This Star Wars movie kinda reminded me of Stephen King's The Stand. Palpatine is much like the Devil in his attempt to manipulate just about everyone except for a few devout followers. The Jedi are the people that have faith. They are the only true good people that are left.

I'm sure it sounds silly. But I found a lot of biblical allusions particularly the Book of Revelations.

The Stand was published in 1978.

While others, as mentioned in other threads, saw the Emperor as Bush.

I think it all boils down to your POV. And it's one of the many reasons I like Star Wars, as it can be interpretted many ways.

It's simply because both works of literature (The Stand and Star Wars) take some classic themes that show up in many cultures mythology (including the Bible) and spin them into something different.

You could just as easily compare Faust to those works as well. It's a repeating theme in many works of literature.

It reminded me most about The Apprentice.
Sidious to Dooku on his knees: "You're fired"
and of course the whole master and apprentice thing.

I concur.