a multiplicity that exists within the complex dynamics of stratification, deterritorialization, and reterritorialization. Planets, in the Star Wars universe, are more than mere settings—they represent distinct assemblages of forces, each with its own flows of desire, power, and conflict.

  • Coruscant is a planet that has been fully territorialized and stratified into a single, hierarchical assemblage, the ultimate arborescent structure where the Empire’s control reaches its zenith. It is a planet of complete organization, where every level, from the Senate to the underworld, is overcoded with the logic of imperial power.
  • Hoth is deterritorialized space, a cold, empty wasteland where life struggles to exist. Yet, like Tatooine, it offers a line of flight for the Rebellion. The Rebel base on Hoth is temporary, nomadic, always prepared to move, reflecting the fluidity and adaptability of rhizomatic resistance.

Each of these planets can also be seen as a multiplicity—not in the numerical sense, but in the sense that each represents a dynamic, heterogeneous whole made up of varying layers of history, desire, and power. Planets in the Star Wars universe are not static—they are caught up in the flows of becoming, constantly shifting through processes of territorialization and deterritorialization, much like Deleuze and Guattari’s concept of a multiplicity, which is always in flux, always in the process of becoming something other.

The Force as Virtual Power and the Line of Flight

The Force, central to the mythology of Star Wars, can be understood as the virtual—a concept Deleuze uses to describe the field of potentiality that transcends the actual. The Force represents the immanent, underlying field of potential that binds the galaxy together, accessible to those who can tap into its power. The Jedi and the Sith, in different ways, access this virtual field, but while the Sith seek to stratify and control it, the Jedi are more aligned with its natural flows, using it to create rather than destroy.

In Deleuze and Guattari’s terms, the Force could be seen as the ultimate line of flight—an operator of transformation and becoming that allows those who access it to move beyond the actual and into the virtual, into new forms of existence and power. The Force opens up new possibilities for action, breaking away from the limitations of the physical world and offering a path toward transcendence.

Conclusion

By viewing Star Wars through the lens of Deleuze and Guattari, we can see its universe as a complex interplay of forces, desires, and machines. The Death Star and the Empire represent systems of control, territorialization, and arborescent power, while the Rebel Alliance, the Force, and planets like Tatooine represent the potential for lines of flight, rhizomatic resistance, and the multiplicity of becoming. This philosophical perspective reveals the deeper dynamics of desire, power, and escape that underlie the cosmic struggles of Star Wars.