In the opening sequence the scene starts off with the Rebel ship being attacked and shows a battle between the stormtroopers and the Rebel guards. In this part of the scene they used special effects for the lasers that are used along with explosions causing the scene to fill with smoke making the tension build up. Here this shows a battle between good and evil and the princess gets captured by Darth Vader. The droids escape to Tatooine with a message for Obi=Wan Kenobi in R2D2. This fits in with Propp’s theory as in this scene shows the villain and the princess which are 2 of the 8 characters that make it a fairy tale.
One of the most interesting scenes in the film is the scene in Mos Eisley which is the scene that stands out from the rest of the scenes. In this particular scene it shows aliens in a bar and reflects the image of a scene in a western movie. The scene has a lot of different types of aliens; each alien has their own type of language. The bar has a society where anyone is allowed in apart from the droids so it’s like a mixed society where everyone is accepted. Some aliens are armed with weapons and this shows that they can be dangerous or aggressive; the scene also shows drunken ness, fights and a little stupidity. These are some of the things you might see in a bar. The different types of aliens are based on animals linking animals and humans to the aliens making the aliens like something we know and we will accept them in our society. Luke Skywalker, the hero meets Han Solo, who only thinks about himself and money. A character that comes into this scene is Jabba the hut and Han Solo owes him money. The special effects used in this scene are the wheels on the vehicle; they used Vaseline on the film to smudge out the wheels making it look like it was hovering. To keep the audience interested and focused the scene has music in the background. In this scene the music is diagetic where aliens play instruments in the bar. There are camera angles in this scene that are used for a certain reasons. There were close ups of the aliens to show their features and facial expressions so the audience can get a look of what they look like close up and can tell by their facial expressions whether they are aggressive, angry, happy etc. another camera angle that is used is the over shoulder angle, it is used when Jawas is looking at Luke’s sand speeder which gives the affect that the audience is looking at the speeder as well ain an over shoulder view. All these things included in the scene gives the audience different messages. It gives them the idea that this scene is like a scene in a western movie and how the alien’s personalities, actions are similar to humans, showing the audience close ups of the aliens facial expressions and the over shoulder view making it seem like the audience is looking at the speeder in an over shoulder view. This gets the audience more involved, some of these effects may be basic but it’s affective.
‘Star Wars’ is not only just a sci-fi film it includes much more than a sci-fi film. ‘Star Wars’ also includes religion. The religion in it is the Force. The Force is a magical power that can be used for good or evil, and Darth Vader had chosen t use the Force for evil however Luke uses it for good. Luke believes in the Force and learns the ways of becoming a Jedi. Obi-Wan Kenobi is a very religious Jedi and is very powerful at using the Force. Han Solo is a non-religious and doesn’t believe in the Force. This shows each characters belief in the Force. Obi-Wan Kenobi is very dedicated and it resembles to religions that people believe in because some believers are very dedicated to their religion. George Lucas got the idea of the religion, the Jedi and the Force by Japanese themes and was very interested in Kurasawa’s films and borrowed some idea from one of his films. The Jedi is based on Japanese Samurai, and the Jedi keep peace like the Samurai and the light sabers resemble the sword Samurais used, called the katana. The Force is balanced it has the light side and the dark side. The religion is based on the eastern religion, the Samurais. This might appeal to the audience because they get to know more about the religion and compare their religion with the eastern religions, so the audience can learn from the film and they might find it interesting.
‘Star Wars’ is a sci-fi movie therefore it is normal for aliens to be featured in a sci-fi movie because sci-fi movies discover new worlds and alien creatures. ‘Star Wars’ have included many different types of aliens especially in the Mos Eisley scene, where many aliens are shown, the aliens all have their own language, they have their own personalities and human actions. Some aliens carry guns showing they’re aggressive and all aliens are accepted. The looks of the aliens are based on animals; they also have emotions like humans. The aliens have human qualities so it would be more appealing to the audience because the audience can compare the alien’s human qualities to themselves.
The film was made in 1977 and George Lucas had to make a team of his own for special effects. The scenes that special effects have been used are mainly the battle scenes with explosions, space ship and lasers that are featured in the scenes. In the opening sequence where the Rebel ship is being attacked they used special effects for the space background, explosions and lasers because in 1977 the special effect was not as good as the special effects we have now however the audience in 1977 would have been amazed by the effects. Some effects used were simple but affective, like the Mos Eisley scene where Luke’s sand speeder’s wheels were smudged with Vaseline on the film to make it look like it was hovering. The special effects made the film more realistic and because special effects have never been seen by the audience so it would have been interesting and exciting for the audience.
I think that the sci-fi has fascinated many people over the years because the story plots of sci-fi are interesting and it’s unrealistic and the film includes newly discovered world and civilisation along with alien creatures. I think that ‘Star Wars’ still is as popular today 25 years after the first film had been released because the film has a good plot and fits into the category of fairy tales as it has characters that are included in a fairy tale, so this makes it different from other sci-fi movies. It includes a scene which is like a western scene in a bar. George Lucas has put many different ideas into the sci-fi film. He got his ideas from Japanese films made by Kurasawa. The religion was based on Samurais. I think that the reasons for ‘Star Wars’ being a ground breaking movie because it had special effects that made it more realistic and affective and builds up the audience’s excitement, the aliens were something new to the audience and they had human qualities that could be compared with themselves and the religion that was based on an eastern religion which helped the audience to understand eastern religion through the films. A sci-fi movie normally only have aspects that make it a sci-fi but ‘Star Wars’ made it also a fairy tale. These reasons make the film more interesting and appealing to the audience as they can learn and compare themselves with some of the aspects that are included in the film.