The Star Wars Films

There’s no doubt that Star Wars is one of the most impactful films of all time, having changed the movie-making game ever since it premiered in 1977. It quickly became a global phenomenon and has accumulated some of the most passionate fans in the universe. Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope is a great example to use in order to illustrate the properties discussed throughout the course. In this paper, I will analyze the entire movie. To begin, I will start by giving some basic information about the motion picture, such as the director and type of film. Next, I will provide a brief summary of the film.

The Star Wars franchise has been considered a staple of the cinematic universe for forty years, due to its popularity and ability to connect with its viewers. It also has one of the largest fan-bases in cinema, with fans clamoring to watch the latest films and elevating the actors in said films to instant stardom. The question that normally follows this understanding is how the space “epic” became so popular; how a relatively low-budget film would go on to gross over $750 million at the box office. This may be attributed to the “universal” themes found in its narrative, which creator George Lucas had in mind during inception. In this sense, the “universal” themes can be attributed from religious motifs found in many belief systems. The 1st film in the original trilogy, A New Hope, follows the hero Luke Skywalker and his friends as they help the Rebel Alliance defeat the Galactic Empire. Embedded in the film are religious concepts such as the battle between good and evil, heroic calling, and an omnipresent essence found everywhere. The religious themes found in A New Hope may be the answer for the film’s extreme popularity.

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

Despite being the main character, in A New Hope, Luke Skywalker is neither mentioned nor seen on screen until the setting of the film has already been established. He is first seen with his uncle Owen buying droids from the Jawas on Tatooine. Luke is first portrayed as an annoying and immature kid. As the film’s plot follow him, we learn more about his character. Skywalker is an orphan living with his aunt and uncle on the desert planet Tatooine. At this point in the story, his main goal is to escape his boring life on Tatooine and explore the galaxy. However, his aunt and uncle force him to stay and help tend the family’s farm. In the beginning of A New Hope, Luke’s character represents the average teenager who just wants to break away from his or her mundane life.

Although the best reasons for “going to the movies” are to be entertained and eat popcorn, understanding a film is actually quite complex. Movies are not only a reflection of life, they also have the capability of shaping our norms, values, attitudes, and perception of life. Through the media of film, one can find stories of practically anything imaginable and some things unimaginable. Movie-makers use their art to entertain, to promote political agendas, to educate, and to present life as it is, was, or could be. They can present truth, truth as they interpret it, or simply ignore truth altogether. A movie can be a work of fiction, non-fiction, or anything in-between. A film is an artist’s interpretation. What one takes away from a film depends upon how one interprets what has been seen and heard. Understanding film is indeed difficult.

Some characters are present with multiple archetypes and personas. While looking for how New Hope fits into the hero’s journey it was interesting to see that more than one character could be viewed as a hero. However, Luke Skywalker is the obvious hero of New Hope and matches many of the criteria

George Lucas was a very credible director because he was influenced by the small town he grew up in Modesto. According to The Secret History of Star Wars, “Lucas’ father felt that George never quite measured up to his ideals of what a good son should be.” (Kiminski 9) Lucas seems to be comparing himself to the main character in Star Wars: A New Hope, Luke Skywalker. Both Luke and Lucas grew up in small towns, didn’t have a strong relationship with their father (or in Luke’s case, didn’t know their father), and they both thought they would never leave the small town they resided in.

While portraying his groundbreaking role as Qui Gon Jinn in the 2002 hit movie Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, Liam Neeson is quoted as saying, “Your focus determines your reality.” In the context of Salem, Massachusetts, this means that if one focuses on witches and witchcraft, their reality will then become witches and witchcraft. This is exactly what happened during the Salem Witch Trials during the late 1690’s, as immortalized in Arthur Miller’s The Crucible. The small Puritan colony became so engrossed with fear of the Christian Devil™ that they began to suspect their own neighbors, and a select few individuals began using that fear for their own personal benefit, accusing their neighbors for the sake of righting wrongs

Many people have to hide or keep a secret throughout their lives. In “Among the Hidden,” by Margaret Peterson Haddix, the main character, Luke Garner, has to stay hidden from everyone. In the beginning, Luke is an illegal child who follows every order to hide. Then, Luke sneaks out of the house and meets another illegal child who introduces him into the world. Finally, Luke has to take on a new identity and leave his old life behind.

All 9 Star Wars movies combined have earned a total of $37 Billion Dollars all over the world! The First Star Wars Episode came out on May 25, 1977. They are still continuing the saga to this day with the release of Episode 8: The Last Jedi. Disney still has plans for at least 2 more Star Wars movies with Solo: A Star Wars Story and Star Wars Episode 9. This would make Star Wars one of the longest running movie series.

Star Wars: Return of the Jedi is final chapter in an epic story of good versus evil. The script was written by George Lucas and was released in theatres on May 25, 1983 (IMDb.com). It was the third film released in the Star Wars saga, following Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope and Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (IMDb.com). At the time, Episode VI concluded the story of Luke Skywalker and his Rebel friends fighting against Darth Vader and the evil Empire.

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

For years I was ridiculed and shunned for admittedly never watching the Star Wars saga; therefore, when I finally decided to binge-watch all six movies in preparation for the new release of Episode VII, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, my expectations were extremely high. Unfortunately, my expectations were tragically unfulfilled. The story idea was fascinating, but poorly created. In comparison, my expectation for Episode VII was also high, but unlike the first six, it did not disappoint. While critics may accuse the plot of Episode VII of being too similar to that of Episode IV, Star Wars, no detail was overlooked when putting this movie together. Episode VII outdoes the first six Star Wars films in nearly every category: acting, dialogue, writing,

He races home to find his family dead and nothing left but becoming a jedi (A New Hope Scene-by-scene. Web. 2010). In an effort to get to the Princesses planet they go to the Cantina, a bar filled with scam artist, where the find Han Solo and his co-pilot Chewbacca. Once they’ve settled on a payment their journey begins. What Obi-Wan and Luke don’t know is that in an effort to get Leia to talk Darth threatens and then follow through with blowing up her home planet.(Web. SparkNotes.com. Star Wars Episodes iv-vi. 2014) Eventually Han’s ship is pulled up by Darth’s and then they are forced to fight their way out. Obi-Wan encounters and allows Darth to defeat him, meanwhile Leia is rescued by Han, Luke, and the others. Without Obi-Wan but the rescue of the Princess the only thing left to do is defeat Darth’s ship, the Death Star. Against all odds and the discovery of the force Luke blows it up and is later awarded for heroic nature, as is Han and Chewbacca, ending the first of the epic series.

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away the first Star Wars film series came into the spotlight. The Star Wars franchise has been popular since it first came to theatres in 1977. Many people of all ages enjoy the story and the meanings behind it. To this day, teenagers are still fascinated with this film series. Fans have been waiting quite a long time for the making of the new film series to start. Now that the making of the new series has started, it is as if all the fans are coming out of hiding and starting to reminisce with the past films. When getting on any social media site, one can find numerous posts, pictures, and fandoms for both the new and old Star Wars series. With such an intricate and popular film like the Star Wars films, discussing the plot, characters, theme, and visual effects are ideas that critics Matthew Panzarino and Nick Pinkerton find important.