People of all ages like fairy tales, as it is simple to understand, magical for children and there is adventure for adults. The futuristic setting matches the theme as usually the story says ‘Once upon a time,’ or ‘Long long ago’ and this is the opposite of Star Wars.
George Lucas managed to make his story appeal to both adults and children, as there are a variety of different aspects, which both would enjoy.
The advantages of following a well-known pattern, is that you know there is going to be a happy ending and every ‘baddy’ will be destroyed. This is good as everything ends happily and there is nothing to be afraid about, because you know everything will turn out how you expect it to. I think George Lucas wanted this happy ending, as it would reflect on the opening of the film.
Star Wars contains religious elements which makes it very popular and appealing to people, so for my second theory I will be looking at Star Wars in religious terms.
In an interview George Lucas quoted: “I think it’s important to have a belief system and to have faith, I see Star Wars as taking all the issues that religion represents and that there is a great mystery out there.”
Obi Wan Kenobi believes in the Force and brings Luke to believe too. As if he was a priest, he convinces Luke that it is good to believe. A lot in the film depends on faith, for example when Luke is practising with his light saber, using his other senses apart from his eyes. Also at the end of the film when Luke has to destroy the Death Star, he can hear Obi Wan’s voice in his head saying, “Believe in the Force Luke.”
Darth Vader plays the part of the ‘devil’ as he is evil and wants to destroy. On the other hand if you look at Luke the hero and his partner Hans Solo, they do work good as a team but are very different as individuals. Luke believes in the ‘Force’ which is why he is saving Princess Leia and destroying the Death Star, where as Hans Solo is just doing this for money. This makes Hans Solo a non-believer and he has no faith in the ‘Force’
The third theory I will be looking at will be the influence of extra terrestrials/aliens. George Lucas created and designed most of the different aliens himself, so they turned out exactly how he wanted. He had to find a way of making them look real and believable on screen. This is why aliens are such an important part of sci-fi films, it is about something we haven’t seen before and sci-fi is all about the future, so George made the characters to look futuristic.
There are many non-human creatures throughout Star Wars, for example R2 D2, C3PO, the creature from the sewers, Chewbacca and the sand people. All these characters are what make Star Wars so appealing to the eye. Looking at Darth Vader we could say he was ‘half and half ’ as we don’t see him with his mask off, so we don’t know whether he is human or alien. This adds to the mystery about him. These characters add drama and entertainment to the film. R2 D2 and C3PO add humour and the creature in the swamp is made to shock us.
In Mos Eisley it was so unusual and creative with the use of aliens in this scene, as George Lucas made them to act like humans. This was different to other sci-fi films, as it was one of its kinds. They spoke a different language but weren’t scary, this made the scene visually interesting.
George Lucas decided to make aliens an important part of his film, as he wanted to be original. In a sci-fi film aliens are what the audience expects. The sale of merchandise is proof of this, a lot of people bought poster’s, T-shirt’s etc of aliens more so than the actors and actresses. Aliens are fun to read about in books but in terms of ‘cinematic opportunities’ they’re even better, as films are about seeing and then believing. Star Wars aliens are appealing and is one reason why it became so popular and groundbreaking.
The fourth idea I will study, is on how the special effects are used throughout the film and how the were created. My definition of special effects is the creation of something that is not real, almost like an illusion.
Special effects are used in films to give the effect that something is real, they make the film more appealing to the eye. They are especially important to sci-fi films, as we cannot actually go into space! Everything has to be especially created or made up.
Two examples of scenes that rely heavily on special effects are the blowing up of Alderaan and at the end of the film when there was the attack on the Death Star. Both these scenes used lazers, models on strings and flashing lights but even with all this, sound effects are also important to make a scene real. These effects improve the scene by putting animation images to life. People often forget how important sound effects and camera angles are to the action and drama of a film. Sound creates atmosphere, examples in the film are the attack of the Death Star and the theme tune at the beginning, which is built up at dramatic moments. Camera angles create tension in the actors/actresses and in the situation. Examples of this include the beginning with the attack along the corridors, a ‘long shot’ and then a full shot of Darth Vader to show just how important he is. The Attack of Alderaan showed close ups of Princess Leia’s face and then showed the planet and back to her face again. Special effects add quality to the film by making it active and adventurous.
Important features of Star Wars are the setting, and the battle scenes. George Lucas has used these for special effects purposes, by creating the battles at both beginning and end of the film, where the last was bigger and better then the first.
We know that George Lucas and the audience considered the use of special effects in the film Star Wars to be important and memorable. George Lucas spoke in one of his interviews about remaking the film and spending more money- but it was worth it!
Having studied a range of theories, I now think that Star Wars was so successful because of a combination of all four of these theories. Without one of them, I don’t think that it would have been as ground breaking to its viewers. Although there is a strong fairytale storyline and many special effects and aliens without the religious aspect of the ‘Force’ Star Wars wouldn’t be as appealing. This proves just how popular the film was both in the seventies up until today.
