Star Wars : A Science Fiction Genre Trilogy

On May 25, 1977, Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope was released. George Lucas created the science fiction series using Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey plot structure. Campbell created the plot structure by expanding on psychologist Carl Jung’s idea of the archetype. Archetypes are reoccurring symbols that can be found in literature, music, and art. Lucas found that Campbell’s Hero’s Journey was the perfect structure for the plot of Star Wars. The Hero’s Journey consists of ten steps which the protagonist, usually the hero, has to complete. Throughout the movie, George Lucas perfectly orchestrated all ten steps of the Hero’s Journey, and also used dozens of the archetypes that Campbell created.

John Towner Williams is considered one of the most successful composers in the last century. He has scored many popular movies and has many other notable works. Involved in major works including Jaws, ET, Indiana Jones, the Harry Potter Series, and his critically acclaimed work in the Star Wars saga, Williams is undoubtedly one of the best in the business. Williams holds a commanding position over many of his colleagues, and fellow composers to this day. Williams has won five Academy Awards, four Golden Globe Awards, seven British Academy Awards, and twenty-two Grammys. Boasting a dominant fifty Academy Award nominations, and following only Walt Disney, John Williams is the second most-nominated individual. Since the beginning of the film

Recently, we, as a galaxy, celebrated the 40th Anniversary of the first “Star Wars” movie. Since that fateful premiere in May 1977, the franchise has produced about a dozen films, numerous TV shows, thousands of spoofs and parodies, and millions of devoted fans. Here’s an overview of the series.

George Lucas’ Star Wars saga is an extremely well known cultural phenomenon with a fan base spanning generations. The saga contains themes of nationalism, fascism, and colonialism just to name a few. The original series also displays the theme of The Hero’s Journey an idea taken from mythologist Joseph Campbell’s book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. I argue that the controlling force of the galaxy The Galactic Empire serves as a form of settler colonialism among almost all planets in the Star Wars universe. I give brief historical context from the period of the 1970s when George Lucas was writing the first film in order to give an understanding of the events that could have shaped the themes shown in the films.

The creator and director of Star Wars, George Lucas, was incredibly successful for his movie series, but even more successful for its overall purpose: to sell toys to ten-year old boys. The use of ethos, pathos, and logos are very abundant in this movie. Ethos, Greek for “character”, is anything referring to or relying on the author’s credibility. Pathos, Greek for “emotional”, is anything that makes you feel emotion. Logos, Greek for “word”, is anything that makes you think. By using these he was able to persuade the audience into thinking, feeling, and loving Star Wars, making the audience want to purchase figurines.

"Star Wars" was arguably the first in a new breed of high concept, high budget sci-fi action films. It was directed by George Lucas and originally released in only a few cinemas in 1977. However, the buzz around the film grew, and it is now one of the highest grossing films of all time, and along with its sequels, prequels and re-mastered re-releases, has a large cult following. I feel this is because of Lucas` ability to engage the audience through careful use of sound and camera technique;

theory is a much more simple way of looking at ‘Star Wars’ as a fairy

This dramatic space voyage caught the minds of not only children, but adults as well causing a flourishing need for more. After this 2 more episodes were released to complete the trilogy The Empire Strikes Back and Return of The Jedi. These two had just as great reviews and story plots only causing more and more of an influence on generations to come. Within the 1980s the fandom that arose would only be a portion of the fandom still

George Lucas' film Star Wars There are many different theories to Star Wars, which attracted millions of viewers. These theories made Star Wars what it was, and to some people still is. Made in1977, it was the first of it's kind by being new, using aliens and special effects, Star Wars created a large audience. Then it was re-released twenty years later, after improvement in special effects and another character was added.

Star Wars and Star Trek, two movie titles often confused by non-fans because the first word of both titles is ‘Star’. But do not be confused because the two are extremely different in all sorts of ways. One of them is fantasy, the other sci-fi. One is full of creatures and heroes and villains and spaceships and power and darkness, the other filled with humans and aliens who fly ships together in primary colored uniforms. In other words, one is clearly better than the other. If you’re asking yourself which is which, let me make it a bit easier for you. Star Wars is the better of the two. Star Wars is worth more, the Star Wars video games put the Star Trek ones to shame, Star Wars has better film making and better special effects, the Star Wars antagonist (The Empire) is far scarier than any Star Trek villain, and the list goes on. Still don’t agree with me? That’s okay, keep reading and you’ll see how much you are wrong.

Star Wars: A New Hope, brought forth a diversification in the industry of not just a science fiction film, but a contemporary aspect of film in the late 1900’s. On the 25th of May 1977 George Lucas released a two hour journey through a dreamlike universe in which this exceptional exploration takes place. Star Wars fabricated the start of the science fiction film era. Science fiction provides an incogitable world that alters the thoughts of general world, and offers a chance for the reader or viewer to relate the altered world to their world. Star Wars offered this to dreamers of that time and bestowed a escape from reality on its viewers. This is illustrated when ¨Luke¨ played by Mark Hamill takes his first steps into a truly legendary expedition across the galactic universe. Luke is not alone on his dangersome journey along the way he finds his Mentor ¨Obi-Wan Kenobi¨ played by the ingenious actor Alec Guinness. Luke´s journey across the galaxy is distinctly related to The Hero Cycle, composed by Joseph Campbell. The Hero Cycle explains the events in which a character grows into a hero and fights their way through a fatal battle all to obtain elixir or experience. In this essay I will illustrate how Star Wars: A New Hope relates to The Hero Cycle.

Close connections can be made from Greek Mythology into pop culture, especially into fictional stories such as Star Wars. Introduced to the world in 1977, Star Wars was a cultural phenomenon that took the whole world by storm. It broke new ground in cinematic storytelling, visual effects, and what a director could do with a film, paving the way for many other great films to come. The world of Star Wars is also rich with history and lore, and a lot of that can be connected to Greek Mythology. Two main characters in Star Wars are Luke and Leia Skywalker, twins who are separated at birth but eventually reunite on their journeys to defeat the dark side.

A genre analysis of Star Wars: The Force Awakens There was much excitement, surrounding the release of the long awaited Star Wars: The Force Awakens (Abrams 2015), which takes place thirty years after the closure of Star Wars: Return of the Jedi ((Marquand 1983). In review of the film, Peter Bradshaw commented that "JJ Abrams banishes memories of George Lucas’s prequels", describing Star Wars: The Force Awakens as an "outrageously exciting and romantic return to a world you hadn't realised you'd missed so much" (Bradshaw 2015). The use of the word 'romantic' is particularly interesting, when taking into account Blair Davis' comment that "sci-fi was often paired with other genres" (Davis 2013) in the production of films; indeed, Star Wars: The Force Awakens does seem to follow that pattern of amalgamation, with IMDb describing the film as "Action, Adventure, Fantasy" (IMDb 2015).

Now that we have covered how Star Wars got to be a set of bestselling blockbusters, it is time to examine the phenomena that has occurred because of it. This phenomenon starts with young George Lucas. When Lucas was younger he was into racing cars. He wanted to make a career out of it. An event that three days before he was supposed to graduate high school changed all of that. On that day, Lucas made an illegal left-hand turn into his family’s ranch and was hit by his friend who had ran a red light and was trying to overtake Lucas (Taylor 42). The accident hospitalized Lucas. After his recovery, George Lucas slowed down and gave up one racing. In an interview with Oprah Winfrey in 2012 he said “It gave me this perspective on life that said I’m operation on extra credit” (Taylor 43). In this way, the crash was to became a supernatural experience for Lucas. He felt like some higher power had given him extra time to fulfil a purpose. The path that Lucas elected to take instead of racing was going to Modesto Junior college to study psychology, anthropology, and philosophy (Lucasfilm 17). The crash is what made Lucas confront the questions about the human psyche that we all have. Lucas was able to address these philosophical, psychological, and quasi-religious questions by making the Star Wars movies and in turn, viewers have used Lucas’s answers to satisfy their own needs to settle the dilemmas that plague the human psyche. Lawrence Kasdan once laid out the for questions that

     The First of the three part series, Star Wars, is the tale of a band of