This is pretty deep and insightful for a Thursday afternoon...

"What's fascinating to me is that I grew up in a time when my friends related to Luke and now, my kids relate to Anakin. There is an interesting social comment there -- that when I grew up the hero was an optimistic young neophyte who becomes this hero and the new generation's hero is a strong-willed, ambitious and ultimately vilified protagonist who is misled and, for reasons of ego and heartbreak, literally becomes the very villain that my generation fought against." -- Director JJ Abrams

From this starwars.com page, found on the ubiquitous binarybonsai.