GEORGE
LUCAS, STAR WARS IV: A NEW HOPE (1977) |
Updated:
June 13, 2011
|
Contents
Source
These Study Guides on War Films were originally prepared for a course entitled "Responses to War: An Intellectuall and Cultural History" given in the Department of History at The University of Adelaide between 1989 and 1999.
The Director
Life
Californian born director, producer, writer. Studied film at University of Southern California. Came to the attention of Coppola when GL worked as intern for him. FFC helped arrange backing for GL's first feature THX-1138 (1971), a SF dystopian film, thus beginning GL's work in the area of SF filmmaking. His next film American Graffiti (1973) helped create the fascination for 1960s nostalgia and films with best-selling 1960s soundtracks. His work on the Star Wars trilogy helped create the popular demand for big-budget, special-effects lacden, fast-paced action SF films. Although GL has directed relatively few films he has had a profound impact on popular culture and filmmaking with his work as producer and his special effects companies. The work of writing the novel, directing the film and arranging all the special effects for the trilogy was so exhausting that GL swore he would never work on a big-budget film again. He thus moved into producing films (Indiana Jones series with Steven Spielberg), establishing the high-tech post-production facility Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, Calif.; the special effects company Industrial Light and Magic; Pixar - computer animation; LucasArts the merchandising arm for comic books, novels, T-shirts, school lunchboxes. More recently he produced an unsuccessful TV series "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles".
Films
- THX-1138 (1971)
- American Graffiti (1973)
- Star Wars trilogy
- producing films (Indiana Jones series with Steven Spielberg)
- TV series "The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles".
The Film
Meaning of the Title
A largely meaningless title (war among the stars?, war against the Emperor's "Death Star") which has entered the English language as a replacement for the 1930s and 1940s science fiction sub-genre of "space opera" - juvenile "shoot 'em up" stories with American democratic "super" heroes pitched against alien monsters or thinly disguised fascists (communists post-1945). Adopted by the press to describe Pres. Reagan's early 1980s scheme (drawn from ideas of Edward Teller and officially called SDI or Strategic Arms Initiative) to create a system of missile & laser anti-missile defences which would make the nuclear arms race "redundant".
Literary Source
George Lucas's novel Star Wars or Journal of the Whills (1976). The original novel by GL and the novelisations of the screenplays of the other two films in the trilogy have been republished as The Star Wars Omnibus .
The Cast
- Mark Hamill - Luke Skywalker, the18 year old farmboy with heroic aspirations from the desert planet Tatooine
- Carrtie Fisher - Princess Leia Organa, the 16 year old Member of the Alderaan Senate
- Harrsion Ford - Han Solo, the swashbuckling, entrepreneurial captain of a space transporter, mercenary, smuggler, reluctant hero
- Peter Cushing - Grand Moff Tarkin
- Alec Guiness - Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi, a retired Jedi knight and friend of Luke's father
- Peter Mayhew - Chewbacca, hairy companion to Han Solo
- Anthony Daniels - the Art Deco metallic robot See Threepio (C-3PO), protocol and universal translator robot
- Kenny Baker - the claw-armod tripod robot Artoo-Detoo (A2-D2)
- David Prowse (voice of James Earl Jones) - Lord Darth Vader, the evil warrior of the emperor
- Phil Brown - Luke's Uncle Owen, a farmer
- Shelagh Fraser - Aunt Beru
- Score - John Williams
About the Film
Part 4 of an ambitious 9-part 1930s-style "space opera" depicting the struggle of the rebel republic (not so loosely modelled on the democratic US republic) vs. the evil Galactic Empire (modeled on fascist states of Nazi Germany and Mussolini's Italy). To date only the "middle trilogy" has been made, although other parts of the series are scheduled for production to coincide with the 20th anniversary of the release of Star Wars (1977). In the first trilogy the rise to power of the Emperor and the early chilhood of Luke Skywalker are shown. The final trilogy begins many years after LS and his companions have defeated the Emperor. The other films in the middle trilogy are The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and The Return of the Jedi (1983).
Academy Awards for Art Dirtection/Set Direction, Sound, Best Original Score, Film Editing, Costume Design, Visual Effects, Sound Effects.
One critic enthusiastically stated:
In terms of scope, the three Star Wars films are a modern equivalent to The Iliad or The Odyssey. Not only do they depict a mythic history in the form of an epic narrative, they also tell a personal tale of courage and cowardice, adventure and romance...
In the final analysis, the Star Wars trilogy can be enjoyed as entertainment or a meaningful work of art that demonstrates how films can uplift our spirits and enrich our lives. It is no wonder that these films have captured the imagination of a generation of filmgoers. (Snyder, pp. 449-50)
Star Wars appeared before the coming to power of Ronald Reagan in 1980 but seemed to prefigure his aim to restore American pride in its institutions, history and mythology. Part of the Reagan agenda was to undo the results of the "Vietnam syndrome" - loss of faith in American democracy, political and military inistitutions and leaders, and to return to more traditional values of family, patriotism and American "can do" philosophy. GL's film which harked back to the more optimistic and romantic SF stories of the 1930s seemed an ideal cultural counterpart to Reagan's political agenda. The parallel between America of the 1940s fighting the evil empire of fascism (whether German Nazism or Japanese militarism) and America of the 1980s under Reagan fighting the evil Empire of the Soviet Union during the Second Cold War is a striking one. Even the uniforms of the Imperial officers look vaguely Russian or German.
As a romantic and optimistic filmmaker, GL wanted to revive a more traditional heroic figure which had fallen into disrepute in the post-war period. Luke Skywalker embodied the ordinary "farmboy" with a strong sense of individual purpose and loyalty to family and farm who is forced by circumstances beyond his control (the death of his aunt and uncle and the destruction of their farm) to take up arms in the struggle against tyranny (compare Robin Hood). The parallels with traditional heroic epics (The Iliad) are strong and deliberate - a major source of inspiration for the story comes from the work of the historian of comparative mythology Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949). GL's skill was to combine ancient myths and legends of the hero with state of the art special effects, face paced action, and amusing characters.
In a discussion of Tolkein's The Lord of the Rings and George Lucas's Star Wars trilogy Colebatch laments the way much modern literature ridicules or opposes traditional ideas of honour, heroism, duty and "knightliness". Yet he claims these ideas are present in much popular contemporary culture:
Another way the story ("The Empire Strikes Back") breaks contemporary conventions is that the characters are not motivated by egotism. They are not 'bound for glory' as if 'glory' were the purpose of it all. The motives of the good people are (or, significantly, become) not to be 'rich and famous' or to 'win'. Fame, glory and honours are shown to be rewards (by-products, as it were) of great achievements, not ends in themselves.
This is an old-fashioned concept, hearkening back to the days when the term 'hero' was reserved for someone dead. The notion of heroism in The Lord of the Rings and Star Wars returns to something like duty in the Nelsonian sense. It thus avoids two common contemporary perversions of heroism: the 'we-consciousness' of collectivism, expressed in things like Nuremburg rallies and May Day parades in Red Square, and the Nietzschean superman concepts expressed ultimately in the promotion and adoration of celebrities who have no particular qualities except being well-known. ...
Heroism can, in these tales, be achieved by anyone. Once achieved, however, it is celebrated with ritual, ceremony and public honour.(p.26)
John Williams' Score
JW classically trained, followed in footsteps of composers like Erich Wolfgang Korngold (music for Errol Flynn swashbucklers of the 1930s), filmscores much underrated (unjustly) by classical listening public. Won Oscar and sold 4 million copies (largest selling non-pop album in history). Music unusual because scores for trilogy make up one coherent work in style of Wagner's Ring Cycle (a Ring cycle for mystically inclined teenagers of the 1970s and 1980s?). Recently issued on 4 CD set. Critic Burlingame regards Star Wars trilogy music "one of the most musically interesting (and thematically consistent) series in the history of American film." Heroic and martial fanfares (triumphal brass and military percussion for main theme; strident brooding marches for Darth Vader and the "Dark Side"); romantic themes (yearning strings and celeste for vastness of space and youthful innocence of LS; mystery and nostalgia for Obi Wan and the lost Jedi knights); humour (mischievous and amusing sounds for Yoda, robots); Wagnerian Leitmotifs (signature tune to identify characters and moods). JW's work literal revival of "space opera" - borrowings from Wagner's cycle, Holst's "The Planets" (Mars, written in WW1).
Historical Background
Not relevant for this film.
Bibliography
Joseph Campbell, The Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949) (Princeton University Press, 1973).
Thomas Snyder, "Star Wars" in The International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers. Volume 1: Films, ed. Christopher Lyon (London: Macmillan, 1987).
Hal Colebatch, Return of the Heroes: "The Lord of the Rings", "Star Wars", and Contemporary Culture (Perth: Australian Institute for Public Policy, 1990).
Mary Henderson, Star Wars: The Magic of Myth (New York: Bantam, 1997).
The Art of Star Wars, including the complete script of the film by George Lucas, ed. Carol Titleman (New York: Ballantine Books, 1994).
Things to Note
- GL's homage to the "Flash Gordon" and "Buck Rogers" "space opera" serials of the 1930s and 1940s. Erroll Flynn's "Robin Hood" - sword fights, swinging on ropes to save damsel. The references to other war films, especially WW2 and Korean War air force films for the dogfights in space. Note The Bridges at Toko-Ri (1955) and/or "The Dam Busters" (1954) for the "boming run" sequence in the channel of the Death Star.
- The now classic opening of the film:
"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far, away..."
A vast sea of stars serves as the backdrop for the main title. War drums echo through the heavens as a rollup slowly crawls into infinity.
It is a period of civil war. Rebel spaceships, striking from a hidden base, have won their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire.
During the battle, Rebel spies managed to steal secret plans to the Emperor's ultimate weapon, the Death Star, an armored space station with enough power to destroy an entire planet.
Pursued by the Empire's sinister agents, Princess Leia races home aboard her starship, custodian of the stolen plans that can save her people and restore freedom to the galaxy... (Screenplay, p. 9)
- The traditional, even ancient, notion of the warrior hero which lies behind Luke Skywalker (compare Achilles, Roland, Robin Hood). The ordinary man, forced to take up arms against an evil tyrant to defend traditional values, who endures a quest for a lost or forgotten object, who is confronted by a choice between good and evil, who wavers before making the right choice, who fights a final battle and wins. Note the following passages from Campbell's book Hero with a Thousand Faces (1949):
... Wherever he (the tyrant) sets his hand there is a cry (if not from the housetops, then - more miserably - within every heart): a cry for the redeeming hero, the carrier of the shining balde, whose blow, whose touch, whose existence, will liberate the land. (pp. 15-16)
For the mythological hero is the champion not of things become but of things becoming; the dragon to be slain by him is precisely the monster of the status quo: Holdfast, the keeper of the past. From obscurity the hero emerges, but the enemy is great and conspicuous in the seat of power; he is enemy, dragon, tyrant, because he turns to his own advantage the authority of his position. He is Holdfast not because he keeps the past but because he keeps.
The tyrant is proud, and therein lies his doom. He is proud because he thinks of his strength as his own; thus he is in the clown's role, as a mistaker of shadow for substance; it is his destiny to be tricked. The mythological hero, reappearing from the darkness that is the source of the shapes of the day, brings a knowledge of the secret of the tyrant's doom. (p337).
- The obscure notion of "the Force" ("may the Force be with you!"), knowledge of or awarness of the interconnectedness of all living things held by the Jedi knights. It seems to guide them (especially in the correct way to use technology) although it appears to be able to be corrupted ("the dark side" of the Force).
- the political framework of the trilogy of films
- the freedom loving, independent, loose federation
of planets known as "The Federation" vs
the militaristic, centrally controlled "Empire".
Freedom vs tyranny, republic vs Empire, country
vs city, agriculture vs industry, honesty vs corruption.
Reminiscent of the conflict between
- the emerging Empire of Augustus Caesar and the supporters of the traditional Roman Republic
- the American Republic vs the British Empire at the time of the American Revolution - Obi wan Kenobi's warning about avoiding "imperial entanglements" (Washington's Farewell Address).
- the liberal democracies vs Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany in the 1940s (imperial storm troopers).
- Although LS seems to be an "everyman" forced by circumstances to become a warrior hero, his father was a Jedi knight and LS seems predestined to follow in his footsteps.
- The militaristic ending - medal award ceremony, martial music, adulation of the warrior hero. Compare Colebatch's anti-fascist reading.
- The continuing power (or Force) of Star Wars merchandising 20 years after the first film's appearance: Star Wars computer screensavers, computer game ("Wing Commander IV" with Mark Hamil's voice); multivolume novels which flesh out the series; war-gaming books and figurines.
- some special effects based upon film of WW2 fighter planes engaging in dog fights - space fighters superimposed by computers.
- Other war movie titles which have entered popular
language: Star Wars, Catch-22, Dr. Strangelove.