Star Wars Essays (6440 words) - Action Heroes,

Star Wars Star Wars As a Mythology ?Fifteen years ago, I set out to make a movie for a generation without fairy tales.? -George Lucas There exists in every culture a series of folk tales and stories, which make up a part of that culture's history. These stories, called myths, often venture into the magical and fantastic, with great heroes battling terrible monsters to save exotic lands. As the human race has evolved, we have moved beyond the need to attribute unexplained events to supernatural workings beyond our ken. As a result, modern culture puts its faith in science and organised religion, and for centuries there have been no new myths. In the nineteen-seventies, a young and enthusiastic film maker/director put his imagination and heart into changing that. George Lucas's now legendary Trilogy of movies and books, Star Wars, is the result. To the casual observer, the movies are only exciting science fiction stories, but a closer look reveals nothing short of a complete mythology within. George Lucas collaborated with Joseph Campbell on the making of the first movie of the Trilogy, A New Hope (A New Hope is more commonly known as Star Wars, but to be accurate, Star Wars will be used when discussing the entire Trilogy and A New Hope will be used when discussing the first movie only.) Before he died, Campbell was widely accepted as the foremost authority on myths and mythologies in the world. Campbell strongly believed that every culture's myths and legends were strikingly similar, even identical, to those of every other culture. His The Hero With A Thousand Faces compares the trials and traits of heroes from all legends. Lucas incorporated Campbell's model of the Hero in developing Luke Skywalker as the Hero in A New Hope. The plot line of A New Hope is very similar to that of many mythologies. In order to better understand how Luke evolves as a Hero, it is necessary to examine the early events of the film and note how these key events are typical of other myths. A New Hope takes place in a typical science-fiction galaxy. There exist many planets and races of intelligent life. The galaxy's government has recently been thrown into turmoil by the emergence of the evil Emperor and his Empire. The Empire is the typical tyrant of mythological stories. In Greek legend, the creation of the universe proceeded smoothly until Cronos, father of the gods, decided he wanted supreme power. He took over and ruled ruthlessly, and it was up to Zeus and his divine siblings to overthrow him and restore peace. In A New Hope the Rebel Alliance takes the place of the gods. As in many myths, the Rebellion is young and hopelessly outnumbered. Campbell wrote that the Hero is almost always a youth and weak relative to his enemies. The Rebellion has just won its first victory by stealing classified information from the Empire and smuggling it to Princess Leia, a high ranking Alliance member. Princess Leia is on her way to deliver the information to Obi-Wan Kenobi, a former general. It is the Alliance's hope that Kenobi can safely get the information to the Rebel base. Obi-Wan lives on Tatooine, a desert planet on the outskirts of the galaxy which happens to be home to a young Luke Skywalker. Luke knows Obi-Wan as Ben, and believes he is only an old hermit. This element is also present in Greek mythology. Cronos swallowed all of his children to ensure that they could not overthrow him. His wife hid his last son and gave Cronos a rock to swallow instead. The youngest son, Zeus, was sent away to live in a remote mountain valley until he grew old enough to challenge his father. Tatooine corresponds to Zeus's valley as the distant sanctuary for the growing Hero. On the way to Tatooine, Leia's ship is intercepted and boarded by one of the Empire's ships. In desperation she sends the information, stored in a droid named Artoo-Detoo, to the planet's surface. Artoo-Detoo and his companion, an interpreter droid named See-Threepio, meet and are bought by Luke's uncle. Thus, Luke enters the story. An introduction of some of the story's key characters will also help in analyzing the Hero Cycle. Luke Skywalker will become the Hero. He is nineteen years old and works as a farmhand on his uncle's moisture farm. He is bored with his life and wishes to submit his application to the Starfighter Academy. Luke's dream is to be a starfighter and go on grand, epic adventures. Another classic element of