“Unlearn What You Have Learned” (Yoda)

The Critical Study of the Myth of Star Wars By John C. McDowell

Presented by Monica Rios

Introduction

At the time Star Wars was released:

• Lucas didn’t go to opening night• Felt it was going to be a disaster due to a limited fan baseHowever: a cultural movement occurred that still prevails.

Theory and Method

• “Along time ago…”: Star Wars, genre-pastiche, and the fairy tale

Pastiche: an artistic work in a style that imitates that of another work, artist, or period

The opening sequence “A long time ago…” is reminiscent of the fairy tale and Lucas deliberately used this to link his story to that of legends, which in turn, are linked to our past.

Functions similarly to Tolkien’s Silmarillion, the ancestral mythology to Middle Earth

Theory and Method Continued

• The reference to the princess was not an allusion to fairy tales, but was in fact shaped around Akira Kurosawa’s adventure, The Hidden Fortress (1958)

• The two squabbling peasants Tahei and Matashichi take the form of R2D2 and C3PO and the General Rokurota Makabe was mirrored by Obi-Wan Kenobe. The Princess Yuki then became Princess Leia Organa.

• Lucas named the Jedi after the Japanese term “jidai geki” meaning period film

• He was also inspired by the daredevil adventures featuring Errol Flynn• The Mos Eisley cantina sequence may have been inspired by John Ford’s

saloon scene in The Searchers (1956)• There are references to Isaac Asimov’s Foundation stories and Fritz Lang’s

Metropolis (1926)

George Lucas and Myth

A time of cultural turmoil: Vietnam War was near its end, Americans suffering with traumatic introspection, Nixon implicated in Watergate scandal, economic misery.

In the process of making Star Wars, Lucas hoped to create a film that would encourage wonder, bring back the enjoyment of stories, inspire imagination, and to morally re-educate young people through media.

Lucas attempts to provide what he considers to be truthful insight into the nature of things and persons, and thereby provide a context for moral reflection and education through a particular visual narrative form. Myths are stories that cultures tell about themselves, and expressions of what cultures deem to be valuable and meaningful. He also suggests that he feels that myths are largely alike.

George Lucas and Myth Continued

Lucas studied anthropology for a few years in collegewhere he came across this book. He often checkedhis writing against Campbell’s version of the hero-mythand found that he was already working within that motif.Put simply, Campbell explains that there is broadly thesame hero in each myth and that the essence of the hero is displayed under culturally specific guises.The myth that develops is the hero’s journey of self-discovery.In this case, Luke Skywalker.

Case StudyViolence and Evil

“You don’t know the power of the Dark Side” (Darth Vader)Vader’s costume is symbolic being acombination of Nazism, medieval monasticrobes, a samurai girdle, and the Black Knight.

The first mention of The Force is in the DeathStar conference room where Vader threatensthe life of Admiral Motti.

Case StudyDefensive Violence

“A Jedi uses the force for knowledge and defense” (Yoda)When Luke meets Yoda, he has associated the ideas of “power” with military violence.Yoda couldn’t be more different than Vader. He is small, green, with large earsand large eyes. Yoda’s ideas of The Force and power deal with the virtues of wisdom, self-controland living. He is a servant of The Force and therefore is a servant of all livingthings.

Case StudyPacifism?

“I will not turn and you’ll be forced to kill me” (Luke Skywalker)Luke has made a huge

transformation at this point in the trilogy. His clothes are black, he now has a

prosthetic right hand that is an indication to his

father’s now mechanized state. He could easily be

drawn into the emotions of hate, anger, revenge, and self-assertiveness. Luke instead tosses aside his lightsaber leaving him defenseless against the Emperor and is ready to sacrifice himself than do evil.

Luke’s value system had to be “unlearned” and replaced with a new way of seeing life and the interrelations of all things.

Conclusion

Lucas was critical of the Vietnam War and he claimed that Nixon’s America embodies the oppressive empire as much as the rebellion for freedom. The various features that make the violence in Star Wars look like a politics of revenge against the “evil them” need to be understood differently.

Despite the deeper reading and the cautionary message about violence, there still remains a concern: Star Wars’ violence is insufficiently horrifying and emotionally involving, at least not until Revenge of the Sith (Lucas 2005).

This form still looks too exhilarating and children may not be dissuaded from engaging their “enemies” in conscious mimicking of their heroes.