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Star Wars Essay, Research Paper

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 mythology is this yearning.

Campbell thought that one of the basic prerequisites of the Hero-to-be is the desire to become something great.

Han Solo is another key figure. Han is a smuggler, and

earns his living shipping cargo for unscrupulous characters. He

has incurred the wrath of several crime lords, and is currently

looking for easy money to pay his debts. Han joins the adventure

in Mos Eisley spaceport on Tatooine and becomes Luke’s closest

friend. As the plot progresses, Han along with Ben plays the role

of Luke’s tutor. He represents physical discipline and proficiency

in combat. It is Han’s job to instruct Luke as a warrior.

Ben Kenobi is Han’s spiritual counterpart. Ben lives as a

hermit on Tatooine and is regarded by the citizens as a crazy old

man. He was a general in the Clone Wars long ago, and

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