Anyone who is unaware of the release of the final installation in the ‘new’ trilogy of
Star Wars movies has obviously been living in a galaxy far, far away. After nearly 30 years, this planet's obsession with Star Wars is about to reach a climax with the film saga's sixth and - probably - final instalment, Revenge of the Sith.
I’ve been preaching the Gospel according to Jedi to those who would care to listen, and I do have a measured amount of sympathy for Sweetie and my other friends who probably cringe each time I go off on a tangent regarding any one aspect of Star Wars. Yes, my excitement is palpable and yes, I do believe I’ll get palpitations when Darth Vader makes an appearance to the tune of the John Williams’ Imperial March and yes, I’m probably a little sad.
But in a last minute effort to convert the non-believers, here’s blog entry dedicated to the mythology that is Star Wars, a saga that has captivated millions throughout the world and holds a special place in the all-time best movies’ list of yours truly.
In 1977, a relatively unknown classmate of Francis Ford Coppola released a sci-fi movie that changed the whole genre and would make movie history. The original Star Wars trilogy (Episodes IV, V and VI) is about the Galactic Civil War, where the rather pitiful Rebel Alliance does battle with the Galactic Empire in a classic epic struggle of a seemingly weak good side, against an evil one. The main character is Luke Skywalker, the last of the mystical Jedis, who not only has to complete his training to become a Jedi Knight, but also bears the responsibility of having to stand up against the evil Sith Lord, Darth Vader and his master, the Emperor Palpatine.
This movie virtually wrote the book on how to present sci-fi, and became the biggest blockbuster of its time, as well as spawning an entire merchandising industry as well as proving to be a genesis for the IT industry i.e. it helped geeks look cool as well.
"
I was trying to get fairy tales, myths, and religion down to a distilled state, studying the pure form to see how and why it worked." George Lucas
Lucas was influenced by a wide range of sources in making Star Wars – from Knights of the Round Table and the works of Tolkien’s
LOTR and Herbert’s
Dune to Kurosawa’s
The Hidden Fortress, to aspects of religion (Byzantine Christiandom, Confucianism, Shintoism and Buddhism) and actual incidences during World War II and Jungism in his concept of the Force. The movie was a light-hearted and fun space adventure, but it also tackled deeper issues of corruption, ethnic cleansing, responsibility and embraced Joseph Campbell’s concept of a monomyth, as espoused in his book
The Hero with a Thousand Faces.
The concept of a monomyth is as follows :
"
A hero ventures forth from the world of common day into a region of supernatural wonder: fabulous forces are there encountered and a decisive victory is won: the hero comes back from this mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow men."
In other words, it is a rather circuitous way of self-discovery. But it’s a well-worn method of story-telling, and although Star Wars is a modern sci-fi production, you can find the basic story of a hero willing to sacrifice himself for the greater good in stories from the Epic of Gilgamesh to the Bible, right up to Lord of the Rings and Batman. Other examples of this pattern can be found in movies such as The Lion King (Simba), and The Matrix (Neo).
Of the original three, my favourite is probably The Empire Strikes Back, which appealed to the ‘dark’ side of me (I’ve always believed that Darth Vader should’ve just killed Luke in Return of the Jedi, but that’s just me). The trilogy also introduced the world to Harrison Ford, who’s probably the only actor from the movies who went on to make it big. Along with James Earl Jones I guess, with his ‘This is CNN’.
Having always envisioned a 9-part story, Lucas outlined plans for a prequel one fine day. And although prequels are traditionally rather humdrum affairs (after all, you know what’s going to happen), it was different in his case since by the time the prequels were made, the whole concept Star Wars had reached cult-like status, and there were even some sickos who claimed to be of Jedi religion.
The prequels chronicles the downfall of the Galactic Republic and the ascension of the Empire. This encompasses the Battle of Naboo against the Trade Federation right through the Clone Wars, where battle is done against Count Dooku’s Confederacy of Independent Systems. Unbeknownst to the Jedi, the war is secretly orchestrated on both sides by Darth Sidious. The main draw of the prequels however, is the descent of the ‘chosen one’, Anakin Skywalker. A young Jedi who forsakes his teachings to embrace the Dark Side and go on to become Darth Vader, probably one of the most famous and iconic villains in moviedom.
Were the movies good? The Phantom Menace was a special-effects extravaganza that suffered from a poor script and rather poor acting at times, but most of all, it introduced the extremely annoying Jar-Jar Binks, probably the most hated character in the Star Wars universe. The special-effects weren’t even as good as when the originals came out, especially since they had a fakeness that you can associated with CGI-effects, as compared to the original trilogy where all the effects were based on models. Darth Maul was a sight to behold though, with his double-edged lightsabre. In fact, another complaint I have is the unceremonious manner in which he died.
The critics and fans weren’t happy, and Lucas was actually surprised a couple of years later when he came out of his ranch to discover the savage attacks on his movie. Talk about a lack of insight.
Attack of the Clones was better though, especially since it dealt with the darker aspects of the story. Some weren’t too happy with the many romantic scenes in the movie, but I guess it was necessary to paint a picture of Anakin’s fall. Even better, we were introduced to various glimpses of things to come as well as clues to the origins of certains things that would be found in Episode IV, and the sight of the storm troopers marching onto a prototype Star Destroyer at the end of the movie was just the tease that made me salivate for more. Oh, and how cool was Yoda in fighting mode?
Revenge of the Sith would culminate in the destruction of the Jedi and it would be interesting (that being an understatement for me) to find out how Mace Windu dies, the role that General Grievous plays, the reason behind Yoda’s solitude and the answers to various questions that would’ve been on the minds of Star Wars fans since the first movie came out.
However, the beauty of Star Wars is that taken in its entirety, rather than analyzing each movie separately, you have a cultural phenomenon that has no equal. Titanic might be the biggest blockbuster of all-time, but nobody gives a shit about it 10 years on. Having said that, the 5 Star Wars movies so far were made with a $300m budget, and have raked in $3.5b so far, which has got to be a record of some sort.
Lucas is acclaimed for the fight he had to go through in order to gain creative control of his product, and luckily for him, the gamble paid off, earning him billions in the process. I won’t go into too much detail about the exact mechanisms though (there have been theses written about the many aspects of Star Wars the story and Star Wars the business empire).
Lucas was also the father of movie-merchandising. The next time you see a Finding Nemo doll attached to a Happy Meal, you’ll have to thank (or curse) him for the joys of merchandising. From costumes to jewelleries to Legos and light sabers to mugs to posters to the various action figures and the 100+ video games and dozens continuity novelisations that have been released, Star Wars has been there and got the t-shirt (literally), enabling Lucas to earn around $2 billion from his franchise alone.
Star Wars has also changed the way movies are made in various ways. Films have subsequently been made with a target audience in mind, with sequels being created in the hope for brand recognition and subsequent audience loyalty. More importantly for us perhaps is the creation of Industrial Light and Magic, the special-effects house at the forefront of technology and who also happened to be the ‘father’ of Pixar films before it was sold off. And Lucas was also the first person to invest substantial amount and money in not only the look of the movie, but the sound of it as well. THX-quality speakers would bring in new life for cinema-goers.
On the one hand, Lucas’ aim of wanting total creative freedom has only served to create a gigantic business entity by itself. On the other hand, he has been able to live his vision without having to kow-tow to anyone.
The essence of Lucas’ vision is to create an influential fantasy world, one that occupied the same stratosphere as Tolkien’s LOTR did in the 60s. It is from Tolkien that Lucas learnt the finer aspects of creating a myth, and the former wrote that myth and fairytale is the best way to communicate morality.
"
I wanted to make a kids' film that would strengthen contemporary mythology and introduce a kind of basic morality. Nobody's saying the very basic things; they're dealing in the abstract. Everybody's forgetting to tell the kids, 'Hey, this is right and this is wrong.'" George Lucas
The following is quoted from one of the numerous websites dedicated to Star Wars:
'In one sense, Star Wars is timeless, but in another sense, there was only a very narrow window of opportunity in which it could have become the runaway success that it was. The defeatism and insecurity of the 1970s, born of the tragic debacle in Vietnam and the tragic scandal of Watergate, carried over into Hollywood as well. The films produced in that decade stand as some of the greatest in cinema history, bringing a gritty, hyper-realistic sensibility to American filmmaking. Mirroring the spirit of the times, however, even the greatest films of the period are, almost without exception, uniformly downbeat, pessimistic, and depressing. People no longer had faith that the good guys would always win; worse yet, their confidence that we were in fact the good guys had been betrayed and shaken, perhaps beyond repair. George Lucas began making films in the midst of these days of malaise. His first feature film, THX 1138, may have taken place in a futuristic setting, but it was part and parcel of the grittiness and gloom that pop culture was feeding itself in what seemed like a self-destructive, self-fulfilling prophecy of doom. Star Wars, with its clear-cut lines of good and evil and its pedigree rooted in ancient tradition rather than the shifting sands of a decaying culture, burst upon the scene and restored to people something they didn't even know they had lost. '
On a more personal level, Star Wars was the first fantasy world that I got lost into as a kid. Being a pretty impressionable kid (I remember thinking the Ewoks movie was one of the most exciting offers on the telly), Star Wars opened my eyes to a wonderful universe of aliens and humans struggling to understand their place and purpose in the universe. As with all great movies, you get to appreciate them at different levels according to your maturity. When I first watched the movie (I caught Return of the Jedi first at around 6 I think), my initial response was to prance around the house later with a make-belief lightsabre. Adolescence brought about a drooling admiration for Princess Leia’s costume, and the more philosophical aspects of the movie was only made evident to me many years later.
Star Wars probably fuelled the flames that I subsequently had for all things fantasy. Although I’m not as much into fantasy as Radzi or EM, I can look back at my interests in RPGs, fantasy novels and even comics and attribute it to my exposure to Star Wars. And I can safely say that all the ‘crap’ I’ve read throughout my childhood and teenage years were fundamental in formatting aspects of me today. I’m sure folks who were actually teenagers during the late 70s (baby-boomers and younger folks like Krik) would appreciate its influence even more.
Another nice bit about Star Wars is that it was also the factor that started my close friendship with Jo. When we were dying of boredom in Stockton back during the beginning of our clinical years, we were meant to come up with a presentation as a duo. We ended up spending the night chatting about Star Wars and talking about the movies and what not. And it seems only fitting that during the final stages of my clinical years, I’m not only attached to the same place with her again (and M’brough ain’t far from Stockton) but I’ll be catching the final Star Wars movie with her as well. Which reminds me, the exams next week were brought forward, so I’ll be able to catch the movie at midnight with her after all! And the little baby I delivered was named Leia, so that's pretty memorable too!
Revenge of the Sith will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival but receives its first public audiences around the world on 16 May, when all cinemas in London's Leicester Square unite for a single event for the first time. Will it be worth it, especially after the relative disappointment of Episodes I and II? The Guardian gave it a solitary star, which isn't exactly good now is it?
Well, Star Wars fans are an overoptimistic lot and the hype and marketing has reached fever pitch (I can barely stop myself from buying the novelisation and comics about the movie). But it is (probably) the last movie in a magnificent saga that has permeated throughout our lives, and I’ll be waiting with bated breath as Emperor Palpatine says ‘Rise, Lord Vader’, ‘cause at the end of the day, that’s what this movie is going to be all about.
