Darth Vader on the Washington National Cathedral

Why gargoyles are ugly? Art historians are giving different answers to this question, yet they are not even sure why they were included onto religious buildings in the 12th century.
They could have been warders against evil spirits - adopted from pre-Cristian pagan religions, reminders to the sinners, or just a form of medieval humor...



What makes all gargolyes common is that they are high above the general eyesight of the churchgoers, especially the medieval churchgoers, so they are hard to spot, or even admire - something what should have a significant importance in the cultural history of these statues.
Yet, as photography brought them closer to us, we no longer fear the evil, grotesque faces on these large stone buildings any more: the face of the devil become familiar.

Maybe this notion familiarity led the heads of Washington National Cathedral to include the ultimate grotesque evil of our time, the symbolic dark warlord, Darth Vader onto their cathedral.

The figure of Darth Vader always held some religious potential in it: juxtaposing a peaceful, new age like religion-like way of living, the Jedi, Darth Vader has been always the symbol of something irrevocable evil (don't forget the strange eschatology of the entire star wars universe) even trough he convers to the just cause in the last moment.

The masked figure in a way embodied all what we fear of, a living machine with supernatural powers, no mercy and no dignity. Detached from the actual story (forget about the recent episodes of Star Wars) Darth Vader, or the entire Sith have become some sort of inverted religion. Sith has become an ultimate, satanic symbol of evil, but in an aesthetically sense - the dark figure is so appealing to our idea of evil, that we chose them to become our own demons.
But why to use it on a Cathedral? Gargoyles, even trough we are not clear for what they are made for, are evidently ugly, like the Ely Cathedral 'nose picker', just to include an example.




But Darth is not ugly at all. Its the complete opposite of being ugly, as Darth Vader is a beautiful symbol a power, an embodiment of functionality and perfection, an almost fascist superstar, who become a cultural icon for an entire generation. We love our enemy, because he looks so cool - the trend to make cool 'badguys' can clearly be observed in the contemporary Hollywood movies, just think about daemons as the Alien or the Predator or the Terminator machine.
And they even look good as merchandise goods too.

In this sense they could include the opposite and, Yoda, the small grotesque green dwarf to the cathedral also. But Yoda is a positive figure, always been associated with a hidden sense of power, (not in the last 3 movies), not en ever present, powerful demon to fear - admire.

I think that the commissioners of the Darth Vader gargoyle were not in full sense of understanding what is the social, political, aesthetic meaning of their sculpture, but were very well aware on the possible connections between the mythology of Hollywood, and theirs own...