Star Wars as a Literary Medium in the Classroom

In 1977 the fourth movie in a series of six was first released by film genius George Lucas and an amazing phenomenon swept the planet. All over the world people fell in love with the epic struggle between the rebels and the empire; forming fan bases, cults, and even analyzing the movie in a philosophical view. Star Wars is in fact a work of art; the perfect blend of storytelling, stunning special effects (for the time), and masterful music that can't be helped but loved.

During the time period A New Hope first came out the movie theatre business was in a slump. America was falling on hard times and people only cared to watch dark, depressing horror films and such. But just as the name implies, Lucas' movie brought forth a new hope in Americans; a newfound faith in movies and of the traditional epic story about good against evil. Star Wars seems to embrace this idea along with similar ones throughout the film including light vs. dark and man vs. machine. The plot of the whole movie hinges on the good vs. evil/ light vs. dark theme as the young would be jedi battles against the lords of sith across the galaxy. The final theme, while more prevalent in the later films, does demonstrate itself in the final battle of the fourth film. The rebels are trying to defend their base on Yavin IV, a forest planet, lush with vegetation all around while the Death Star, the imperial stronghold, approaches; an immense mass of cold, dark metal ready to destroy anything in its path. The film seems to emphasize mankind's resilient nature, almost as if Lucas tried to urge the audience never to give up hope. Such a movie is important to society because it teaches important morals and values that can provide for a better society as a whole.

Lighting played an important role in defining characters in the film. Typically, the evil characters tended to stay within the shadows while the good characters were accentuated with light. For example, Darth Vader, the chief villain in the film, was always shrouded within the shadows of his black suit. The imperial pilots wore black flight suits as opposed to the rebels' orange and their cockpits had less light than the starships of the rebels. When Han Solo encounters Jabba the Hutt and his gang in front of the Millennium Falcon, Jabba tends to stay within the shadows of the Falcon for most of the conversation. Luke, the hero of the story, comes from Tatooine, a desert planet filled with light. Also, after tragic scenes, such as Obi Wan's death, Luke is shown sitting within the Falcon in the shadows.

John Williams composed a brilliant original soundtrack for the movie which set a perfect mood and atmosphere for the movie. The sound was overwhelming, but in a good way. It can easily sweep the audience away in an epic flow of grandeur, pulling the audience further into the movie and leaving them at the edge of their seats. The space battles were accompanied by heroic music, Princess Leia had a love theme, Vader and the empire had their dark theme, and of course no one can forget the epic Star Wars theme heard at the end, heralded by Chewbacca's roar.

The special effects in the film were rather advanced for the time period the movie was created in and they actually do play quite a key role in the film. Much of the story is based on the advanced technology of the starships and lightsabers which Lucasfilms did rather well. All of the special effects only further enhanced whichever scenes they were in.

The story of Star Wars is that of a young boy, ignorant of his parentage, who through a series of fateful events meets up with a mentor who teaches him about powers he never knew he had and comes to oppose the evil governmental body that currently rules. It actually follows the steps of the typical archetypal hero that exists in all epics. While the story may have been unique to westerners, it is actually rather familiar to followers of the eastern religions; predominantly Hinduism. The tale of Star Wars exists as many old Indian legends and myths which even speak of space battles and flying starships. As they say, there are only about five or six truly original story lines, everything else is just a variation on those and Star Wars seems to be a rather well done sci-fi fantasy work.

Lucas' work turned out to be a masterful tale that while isn't completely original, does bring an interesting spin to a great story. One need only to look at the money generated by Star Wars as well as all the social gatherings held in its honor to see the impact it has had on the world as both a form of entertainment as well as a form of art; and in some cases, even a state of mind.