Star Wars sources and analogues

Star Wars, the popular science fantasy saga, and cultural touchstone, is acknowledged to have been inspired by many sources. These may include Qigong, Greek Philosophy, Greek mythology, Roman History, Roman Mythology, parts of the Abrahamic religions, Confucianism, Shintō, and Taoism.

George Lucas has said that chivalry, knighthood, paladinism, and related institutions in feudal societies inspired some concepts in the Star Wars movies, most notably the Jedi Knights. The work of the mythologist Joseph Campbell, most notably his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, directly influenced Lucas, and was what drove him to create the 'modern myth' of Star Wars. The supernatural flow of energy known as The Force is believed to have originated from the concept of prana, or ki/qi/chi, "the all-pervading vital energy of the universe".

Amongst the celebratory 30th Anniversary of Star Wars, The History Channel premiered a 2-hour event covering the original Star Wars Trilogy entitled Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed. Featuring interviews from the likes of Stephen Colbert, Newt Gingrich, Nancy Pelosi, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, acclaimed scholars, and others, the program delved further into the Heroic Epic concept and the influences of mythology, and other motifs that were important in making Star Wars the standard of movies and other series for years to come, such as Sins of The Father and Redeeming the Father, Coming of Age, Exiting the Ordinary World, and others that all led to the defining "modern mythology" of our time.

Similarities

Film

• A New Hope includes many elements derived from the 1936 Universal serial Flash Gordon, the original property George Lucas had sought to license before making the first Star Wars film, and its sequel, Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe (1940). The basic plot involving the infiltration of a megalomaniacal outer-space Emperor's fortress by two heroes disguised in uniforms of soldiers of his army is drawn from Flash Gordon Conquers the Universe, with Luke Skywalker and Han Solo filling the roles of Flash Gordon and Prince Barin, respectively, and Ming the Merciless the Emperor. The Emperor's deadly, hostile planet (the Death Star/Mongo), a sexy, sometimes scantily-clad brunette space Princess whom the hero defends (Princess Leia/Princess Aura), a big, strong, hairy, animal-like ally (Chewbacca/Prince Thun of the Lion Men), a fearsome monster found underground and/or fought in an arena by the hero (the Rancor/the Gocko or Orangopoid) a city in the sky, ray-guns, and dogfighting spaceships were all elements retained from the first Universal Flash Gordon serial.

• The costume for Darth Vader in A New Hope was visually inspired by the character "the Lightning" in the Republic Pictures serial The Fighting Devil Dogs. The Lightning also had an army of white-armored stormtroopers and flew through the sky in a large triangular airship (the "flying wing.")

• Darth Vader's need to wear his helmet to breathe recalls the oxygen helmets of the underground-dwelling Muranians in the 1935 Mascot serial The Phantom Empire, which are required by the caped Thunder Riders to be able to breathe on the surface.

• A New Hope was inspired by Stanley Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey.

• Star Wars was heavily inspired by Akira Kurosawa's films The Hidden Fortress and Yojimbo. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope features the exploits of C-3PO and R2-D2, whereas the plot of The Hidden Fortress is told from the point of view of two bickering peasants. The two peasants, Tahei and Matashichi, are first shown escaping a battle, while C-3PO and R2-D2 are first shown fleeing an attack in A New Hope. Additionally, both films feature a battle-tested General – Rokurota Makabe in The Hidden Fortress and Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope – who assist a rebellion led by a princess and engage in a duel with a former rival whom they fought years earlier. Lucas also features many horizontal wipe scene transitions in A New Hope, a technique used thoroughly by Kurosawa in his films.

• Episode One:The Phantom Menace features the spectacular pod racing action sequence. This entire sequence is inspired by the famous Chariot Race action sequence of the 1925 and 1959 versions of Ben Hur,but in particular the latter film. The climactic moment when Sebulba's Pod attaches itself to Anakin's Pod mimicks, almost shot for shot, the climactic moment of the scene in Ben Hur when Messala accidentally locks wheels with Ben Hur.

• Lucas has also cited The Searchers and Lawrence of Arabia as references for the style—if not the story—used in the films. A more direct homage to Lawrence of Arabia occurs in Attack of the Clones, as Padme and Anakin talk while walking around the Theed palace on Naboo. It was filmed at the Plaza de España in Seville, Spain, which in Lawrence of Arabia was the site of the British Army HQ in Cairo, and was shot in the exact manner as the scene in Lawrence of Arabia where Allenby (Jack Hawkins) and Dryden (Claude Rains) discuss whether to give artillery to Lawrence's Arab troops. In the same film, Padme and Anakin also retreat to an estate called Varykino – the name of the Gromeko family estate in Doctor Zhivago (1965). (Some also have considered Tom Courtenay's Pasha/Strelnikov character from Zhivago as an inspiration for Anakin/Darth Vader, but the similarities are likely coincidental.) A reference to The Searchers occurs in A New Hope, when Luke discovers the burning moisture farm.

• Lucas is also a fan of Sergio Leone's film Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), and according to Leone's biographer, Christopher Frayling, he listened to the score from Leone's film while editing The Empire Strikes Back. Many have considered Vader's first appearance in A New Hope as being an "homage" to the introduction of Henry Fonda's villainous Frank in the Leone film.

• The space battles in A New Hope were based on filmed World War I and World War II dogfights.

• The death scene of Yoda in Return of the Jedi is taken almost shot-for-shot from the death scene of the similarly mystical High Lama in Frank Capra's Lost Horizon (Yoda and the High Lama also both share a diminutive form and odd cadence of speech).

• The attack on the "Death Star" in the climax of the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is similar in many respects to the strategy of Operation Chastise from the 1954 British film, The Dam Busters. Rebel pilots have to fly through a trench while evading enemy fire and drop a single special weapon at a precise distance from the target in order to destroy the entire base with a single explosion; if one run fails another run must be made by a different pilot. Some scenes from the Star Wars climax are very similar to those in The Dam Busters and some of the dialogue is nearly identical in the two films. These scenes are also heavily influenced by the action scenes from the fictional wartime film 633 Squadron. That film's finale shows the squadron's planes flying down a deep fjord while being fired at along the way by anti-aircraft guns lining its sides. George Lucas has stated in interviews that this sequence inspired the 'trench run' sequence in Star Wars.

• A New Hope shares at least one similarity with the classic 1942 film Casablanca. A fez was placed on Jabba the Hut's head as an homage (or reference) to the heavyset Signor Ferrari.

• The battle scene in Revenge Of The Sith on Kashyyyk is based on the famous opening scene of Saving Private Ryan (directed by Lucas' close friend Steven Spielberg).

• The march on the Jedi Temple sequence is a direct tribute to Sergei Eisenstein's "Potemkin Stairs" montage in The Battleship Potemkin.

• During Order 66, the slaughter of the Separatists and the declaration of the Galactic Empire are reminiscent of the montage of massacres during the christening scene of The Godfather, a film directed by friend Francis Ford Coppola. They are similar in the christening of one (the baby and the Empire) with the death of a group of others (the other dons and the Separatists).

Literature

The science fiction writer Isaac Asimov stated on several occasions that George Lucas's galaxy-wide Empire bore a close resemblance to the Galaxy depicted in Asimov's Foundation Series. The greatest differences are that Asimov's Galaxy contains no robots or non-human aliens; Asimov addressed both issues directly in the saga's later volumes, most notably Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth. Since Asimov's death in 1992, the Star Wars cinematic universe has gained new Asimov-esque elements: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace introduced the planet Coruscant, which bears a close resemblance to Asimov's Trantor (Coruscant technically originated in a book from the Star Wars Expanded Universe released in 1991).

In a 2005 interview, George Lucas was asked the origins of the name "Darth Vader", and replied: "Darth is a variation of dark. And Vader is a variation of father. So it's basically Dark Father." (Rolling Stone, June 2, 2005). "Vader" is the Dutch word for "father" (the Dutch word is instead pronounced "vah-der"), and the German word for "father" (Vater) is similar. However, in the earliest scripts for Star Wars, the name "Darth Vader" was given to a human Imperial general with no apparent relationships.

Historical

George Lucas has stated that many historical events have been used in the Star Wars saga, for example, that the Empire was based on Nazi Germany. The stormtroopers from the movies share a name with the Nazi stormtroopers (see also Sturmabteilung). The imperial officers' uniforms also resemble some (historical) German Army uniforms (see Waffen-SS). In addition, some World War II terms may have been used for names in Star Wars; examples include the planets Kessel (a term that refers to a group of encircled forces) and Hoth (Hermann Hoth was a German general). The Great Jedi Purge alludes to the events of The Holocaust. In addition, Lucas has said that he modeled Palpatine and his rise to power after such historical dictators as Julius Caesar, Napoleon Bonaparte and Adolf Hitler. Furthermore, Darth Vader's helmet shares a similar appearance with the German Army helmets of World War II.

References

• Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed. The History Channel. May 31, 2007.
  • Official Star Wars:The Legacy Revealed website at History.com
• Comprehensive fansite showcasing Star Wars' origins and influences
• Star wars:the Myth for Our Time

External links

• Official Star Wars website
• The Legacy Revealed Schedule