tag:theconversation.com,2011:/au/topics/george-lucas-15877/articles
George Lucas – The Conversation
2023-09-12T14:48:12Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/211638
2023-09-12T14:48:12Z
2023-09-12T14:48:12Z
1973: a golden year for film that rewrote the rules of cinema
<p>Martin Scorsese’s <a href="https://scrapsfromtheloft.com/movies/mean-streets-pauline-kael/">Mean Streets</a> burst on to cinema screens 50 years ago, a cacophony of soundtrack, film styles, religion and violence which firmly established the young filmmaker as cut from a different kind of cloth. </p>
<p>Like every screen pioneer before him – from early film illusionist <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/georges-melies-autobiography">Georges Méliès</a> to the 1950s’ <a href="https://nofilmschool.com/what-is-the-french-new-wave">French New Wave</a> filmmakers – Scorsese was testing out a range of cinematic possibilities.</p>
<p>In the opening minutes, a studio set with blue lighting (denoting night time) perfectly creates the atmosphere for the modest apartment of small-time gangster Charlie (Harvey Keitel).</p>
<p>There’s intimate <a href="https://www.kodak.com/en/motion/page/super-8-history">Super8</a> old home movie footage, but also scenes of the real <a href="https://sangennaronyc.org">San Gennaro festival</a> in New York’s Little Italy. Is this a documentary? A seedy bar bathed in red (which would become Scorsese’s signature colour) tells a different story.</p>
<p>We’re certainly not in Kansas any more: gone are the stable camera, smooth editing and well-defined characters of <a href="https://mubi.com/en/lists/classical-hollywood">classical “old” Hollywood</a>. We’re offered an arm as we join Dorothy on the yellow brick road in <a href="https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/the-wizard-of-oz-thrs-1939-review-1235002943/">The Wizard of Oz</a> (1939), but there’s no map or trusty chaperone in Charlie’s ‘hood.</p>
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<h2>New Hollywood</h2>
<p>Mean Streets perfectly captures the audaciousness of <a href="https://www.newwavefilm.com/international/new-hollywood.shtml">New Hollywood</a>, a collective of (mostly) young, (mostly) male, (mostly) bearded filmmakers on a mission to rewrite cinema’s rulebook from the late 1960s. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.biography.com/movies-tv/martin-scorsese">Scorsese</a> and contemporaries (including <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/where-begin-with-robert-altman">Robert Altman</a>, <a href="http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2021/great-directors/lucas-george/">George Lucas</a> and <a href="https://amblin.com/steven-spielberg/">Steven Spielberg</a>) were as much in love with classical Hollywood as they were reacting against it. They’d grown up with it, after all, and were fans of the old westerns of <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/john-ford-an-american-director-185322/">John Ford</a> and comedies of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2011/jan/15/howard-hawks-films-david-bromwich">Howard Hawks</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2010/dec/18/frank-capra-bfi-season-review">Frank Capra</a>.</p>
<p>But this new generation were film school graduates. Like the cinema-literate French New Wave before them, they saw themselves as film artists, with something new and personal to say.</p>
<p>Scorsese’s own vision, then, immortalised in this noisy 1973 film, was of America’s “mean streets” and the conflicted anti-heroes trying to navigate them. The Vietnam War was weighing on society’s conscience, and male psychological turmoil darkened cinema screens. </p>
<p>Fellow New Hollywood filmmaker <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2021/jun/17/robert-altmans-20-best-films-ranked">Altman’s</a> career was defined by anti-heroes, and, more broadly, defying Hollywood conventions. His 1971 <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/culture/1999/dec/23/artsfeatures1">McCabe and Mrs Miller</a> had reconfigured the classical western. Now 1973’s <a href="https://cinephiliabeyond.org/long-goodbye-robert-altman-leigh-bracketts-unique-fascinating-take-chandler-film-noir/">The Long Goodbye</a> took the conventions of the <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/one-great-film-noir-every-year-1940-59">noir film</a> and turned them, and the genre’s wisecracking hero (epitomised in Bogart’s famous private eye), on its head. </p>
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<p>Philip Marlowe (Elliot Gould) is a rubbish private eye: he’s duped by the <a href="https://www.filmsite.org/femmesfatales.html">femme fatale</a>, and there’s a sense that something’s always beyond his grasp (this we get from Altman’s trademark drifting camerawork). A strong sense of moral code was part of the classical Hollywood noirs. No spoilers, but there’s little sense in this 1973 re-envisioning that Marlowe is morally justified in the actions he carries out. </p>
<p>With these criminal settings and alienated anti-heroes, it’s easy to sum up 1973 as a year of hard-hitting, often violent, box office fare. Highest-grossing film <a href="https://www.the-numbers.com/market/1973/top-grossing-movies">The Exorcist</a>, directed by another New Hollywood alumnus, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/William-Friedkin">William Friedkin</a>, spun onto screens and sparked controversy – both for positioning a priest as a child abuser, and for (supposedly) inducing “<a href="https://www.bbfc.co.uk/education/case-studies/exorcist">fainting, vomiting and heart attacks in cinemas</a>”. </p>
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<p>It’s not the urban mean streets but the wild open Badlands of South Dakota where <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Terrence-Malick">Terrence Malick’s</a> impulsive killing spree plays out in his celebrated <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/great-movie-badlands-1973">film</a>. And then there’s the shocking aftermath of a gang rape in <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/biography-sidney-lumet/7810/">Sydney Lumet’s</a> <a href="https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/serpico-review/">Serpico</a>, another neo-noir/generic twist of a film centring on the tale of a good cop (Al Pacino) resisting the bad cops.</p>
<p>With Vietnam lingering, the filmmakers of 1973 weren’t just reflecting more violence; they were interested in how cinema, as a very distinctive art form, could explore violence. A new <a href="http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/594087/index.html">film ratings system</a> had given them greater freedom (more explicit content could be now shown, albeit to a particular age group). And a growing youth audience were hungry for these new – sometimes graphic, but often subversive – cinematic stories.</p>
<h2>That’s entertainment</h2>
<p>But 1973 was also the year of Woody Allen’s sci-fi romp, <a href="https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/sleeper-1973">Sleeper</a>, Peter Bogdanovich’s Oscar-winning father and daughter grifter comedy <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2010/sep/12/courtney-hunt-paper-moon-ryan-tatum-oneal">Paper Moon</a>, Oscar-winning gambling caper <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_nAIb_J9T5M">The Sting</a> and the latest in the Bond franchise, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KTzsm9-XWQo">Live and Let Die</a> with Roger Moore. New Hollywood filmmakers, and the industry more broadly, have always made works of “entertainment”. But audiences want choice: <a href="https://ew.com/movies/barbieheimer-everything-to-know/">Barbenheimer</a>, anyone? </p>
<p>The third highest-grossing film of 1973 was George Lucas’s <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2023/aug/11/american-graffiti-george-lucas-50-years">American Graffiti</a>. It’s a semi-autobiographical homage to the director’s own teenage years, and its wallpaper of rock'n’roll hits reminds us just how important music is in our lives growing up. But the burger joint date nights and high school dances aren’t forever: a blunt epilogue tells us one of the kids is killed in Vietnam. </p>
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<p>Like Mean Streets, Lucas’s film is a bold cinematic experiment: musical lyrics are quirkily placed, and even the same songs can sound radically different: crisp and clear, like on a home stereo; hollow, in a vast school hall; muffled and scratchy, on the radio. (Critics have called this “<a href="https://daily.jstor.org/the-sonic-triumph-of-american-graffiti/">worldising</a>”). Altman was also experimenting freely in The Long Goodbye: listen to how the same title song replays in a variety of different genres and styles. </p>
<p>Fast-forward five decades, and contemporary filmmakers like <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/David-Fincher">David Fincher</a>, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/barbie-greta-gerwig-interview-margot-robbie-ryan-gosling-superhero-movie-1234769344/">Greta Gerwig</a> and <a href="https://www.biography.com/movies-tv/christopher-nolan">Christopher Nolan</a> continue to rewrite cinema’s rulebook. Who says films need to be linear? Do characters really need to be good or bad? Why do camera and sound have to be tied into the action? </p>
<p>Beards might be optional 50 years on, but that mission to test the boundaries of the big screen is not.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536131/original/file-20230706-17-460x2d.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<p><em>Looking for something good? Cut through the noise with a carefully curated selection of the latest releases, live events and exhibitions, straight to your inbox every fortnight, on Fridays. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/something-good-156">Sign up here</a>.</em></p>
<hr><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211638/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lesley Harbidge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
From Mean Streets to The Exorcist and Badlands, 1973 was a year that showcased the audacious talent in Hollywood that was experimenting with darker themes and new film techniques.
Lesley Harbidge, Head of Film & TV, University of South Wales
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/208557
2023-06-29T15:03:50Z
2023-06-29T15:03:50Z
Listen — Indiana Jones’s last ride: A legacy to celebrate or bury?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/534185/original/file-20230626-19-s9axwz.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C1%2C1257%2C721&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny' comes out in theatres on June 30. The fifth in a series over 42 years, many of its originating ideas are taken from 19th-century racist archaeology. Will this iteration be different?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Walt Disney Pictures)</span></span></figcaption></figure><iframe height="200px" width="100%" frameborder="no" scrolling="no" seamless="" src="https://player.simplecast.com/8f4853b0-cd33-48af-9d8a-77c625f697b0?dark=true"></iframe>
<p>I love watching a good adventure movie, especially at the start of summer. I have some great memories of eating popcorn in the local suburban movie theatre while we watched aliens take over a spaceship or a group of kids hunt for long-lost treasure in an underground cave.</p>
<p>At the same time, even as a kid, I remember thinking how awful some of the racial and gender stereotypes were. </p>
<p>I specifically remember watching <em>Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom</em> and cringing at the representations onscreen, especially, the <a href="https://scroll.in/reel/805944/temple-of-doom-is-the-indiana-jones-movie-that-indians-wont-forget-in-a-hurry">ruthless and flat-dimensioned South Asian characters and the ridiculous idea that Indians ate monkey brains</a> — and then there was little Short Round, Indy’s child guide and sidekick played by the young Ke Huy Quan.</p>
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<span class="caption">The late Amrish Puri played the critically acclaimed villain in ‘Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Lucas Films)</span></span>
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<p>With the series, filmmakers George Lucas and Steven Spielberg showcased nostalgia for the early mid-century with Indiana Jones, the humanitarian Hunter College professor turned adventurer at the centre. Indy outran all kinds of harrows to ensure the ancient artifacts he chased ended up where he thought they belonged: “in a museum.” (Another now famous line is from <em>Black Panther</em> when Erik Killmonger asks a museum curator: “How do you think your ancestors got these?”)</p>
<h2>Guilty pleasure or irredeemable Orientalism?</h2>
<p>Well, the final Indiana Jones movie, <em>Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny</em> is coming out tomorrow, 42 years after the first movie was released. </p>
<p>As the series comes to an end, we explore Indy’s complicated legacy — and his famous line: “it belongs in a museum.” </p>
<p>Will <em>Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny</em> reflect the changes in anthropology departments and <a href="https://theconversation.com/museums-are-returning-indigenous-human-remains-but-progress-on-repatriating-objects-is-slow-67378">the growing movements from Indigenous</a> and Global South communities to return <a href="https://theconversation.com/to-accurately-portray-histories-museums-need-to-do-more-than-reimagine-galleries-189109">stolen objects and ancestors from western museums</a>? Will it consider that <a href="https://theconversation.com/protecting-heritage-is-a-human-right-99501">Eurocentric notions of what holds heritage has finally expanded beyond the artifact</a>?</p>
<p>Will this new movie be full of highly problematic stories? Or a guilty pleasure? Or, can it be both?</p>
<p>Historian Christopher Heaney has spent a lot of time thinking about this. He’s written a book <a href="https://us.macmillan.com/books/9780230112049/cradleofgold">about the “original” Indiana Jones</a> and wrote <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/burying-indiana-jones">“Burying Indiana Jones” for <em>The New Yorker</em></a>. He’s a professor of Latin American History at Penn State University and he joined me on <a href="https://dont-call-me-resilient.simplecast.com/episodes/indiana-joness-last-ride-a-legacy-to-celebrate-or-bury"><em>Don’t Call Me Resilient</em></a> — our last episode of the season, and just in time for summer blockbuster season — to unpack everything Indiana Jones.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">‘How do you think your ancestors got these?’ ‘Black Panther’ offers a response to ‘it belongs in a museum.’</span></figcaption>
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<h2>Read more</h2>
<p><a href="https://mronline.org/2023/05/04/indiana-jones-hollywoods-chief-colonial-pilferer-is-back/">“Indiana Jones, Hollywood’s chief colonial pilferer, is back”</a> (<em>Monthly Review</em>)</p>
<p><em><a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/empires-of-the-dead-9780197542552?cc=ca&lang=en&">Empires of the Dead</a></em> by Christopher Heaney (Oxford University Press)</p>
<p><a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2017/08/how-to-fake-an-alien-mummy/535251/">“The Racism Behind Alien Mummy Hoaxes”</a> (<em>The Atlantic</em>)</p>
<p><a href="https://blackgirlnerds.com/it-does-not-belong-in-a-museum-indiana-jones-colonizer-legacy/">“It does not belong in a museum”</a> (<em>Black Girl Nerds</em>)</p>
<p><a href="https://www.newarab.com/features/can-indiana-jones-overcome-its-orientalist-past">“Can Indiana Jones overcome its Orientalist past?”</a> (<em>The New Arab</em>)</p>
<p><em><a href="https://uncpress.org/book/9780807837153/decolonizing-museums/">Decolonizing Museums</a></em> by Amy Lonetree (UNC Press)</p>
<h2>From The Conversation</h2>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/to-accurately-portray-histories-museums-need-to-do-more-than-reimagine-galleries-189109">To accurately portray histories, museums need to do more than ‘reimagine’ galleries</a>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/benin-bronzes-what-is-the-significance-of-their-repatriation-to-nigeria-171444">Benin bronzes: What is the significance of their repatriation to Nigeria?</a>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/protecting-heritage-is-a-human-right-99501">Protecting heritage is a human right</a>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/belize-shows-how-local-engagement-is-key-in-repatriating-cultural-artifacts-from-abroad-171363">Belize shows how local engagement is key in repatriating cultural artifacts from abroad</a>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/museums-are-returning-indigenous-human-remains-but-progress-on-repatriating-objects-is-slow-67378">Museums are returning indigenous human remains but progress on repatriating objects is slow</a>
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<h2>Our recs: Kids adventure movies/shows</h2>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gUTtJjV852c&ab_channel=ParamountPictures"><em>Dora the Explorer and the Lost City of Gold</em></a></li>
<li><a href="https://animatedviews.com/2019/director-juan-antin-talks-about-pachamama-on-netflix/"><em>Pachamama</em></a></li>
<li><a href="https://www.netflix.com/ca/title/81023618"><em>Finding Ohana</em></a></li>
<li><a href="https://etcanada.com/news/951562/mira-nair-on-the-non-white-america-in-national-treasure-edge-of-history-love-it/"><em>National Treasure: Edge of History</em></a></li>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Trailer of Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny (Lucas Films) ‘You’ve taken your chances, made your mistakes, and now, a final triump,’ Phoebe Walter-Bridge says to Jones.</span></figcaption>
</figure><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/208557/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
The final Indiana Jones movie is coming out June 30. The fifth in a series over 42 years, many of its ideas are taken from 19th-century orientalist and racist archaeology.
Vinita Srivastava, Host + Producer, Don't Call Me Resilient
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/195597
2022-12-06T17:25:43Z
2022-12-06T17:25:43Z
The Buddhist and Taoist influences that underpin the Star Wars universe
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/498262/original/file-20221130-20-u3ona4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=2%2C0%2C1768%2C950&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Wars_(film)#/media/File:Star_Wars_(1997_re-release_poster).jpg">Drew Struzan / 20th Century Fox</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Lucas">George Lucas’s</a> space saga about a fledgling rebellion of Jedi knights fighting the evil Galactic Empire hit cinemas in 1977, few could imagine that it would become one of the most successful film franchises in history.</p>
<p>There were many influences on the mythology and lore director Lucas created for the Star Wars universe. Some cite Joseph Campbell’s study of mythological archetypes, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/588138.The_Hero_With_a_Thousand_Faces">The Hero With a Thousand Faces</a>, while others point to the films of acclaimed Japanese director <a href="https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/akira-kurosawa-10-essential-films">Akira Kurosawa</a>. </p>
<p>But what many miss are the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/14639947.2014.890348">influences</a> of eastern religions and philosophy such as <a href="https://www.lionsroar.com/beginning-with-buddhism-and-meditation/">Buddhism</a> and <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/taoism/ataglance/glance.shtml">Taoism</a>, an ancient Chinese religion and philosophy focused on acting in harmony with the universe. </p>
<p>As a philosopher, Buddhist and huge Star Wars fan, I cannot fail to see these strong eastern influences, particularly in the idea of “the force”, and on the Jedi view of attachment. </p>
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<h2>The force</h2>
<p>In the original Star Wars film, Jedi master <a href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/obi-wan-kenobi#:%7E:text=A%20legendary%20Jedi%20Master%2C%20Obi,Luke%20Skywalker%20as%20a%20mentor.">Obi-Wan Kenobi</a> describes the force to young <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tpJnMVKO6Vo%201:59-2:12">Luke Skywalker</a> as “an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us, it binds the galaxy together.” Some see an <a href="https://archive.org/details/starwarsphilosop0000unse/page/28/mode/2up">influence</a> here from the traditional Chinese belief in “chi”, the vital life force or energy present in all living beings.</p>
<p>Other possible Chinese influences include the concept of Tao, meaning “the path” or “the way”. A Jedi would most likely think of the force in very similar terms. The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy defines Tao as “the source and principle of the cosmic order”. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/dec/27/comfort-reading-tao-te-ching-laozi">Te Ching</a>, the main text of Taoism, proclaims the following: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The Tao is infinite, eternal. Why is it eternal? It was never born thus it can never die. Why is it infinite? It has no desires for itself. Thus it is present in all beings.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The force reveals the interconnectedness of the Star Wars universe, and there are Buddhist principles that evoke this idea, such as <em>sunyata</em>, meaning “emptiness” formulated by the Indian Buddhist philosopher <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nagarjuna/">Nagarjuna</a>. He held that everything is “empty” (<em>sunya</em>) of self-existence, meaning that nothing exists independently of everything else because everything is connected. In different ways, both these ideas are possible influences on the force. </p>
<h2>Attachment</h2>
<p>The Jedi order teaches its members not to become attached to people or things because it will eventually lead to the dark side. This is the reason the Jedi are not allowed to pursue romantic relationships or marriage, and why the characters Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala, from <a href="https://www.starwars.com/films/star-wars-episode-ii-attack-of-the-clones">Attack of the Clones</a> onwards, have to keep their relationship a secret. </p>
<p>This aversion to attachment is expressed throughout the prequels which were made after the original Star Wars trilogy. In <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120915/">The Phantom Menace</a>, the Jedi are reluctant to train the child Anakin because he is afraid, which he says comes from missing his mother. Yoda, the oldest and wisest Jedi master, says: “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.”</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121765/?ref_=tt_sims_tt_i_1">Attack of the Clones</a>, Padmé asks Anakin if Jedi are allowed to love, to which he replies: “Attachment is forbidden. Possession is forbidden.” Finally in <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0121766/?ref_=tt_tpks_tt_t_1_pd_tp1_pbr_ic">Revenge of the Sith</a>, Anakin seeks Yoda’s advice after having nightmares about Padmé dying. Yoda tells him: “Death is a natural part of life … attachment leads to jealousy, the shadow of greed, that is. Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.”</p>
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<p>This is a very Buddhist way of looking at things. Buddhism teaches that suffering or dissatisfaction, expressed by the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Pali-language">Pali</a> word <em>dukkha</em>, is inherent to the human condition. The reason for this suffering is <em>tanha</em>, meaning “thirst” in Pali, but better translated as attachment or craving.</p>
<p>Humans crave for things to be different to how they are, which causes suffering when they are not how we want them to be. The roots of <em>tanha</em> are the “three poisons” of hatred, greed and ignorance (or delusion). These poisons are similar to Yoda’s fear, anger and hatred and all three, as he says, “lead to suffering” – another clear Buddhist influence. </p>
<p>Anakin is unable to overcome his <em>tanha</em>. Naturally, he struggles to accept his mother’s death. However, he also gives in to his attachment (love) for Padmé, Having premonitions of her death, he yearns to save her, rather than accepting that death is inevitable for us all.</p>
<p>This yearning allows him to be manipulated by Emperor Palpatine, who promises him that he can learn how to save his wife. In the end, Padmé dies from a broken heart having watched Anakin become the evil Darth Vader, leaving him to suffer for his mistakes. </p>
<p>Some claim that it was the Jedi’s strict philosophical doctrines that caused Anakin’s surrender to the dark side. From a Buddhist perspective, however, the Jedi were correct. </p>
<p>Anakin needed to come to terms with the impermanence of life, another primary concept in Buddhism called <em>anicca</em>, and understand that it was his desperation (<em>tanha</em>) for unattainable immortality for his loved ones that caused his downfall. His transformation into Darth Vader proved both Yoda and the Buddha correct, and underlines the Buddhist influence on the Jedi view of attachment. </p>
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<p>There are many influences on Star Wars from different traditions, beliefs and mythologies. But the clear presence of concepts from eastern religious and philosophical beliefs in particular demonstrates the impact that philosophy can have on popular culture.</p>
<p>Creations like Star Wars can serve as a useful and affecting medium to help make philosophy more accessible beyond an intellectual or academic sphere, engaging viewers in something bigger and more enduring than the mere plot of a Hollywood film.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195597/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lee Clarke does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
May the Dharma be with you.
Lee Clarke, PhD Candidate in Philosophy, Nottingham Trent University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/194566
2022-11-17T10:05:20Z
2022-11-17T10:05:20Z
Star Wars Andor captures the essence of resistance that is happening in the real world
<p>Andor is the newest Star Wars series on Disney+. It tells the backstory of Cassian Andor, one of the heroes who helped steal the Death Star plans in the 2016 film Rogue One (itself a prequel to the original Star Wars movie from 1977). </p>
<p>As the series draws to a close, Andor has become a <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/andor-best-star-wars-disney-plus/">favourite</a> for Star Wars fans. This is despite the fact that it has yet to mention the Force or the Jedi and there hasn’t even been a lightsaber. </p>
<p>One of the major appeals of the show is the level of <a href="https://screenrant.com/andor-show-change-star-wars-empire-imperials/">detail and “everydayness”</a> that it depicted. The characters from the evil, imperialistic and in many cases, overtly fascist Galactic Empire are, in the grand scheme of things, relatively low-level. It optimises what cultural theorist Hannah Arendt, in describing the everyday seemingly mindless tasks undertaken by some of those in the Nazi Party, called “<a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Eichmann_in_Jerusalem/yGoxZEdw36oC?hl=en%E2%80%99">the banality of evil</a>”. </p>
<p>Take the fast-rising military tactical supervisor Dedra Meero and the embittered civil servant-style employee Syril Karn. They are seen scouring reports, sat behind desks, performing menial tasks and in Karn’s case, living at home with his overbearing mother.</p>
<p>It is the intricacy of their work, the levels of bureaucracy and military hierarchy they must navigate, that characterises the massive scale and sheer terror of the Empire. In this, it also not-so-subtly critiques the <a href="https://www.militaryindustrialcomplex.com/what-is-the-military-industrial-complex.php">military-industrial complex</a> by exposing the intricate (and often fraught) links between private military corporations and state.</p>
<p>The series also takes a great deal of care to build up the rebels’ backstories, giving far more emotional weight to their reasons for rebelling. The rebel networks of deceit and subterfuge that the show painstakingly outlines adds real complexity, dynamism and a heightened sense of jeopardy that is somewhat missing from the fast-paced stories of the Star Wars cinematic films. </p>
<p>In essence, Andor is the “grown-up” Star Wars story that many of the fans were craving after the rather one-dimensional and insipid <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2019/12/18/review-disney-and-lucasfilms-star-wars-the-rise-of-skywalker-is-a-terrible-end-to-the-skywalker-saga/?sh=1e343a4e113c">calamity</a> that was Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker.</p>
<p>But there is a deeper reason I think that Andor is striking a chord: it is capturing the essence of resistance that is happening in the real world around us.</p>
<p>There are the people in <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-63553888">Iran</a> protesting against the country’s strict laws. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/10/climate-activists-target-private-jet-airports-and-demand-ban-at-cop27">Climate activism</a> is increasing across the world, Black Lives Matter movements <a href="https://news.sky.com/story/child-q-diane-abbott-joins-hundreds-of-protesters-in-march-for-schoolgirl-15-strip-searched-while-on-period-12571791">continue to fight</a> against institutional racism, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/09/vermont-abortion-vote-first-us-state-constitution">reproductive rights groups are campaigning again in the US</a> and resistance is increasing <a href="https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/oureconomy/trans-activism-isnt-just-about-pronouns-and-bathrooms-its-about-class-struggle/">against rampant transphobia</a>. There are very real, and widespread networks of activism across the world. </p>
<p>As Star Wars creator Geroge Lucas has <a href="https://movieweb.com/star-wars-george-lucas-james-cameron-interview/">stated</a>, the saga has always been about rebellion against colonialism and fascism. That’s why Andor really is a true Star Wars story and why it speaks very intimately to the troubles, but also the exhilaration and specific triumphs, of effective resistance campaigns and debates around how action should be “done”.</p>
<h2>Life-long resistance</h2>
<p>The series introduces us to one of the “lead” organisers of the rebellion, Luthen. Luthen is “hiding in plain site” in the Empire, where he poses as a wealthy antiques shop owner while secretly coordinating rebel activities. </p>
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<p>In his utterly captivating and brilliantly written monologue at the end of Episode ten “One Way Out”, he encapsulates the deep sacrifices he had made for life-long resistance. This is brilliantly summed up with the quite haunting line: “I burn my life to make a sunrise I know I’ll never see.” </p>
<p>This again echoes the many times <a href="https://thetyee.ca/News/2022/04/27/Meet-Protesters-Fighting-Climate-Change/">we have heard climate activists</a> claim that they risk jail time, ridicule and everything else that comes with activism because they want a better future for the children – a future they might never see.</p>
<p>For scholars of activism like myself, one of the more intriguing lines from the speech is: “I’m condemned to use the tools of my enemy to defeat them.” Here, he is talking about having to live a lie in order to infiltrate the Empire. But these lines also importantly echo a very live debate in activist and academic circles about how resistance should be “done”. </p>
<h2>Whose tools should be used?</h2>
<p>To summarise the argument, a more traditional <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Rebirth_of_History/xaLajwFWw9AC?hl=en&gbpv=0">Marxist approach</a> will agree with Luthen, that to defeat the enemy, you must use their tools in a moment of insurrection. This is essentially a political argument that says to change the world, you have to achieve power first. Through political pressure or, if needed, full-scale revolution (such as in <a href="https://www.versobooks.com/books/2731-october">Russia in 1917</a>), the aim is to seize power first before using that power to affect change. </p>
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<p>More <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/Radical_Feminism/zte_CQAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=feminist+activism&printsec=frontcover">feminist</a> and <a href="https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2019/06/ruth-kinna-on-anarchy-and-activism">anarchist</a> approaches will argue that resistance means building your own house with tools you create yourself. This is perhaps most famously captured by the words of the American civil rights activist and poet Audre Lorde who wrote the now <a href="https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/The_Master_s_Tools_Will_Never_Dismantle/Cv5cDwAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">famous words</a>: “The master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house.” </p>
<p>She is arguing here that we cannot solve problems of oppression working with the tools of a system of oppression. This thinking sees activism as less about changing the system so that it supports us better, but building entirely new systems. </p>
<p>The show teases this form of activism with Vel and Cinta, two rebels who are in a relationship. After a major successful heist against the Empire, Vel seems to want to run away with Cinta, to stop fighting and leave the system of oppression that they currently operate in and instead forge new lives under new systems of their own making. And in a more subtle, “soft” form of activism, the indigenous people of the occupied planet of Aldhani are seen maintaining their “folk” traditions in spite of clear disdain from the colonial imperial occupiers.</p>
<p>But whichever side of this activist positioning people are on, Andor shows the struggles of attempting each. The time spent detailing the nuances of the Empire’s fascism as well as the various practices of resistance that grow to meet it are why I think Andor is as popular as it is. </p>
<p>In a world where all sorts of groups are fighting for different causes, there are debates about the right and wrong way to go about enacting change. Art and culture thrives when it speaks to the real world.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194566/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Oli Mould does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In a rousing speech, one of the “organisers” of the rebellion muses on the lifelong struggle of activists and wades into the debate on the best way to effectively resist.
Oli Mould, Reader in Human Geography, Royal Holloway University of London
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/176245
2022-02-07T19:09:07Z
2022-02-07T19:09:07Z
From Jaws to Star Wars to Harry Potter: John Williams, 90 today, is our greatest living composer
<p>John Williams, the man who changed the way we hear the movies, turns 90 today.</p>
<p>As the key Hollywood composer during the blockbuster era of the 1970s and 1980s, Williams had an astronomical career alongside the likes of filmmakers Steven Spielberg and George Lucas. </p>
<p>With his music for their movies, Williams revived the romantic orchestral sound of Hollywood’s Golden Age – the sound pioneered by composers <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uT6dLPfSCL8">Erich Wolfgang Korngold</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EESHIpo4Lgk">Max Steiner</a> at the dawn of the talkies – and reinvented it for a new era. </p>
<p>“John Williams has been the single most significant contributor to my success as a filmmaker,” <a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2012/11/10/164615420/john-williams-inevitable-themes">said Spielberg in 2012</a>.</p>
<p>On the numbers alone, Williams has had a career like no other. If you were going to the movies between 1970 and 1990, every second year would have had a number one box office hit with music by Williams. </p>
<p>This prolific era saw Williams write music for <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B0In9gXH7Yg">Jaws</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e9lapdvLSGw">Star Wars</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IgncJgSbbck">Indiana Jones</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbUGsbZWitw">Close Encounters of the Third Kind</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AoFmHjdyre4">Superman</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olHOAnPY1GI">E.T. The Extra Terrestrial</a> – an abundant run by any standard.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/45-years-on-the-jaws-theme-manipulates-our-emotions-to-inspire-terror-136462">45 years on, the 'Jaws' theme manipulates our emotions to inspire terror</a>
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<p>Williams today holds 52 Academy Award nominations (and five wins), the most nominations of any living human and second in history only to Walt Disney. Williams can add to that 72 Grammy Award nominations (and 25 wins), 16 BAFTA nominations (seven wins) and six Emmy nominations (three wins). </p>
<p>He has written music for the Olympics (in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YWdOFgDQIn0">1984</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9QLee9g-fzk">1988</a>, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3kNRyh_rj8">1996</a> and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MaWyOylQnI4">2002</a> Winter Olympics), for a Presidential inauguration (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8GoRIQ9cwG8">for Barack Obama in 2009</a>) and for the nightly news (<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZAzc-P9uMpI">NBC – also used by Channel Seven in Australia</a>).</p>
<p>When adjusted for inflation, one-fifth of <a href="https://www.boxofficemojo.com/chart/top_lifetime_gross_adjusted/?adjust_gross_to=2019">the top 100 films at the North American box office</a> have music by Williams.</p>
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<h2>The sound of the silver screen</h2>
<p>By re-energising the sound of the Hollywood orchestra in the 1970s, Williams linked history with the present. The films he is most associated with from this era – things like Star Wars and Indiana Jones – are deliberate throwbacks to an older form of storytelling. </p>
<p>Outside the multiplex in the 1970s, the public worried about Watergate, Vietnam and the threat of Cold War nuclear war. Inside cinemas however, with the music of Williams, was a moment of escape and excitement.</p>
<p>Then there are those melodies. By now, reading this article, it’s likely you’ve already hummed some John Williams to yourself or are suffering an earworm. Between his major hits of the blockbuster era and his later work like the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GbUeK1PP7-s">Home Alone</a> and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wtHra9tFISY">Harry Potter</a> franchises, Williams has written some of the most widely-recognisable melodies on earth. </p>
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<p>This is no coincidence: despite the orchestral complexity of his music, <a href="https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/indiana-jones-john-williams/">Williams admits</a> he often spends the most time devising his melodies and perfecting them, lifting a note here, lowering another there.</p>
<p>For the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZj7gUIO-2k">five note alien “hello”</a> in Close Encounters Williams <a href="https://books.google.com.au/books?id=fH9XAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA208&lpg=PA208&dq=john+williams+five+note+variations&source=bl&ots=UMsbIu-DAL&sig=ACfU3U2tRfrvK3RxBizzxScP9EZhnyD_pA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjyxsnHtOz1AhUu6XMBHUSWDs0Q6AF6BAgnEAM#v=onepage&q=john%20williams%20five%20note%20variations&f=false">formulated hundreds of variations</a> before settling on the one heard in the final film.</p>
<p>For several of his themes – <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u7HF4JG1pOg">The Imperial March</a> from The Empire Strikes Back, or Superman’s theme, for example – it feels less like Williams composed them as he simply reached into our collective consciousness and redeployed what was already there.</p>
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<h2>The art of homage</h2>
<p>For much of the period of his success, Williams has been looked down upon by some in the classical establishment as writing simple popular ditties, or worse, as a rampant plagiarist of the classical canon. </p>
<p>It is no secret Williams’ music takes influence from the greats, like Stravinsky, Holst and Dvořák. Sometimes, the influence becomes direct allusion, as with Howard Hanson’s <a href="https://youtu.be/nN4li1lVReQ">Romantic Symphony</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/P7CyzH6R7f4?t=264">the conclusion of E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial</a>.</p>
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<p>But these “gotcha” comparisons are superficial, dull, and miss the point. </p>
<p>“Any fool can see that,” <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/934785">Brahms is meant to have said</a> when asked about the similarities between his second symphony and Beethoven. </p>
<p>Williams was writing music for films that were also deliberate throwbacks. One might as well complain about how Star Wars borrows Flash Gordon’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qnOL8Fx3Tvc">opening crawl</a>, or the plot of Kurosawa’s <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hidden_Fortress">Hidden Fortress</a> or <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7x-rzLoeUA">that scene</a> from John Ford’s The Searchers with the burning homestead. </p>
<p>This is how the most popular culture of the 20th century gained its meaning: through evocation, reworking and memory. </p>
<p>In looking to the music of the past, Williams was not having a lend of us. He was asking us to think more deeply about what we were seeing and hearing.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-one-man-changed-the-landscape-of-film-music-29191">How one man changed the landscape of film music</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>The celebrity composer</h2>
<p>Today, these complaints have little momentum. Go to any symphony orchestra and you will find at least a few players who picked up their instruments for the first time in order to puzzle out a tune from Star Wars or Indiana Jones. </p>
<p>When Williams made his conducting debut with the famed Vienna Philharmonic in 2019, the <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/persons-of-interest/the-force-is-still-strong-with-john-williams">musicians asked him for autographs</a> like a celebrity at a sports game.</p>
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<p>The classical establishment can now count cellist Yo-Yo Ma, conductor Gustavo Dudamel and violinists Anne-Sophie Mutter and Itzhak Perlman as among the biggest of Williams’ admirers – a who’s who of the elite.</p>
<p>At 90, John Williams is not just one of our most acclaimed living composers. With the power of the movies, and their unparalleled reach, it’s likely Williams is also now one of the most-heard composers to have ever lived.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176245/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dan Golding does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
John Williams’ compositions have an unparalleled reach. He defined the sound of the 20th century.
Dan Golding, Associate professor, Swinburne University of Technology
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/120755
2019-07-24T20:00:24Z
2019-07-24T20:00:24Z
From Star Wars to Apocalypse Now, director’s cuts are all the rage. But do they make the films any better?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285447/original/file-20190724-110183-md5a16.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Martin Sheen in the original Apocalypse Now. A new director's cut of the film is being released this week – but is this self-indulgence or part of the artistic process?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">IMDB</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Ridley Scott and James Cameron did it, and George Lucas never stops. Directors ceaselessly return to their work to tweak, tinker, chop and change. </p>
<p>Extended Cut, Definitive Version, Special Edition: the list goes on. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt10643608/">Apocalypse Now: Final Cut</a>, Francis Ford Coppola’s supposedly definitive version of his 1979 epic Vietnam war film, will be released in Australia today. But are these new versions just an excuse for obsessive tinkering and self-indulgence?</p>
<p>The director’s cut refers to a version of the film that remains closest to the director’s original vision, rather than the theatrical version officially released by the studio. In an era of DVD and streaming services, these alternative cuts are becoming increasingly attractive to studio boss, director and movie lover alike.</p>
<p>These “new” films, often only fractionally altered, throw the commerce versus art equation that has underpinned Hollywood for more than a century into sharp relief. The studio gets another chance to market a beloved film, the fans can endlessly debate the differences between the old and new version, while the director can once more return to the editing studio, elusively seeking perfection. In that sense, everyone wins.</p>
<p>With director’s cuts, the romantic myth of the brilliant (usually male) director battling against numbers-obsessed Hollywood is also reinforced.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/apocalypse-now-turns-40-rediscovering-the-genesis-of-a-film-classic-113448">Apocalypse Now turns 40: rediscovering the genesis of a film classic</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>The good and the bad</h2>
<p>Director’s cuts often seek to rectify an injustice. Studio executives will often demand last-minute edits or reshoots if test screenings go badly. Directors who bitterly complained about how studios altered their vision can now go back and showcase the film as it was meant to be seen. </p>
<p>For example, director David Ayer <a href="https://screenrant.com/suicide-squad-cut-david-ayer-different/">recently acknowledged</a> his original cut of the dark superhero film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1386697/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1">Suicide Squad</a> was radically different to the studio-sanctioned release. The studio requested significant reshoots to lighten the tone and inject more comedy – but the “Ayer cut” only can be accessed on DVD and Blu-ray.</p>
<p>Other director’s cuts improve on the original version by bolstering visual scope, narrative continuity and emotional engagement. For example, the 17 minutes of deleted footage from James Cameron’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090605/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1">Aliens</a> (1986), since restored to the 1990 Special Edition, are a masterclass in building tension and deepening character. </p>
<p>Ridley Scott’s endless reworking of the science-fiction/neo-noir <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/?ref_=nv_sr_2?ref_=nv_sr_2">Blade Runner</a> remains the gold standard. First released in 1982, Scott oversaw a new version ten years on, and then the so-called Final Cut in 2007 (re-released on Blu-ray in 2017). He removed the ponderous voice-over from Deckard (Harrison Ford), axed the happy ending and inserted opaque dream sequences that continue to nourish the film’s philosophical ambiguities. </p>
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<p>But some directors just do not know when to stop. To coincide with the 20 year anniversary of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/?ref_=ttmi_tt">Star Wars</a> in 1997, George Lucas created a digitally remastered Special Edition (spruced up versions of <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080684/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1">The Empire Strikes Back</a> (1980) and <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086190/?ref_=nv_sr_1?ref_=nv_sr_1">Return of the Jedi</a> (1983) followed a few weeks later). Lucas stuffed the trilogy with reinstated scenes, polished up degraded images and sound and reaped extraordinary success (<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2017/02/01/20-years-ago-star-wars-special-edition-made-star-wars-special-again/#2835bb712a61">US$472 million</a> at the global box office was mightily impressive for a trilogy nearly two decades old). </p>
<p>There was only one problem – the Special Editions were castigated by fans. Many resented the retrofitted visuals and jarring CGI enhancements; for others, the most egregious alteration – having bounty hunter Greedo now shoot Han Solo first in a Mos Eisley cantina – compromised Han’s character arc from rogue to hero across the trilogy.</p>
<p>Lucas’s incessant meddling (he returned to the trilogy again in 2004 and 2011) has been seen as a way of perpetually monetising the much-beloved originals. All along, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qm1zaTUnoTE">his response</a> to such criticism has been consistent – he was waiting for technology to catch up to his original vision. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285459/original/file-20190724-110166-12jfjp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285459/original/file-20190724-110166-12jfjp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/285459/original/file-20190724-110166-12jfjp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285459/original/file-20190724-110166-12jfjp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285459/original/file-20190724-110166-12jfjp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285459/original/file-20190724-110166-12jfjp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285459/original/file-20190724-110166-12jfjp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/285459/original/file-20190724-110166-12jfjp2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford in Star Wars. Director George Lucas has tinkered endlessly with his work.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lucasfilm/IMDB</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As for Coppola, he has been here before. In 2001, he presented <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apocalypse_Now_Redux">Apocalypse Now: Redux</a> to ecstatic reviews during the Cannes Film Festival. Nearly an hour of footage cut from the 1979 version was reinserted, including the famously woozy “French plantation” scene. This new version was hailed as extraordinary – “redux” means “a work of art presented in a new way”. </p>
<p>But Coppola clearly was not done. Apocalypse Now: Final Cut premiered in New York back in April, 19 minutes shorter than Redux. In Final Cut, <a href="https://www.tribecafilm.com/filmguide/apocalypse-now-2019">Coppola has</a> finessed the colour balance and sound design, no doubt hoping to add to the film’s hallucinogenic qualities.</p>
<p>Despite the important contributions of <a href="https://theconversation.com/apocalypse-now-turns-40-rediscovering-the-genesis-of-a-film-classic-113448">writer John Milius</a>, cinematographer Vittorio Storaro and sound designer and editor Walter Murch, this latest version reinforces the romantic idea of the director as the sole auteur. </p>
<p>Coppola’s fingerprints are all over Final Cut. Here is a powerful director who, like Spielberg, Lucas and Scott, has been given endless opportunities to refine his vision. This tells us a lot about Hollywood’s commodification of the auteur and the ongoing importance of the director’s name in selling a product. </p>
<p>“A work of art is never completed, only abandoned”, noted the French poet Paul Valéry. Apocalypse Now: Final Cut is the latest exhibit to suggest films are never really finished – the artistic process is endlessly reworkable.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/120755/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben McCann does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘final cut’ of Apocalypse Now hits Australian cinemas this week. He joins a long list of directors who endlessly tinker with their work. But does it add anything to the films?
Ben McCann, Associate Professor of French Studies, University of Adelaide
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/113448
2019-05-06T20:01:52Z
2019-05-06T20:01:52Z
Apocalypse Now turns 40: rediscovering the genesis of a film classic
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272667/original/file-20190505-103078-1khc1gy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=169%2C323%2C4941%2C3094&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">For the film's 40th anniversary, director Francis Ford Coppola has unveiled Apocalypse Now: Final Cut.</span> </figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>The ocean rushes below as suddenly the LOUDSPEAKERS BLARE out Wagner’s Ride of the Valkyries. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>So reads the screenplay for the 1979 war movie Apocalypse Now. It describes the sequence in which a squadron of American helicopters blasts Wagner while attacking a Viet Cong village during the Vietnam War. </p>
<p>The scene would become one of the most iconic in cinema history – acknowledged, celebrated and parodied in countless subsequent films. </p>
<p>On the occasion of the film’s 40th anniversary, director Francis Ford Coppola has now unveiled <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/apr/29/apocalypse-now-the-final-cut-francis-ford-coppola-vietnam-movie-new-version">Apocalypse Now: Final Cut</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">This scene from Apocalypse Now has been referenced in many movies since.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Apocalypse Now and film history</h2>
<p>Apocalypse Now’s contribution to cinema history is not limited to the helicopter attack sequence. In 2004, this memorable <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jts9suWIDlU">monologue uttered by Robert Duvall</a> as Lt. Colonel Kilgore was voted the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3362603.stm">best-ever film speech</a> by a survey of 6,500 movie buffs. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>You smell that? Do you smell that? Napalm, son. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of napalm in the morning.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The epic scale of the production, shot on location in the Philippines jungle, and Coppola’s operatic direction that brought together spectacular cinematography, a hypnotic soundtrack and brooding performances, make Apocalypse Now a major cinematic landmark.</p>
<p>On its initial release 40 years ago, the film received mixed reviews. It was honoured with the Palme D’Or at Cannes but failed to win the Best Picture Academy Award. With time, it gradually acquired the status of a classic film. This was further reinforced in 2001 with the release, to much acclaim, of the extended version, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxENJ2LwecY">Apocalypse Now Redux</a>. </p>
<p>This year marks another major turning point in the film’s history with Coppola’s release of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2019/apr/29/apocalypse-now-the-final-cut-francis-ford-coppola-vietnam-movie-new-version">Apocalypse Now: Final Cut</a>. The film, which premiered at the 2019 <a href="https://www.tribecafilm.com/">Tribeca Film Festival</a> in New York, has been described as “a new, never-before-seen restored version of the film … remastered from the original negative in 4K Ultra HD”.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/apocalypse-now-our-incessant-desire-to-picture-the-end-of-the-world-46104">Apocalypse now: our incessant desire to picture the end of the world</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>John Milius: from Nirvana Now to Apocalypse Now</h2>
<p>Apocalypse Now is usually considered to be Coppola’s magnum opus, alongside The Godfather Part I and II. As producer, director and co-writer, he is regarded as the auteur of the film. In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxowb5IQRuI">Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse</a> (1991), his wife Eleanor Coppola’s documentary about the making of it, discussion of Apocalypse Now has tended to glorify Coppola as a genius filmmaker able to overcome all sorts of obstacles to bring his masterpiece to light. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272749/original/file-20190506-103085-1spuf3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/272749/original/file-20190506-103085-1spuf3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272749/original/file-20190506-103085-1spuf3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272749/original/file-20190506-103085-1spuf3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=913&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272749/original/file-20190506-103085-1spuf3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1147&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272749/original/file-20190506-103085-1spuf3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1147&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/272749/original/file-20190506-103085-1spuf3h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1147&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The cover of The Cinema of John Milius, written by the author.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Alfio Leotta</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/">CC BY-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most contemporary viewers might not be aware of the major contribution another, less known figure made to the film. <a href="https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498543729/The-Cinema-of-John-Milius">John Milius</a>, credited as co-writer of the film, was responsible for creating some of its most iconic moments, including the helicopter attack sequence. He also wrote some of the film’s most memorable lines, including “I love the smell of napalm” and “Charlie don’t surf”, and even the title itself. </p>
<p>Although most contemporary film viewers have forgotten him, in the early 1970s Milius was a central figure of the so called <a href="https://books.google.co.nz/books/about/The_New_Hollywood.html?id=B5PjuAbEPooC&redir_esc=y">“New Hollywood”</a>, a moment in American cinema history characterised by an anti-establishment, innovative approach to filmmaking. During this period, Milius achieved international fame as creator of cinematic icons such as Dirty Harry (1971) and Jeremiah Johnson (1973). </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/big-wednesday-four-decades-between-surfing-and-myth-making-95859">Big Wednesday: four decades between surfing and myth making</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>It was Milius who had the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZswrVALi2M">idea</a>, during his studies at the University of Southern California Film School in the 1960s, of making a film loosely based on Joseph Conrad’s 1899 novella <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-conrads-imperial-horror-story-heart-of-darkness-resonates-with-our-globalised-times-94723">Heart of Darkness</a>. Milius thought the Vietnam War, which was raging at the time, would provide the perfect setting for an adaptation of Conrad’s story. Before him, a number of filmmakers, including Orson Welles, had <a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/200623651/Heart-of-Darkness-by-Orson-Welles">tried and failed to adapt</a> Heart of Darkness. Milius was intrigued by the possibility of making history by being the first to succeed. </p>
<p>Milius came up with the title of the film before actually writing the screenplay. He said the title Apocalypse Now emerged out of his own contrarian spirit and rejection of the hippy culture that was increasingly gaining terrain in late 1960s California. In <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZswrVALi2M">Milius’s words</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I had the title, Apocalypse Now, because the hippies at the time had these buttons that said Nirvana Now. I loved the idea of a guy having a button with a mushroom cloud on it that said Apocalypse Now. You know, let’s bring it on, full nuke.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Milius envisions the Vietnam hell</h2>
<p>Milius wrote extensive notes and recorded stories of returning Vietnam veterans, but did not write the screenplay until contracted to do so in 1969. During this period, he discussed the project at length with fellow USC student George Lucas, who was interested both in the Vietnam War and in directing the film. In 1969, Coppola, who had studied film at the University of California Los Angeles and was a close friend of both Milius and Lucas, established independent production company American Zoetrope, which would fund a number of innovative projects, including Apocalypse Now.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-science-fiction-and-fantasy-can-help-us-make-sense-of-the-world-110044">How science fiction and fantasy can help us make sense of the world</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>According to the original arrangement, Lucas would direct the film while Milius would write the screenplay. The story was conceived as a journey into the horrors of the Vietnam War and was influenced by Milius’s passion for the classics of world literature, particularly Homer’s Odyssey and Dante’s Inferno. </p>
<p>While writing the screenplay, Milius imagined a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZswrVALi2M">soundtrack that would include Wagner and The Doors</a>. Milius’s idea to use Wagner for the helicopter attack was inspired by real events, as American troops sometimes played rock and roll music from loud speakers during the Vietnam War as a way of intimidating the enemy. The Doors, who had <a href="https://www.vietnamfulldisclosure.org/10-top-anti-warprotest-songs-about-the-vietnam-war/">written several songs about the madness of the war</a>, provided another major source of inspiration. </p>
<p>In Milius’s original screenplay, rogue American Colonel Kurtz (played in the film by Marlon Brando) is a big fan of Jim Morrison and his band. In one of the sequences of the original script, Kurtz orders his soldiers to blast <a href="https://www.google.com/search?client=firefox-b-d&q=light+my+fire+the+doors">Light My Fire</a> by The Doors on big speakers as their compound is attacked by the North Vietnamese army. Eventually, Coppola never shot the scene featuring Light My Fire, but used extracts of another Doors hit, The End, in both the opening and closing sequences of the film. </p>
<h2>Milius and Coppola: clashing auteurs</h2>
<p>Originally, Milius and Lucas envisioned Apocalypse Now as a pseudo-documentary shot on location in 16mm and black and white. They were interested in emulating the realist aesthetic of films such as Gillo Pontecorvo’s <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i9V1rlY-PQ">The Battle of Algiers</a> (1966) and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSMwtG-nGfo">The Anderson Platoon</a> (1967), a documentary about the Vietnam War directed by one of Milius’s favourite filmmakers, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2012/mar/15/pierre-schoendoerffer">Pierre Schoendoerffer</a>. Milius and Lucas intended to bring cast and crew to Vietnam where they would intersperse a mix of scripted and improvised scenes of performers interacting with real soldiers and events. </p>
<p>But eventually, Lucas abandoned the project to direct Star Wars (1977) and was replaced by Coppola, who radically changed the original approach to Apocalypse Now. He envisioned a large-budget spectacular production. </p>
<p>After Coppola completed revisions of the screenplay in 1975, Milius spoke out about the two filmmakers’ conflicting creative visions. Milius was particularly critical about Coppola’s attempt to transform Apocalypse Now into an anti-war film and accused the San Francisco-based director of rejecting the creative input of his collaborators. In a 1976 <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/43753072?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">interview</a> Milius claimed:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Francis Coppola has this compelling desire to save humanity when the man is a raving fascist, the Bay Area Mussolini. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Milius’ legacy</h2>
<p>But a comparison between the 1969 and <a href="http://www.screenplay.com/downloads/scripts/Apocalypse%20Now.pdf">1975 versions of the screenplay</a> dispels the myth promoted by Milius that Coppola completely rewrote it. More importantly, the final film version was far from what Milius contemptuously defined as “an anti-war movie”. Many scenes and lines created by Milius remained virtually untouched and Coppola retained Milius’ key themes, in particular the conception of war as simultaneously exciting and horrific, the ultimate expression of man’s “inherent bestiality”.</p>
<p>Later in his career, Milius changed his opinion of the film, expressing appreciation of Coppola’s revisions and describing the director as “a genius on a par with Orson Welles”.</p>
<p>For their work on Apocalypse Now, Milius and Coppola received a nomination for best screenplay at the 1979 Academy Awards. In the 1980s, <a href="http://www.ejumpcut.org/archive/jc57.2016/-LeottaMillius/index.html">Milius went on to direct</a> films such as <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xwdYd_RdLCQ">Conan the Barbarian</a> (1982) and <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kZLLKwFpFG4">Red Dawn</a> (1984), but a combination of commercial flops and health problems would lead to the gradual decline of his career in the 1990s and 2000s. </p>
<p>Milius is now considered a minor figure in film history. For creating many of the ideas behind Apocalypse Now, however, he should be remembered as a major contributor to one of the most influential stories ever told on the big screen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/113448/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alfio Leotta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
This year marks the 40th anniversary of Apocalypse now, and a director’s cut version of the film classic premiered last week.
Alfio Leotta, Senior Lecturer, Te Herenga Waka — Victoria University of Wellington
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/90081
2018-02-02T22:11:39Z
2018-02-02T22:11:39Z
How Americans came to embrace meditation, and with it, Hinduism
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204644/original/file-20180202-19918-1j8tahy.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mahesh Yogi (seated in front) who gained a following in the United States with musicians and artists.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3AMichaelCooper1967BenMerk.jpg">Ben Merk/ANEFO, Nationaal Archief, NL</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>This week marks the death anniversary of <a href="https://www.biography.com/people/maharishi-mahesh-yogi">Mahesh Yogi</a>, the Indian guru who brought transcendental meditation to the West in the sixties and became a spiritual teacher to The Beatles, comedian <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=54&v=JwhvDnIQ3vs">Jerry Seinfeld</a> and <a href="https://www.tm.org/transcendental-meditation-cleveland">countless other celebrities</a>.</p>
<p>Today, the legacy of the Maharashi, as he was popularly known, is evident in the widespread appreciation of meditation: Over <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/health-news/the-big-question-what-is-transcendental-meditation-and-is-it-the-cure-for-societys-ills-397692.html">6 million people worldwide</a> practice the technique the Maharishi introduced – transcendental meditation. An even larger number practice other forms. Health professionals and practitioners <a href="https://www.tm.org/research-on-meditation">extol its many benefits</a>, which range from anger management, <a href="http://www.tm.org/healthpro/downloads/AHA-Hypertension.pdf">lowered blood pressure</a> and cardiovascular disease, <a href="https://www.tm.org/resource-pages/224-posttraumatic-stress-disorder">reduced post-traumatic stress</a> and simply a <a href="http://www.tm.org/healthpro/downloads/Journal-of-A&C-Medicine.pdf">healthier lifestyle</a>.</p>
<p>In the 1960s many Americans may have only known Hinduism through meditation, but the story of this country’s relationship with Hinduism is much longer and more complex.</p>
<h2>Early embrace of Hinduism</h2>
<p>The first time the American public formally learned about Hinduism was through the <a href="https://parliamentofreligions.org/parliament/chicago-1893">World’s Parliament of Religions</a>, a gathering of practitioners of different faith traditions, which took place in Chicago in 1893. It was at that time when the American public first saw and heard people from “Eastern” religions, including Hindus and Buddhists, on their own soil. </p>
<p>At the time European and American scholars were <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/I/bo3534198.html">becoming more accepting</a> of other major religions in the world. Not considered as good as Christianity, they were nonetheless being included in the roster of an emerging group of “world religions.” Unfortunately, no representative of any Native American traditions or indigenous religions was invited.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204646/original/file-20180202-19952-1vxrwxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204646/original/file-20180202-19952-1vxrwxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204646/original/file-20180202-19952-1vxrwxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204646/original/file-20180202-19952-1vxrwxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=421&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204646/original/file-20180202-19952-1vxrwxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204646/original/file-20180202-19952-1vxrwxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204646/original/file-20180202-19952-1vxrwxr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=529&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Swami Vivekananda at Parliament of Religions.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File%3ASwami_Vivekananda_at_Parliament_of_Religions.jpg">Parliament of Religion, 1893</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Vivekananda, a young monk representing Hinduism famously began his speech hailing his hosts as <a href="http://www.artic.edu/aic/resources/resource/1082">“brothers and sisters of America.”</a> It was most unusual for an Indian monk to embrace the audience as a single family, at a time when societies were segregated and racial superiority was an accepted part of life. Vivekananda received a standing ovation. The appreciation continued as he journeyed through America after the talk. <a href="http://pluralism.org/encounter/historical-perspectives/parliament-of-religions-1893/">One journalist</a> wrote: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“<a href="http://www.artic.edu/about/mission-and-history/1879-1913-formative-years/swami-vivekananda">Vivekananda</a>’s address before the parliament was broad as the heavens above us, embracing the best in all religions, as the ultimate universal religion—charity to all mankind, good works for the love of God.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Vivekananda spoke extensively about the spiritual benefits of yoga and meditation, <a href="http://www.holybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/SWAMI-VIVEKANANDA-COMPLETE-WORKS-Vol-1.pdf">explaining</a> how they were <a href="https://holybooks-lichtenbergpress.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/SWAMI-VIVEKANANDA-COMPLETE-WORKS-Vol-2.pdf">common resources</a> for all human beings, and not just for Hindus. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Think of a space in your heart and in the midst of that space think that a flame is burning. Think of that flame as your own soul and inside the flame is another effulgent light, and that is the Soul of your soul, God. Meditate upon that in the heart.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In fact, long before the World’s Parliament of Religions, American transcendentalists, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry Thoreau, showcased their fascination with Hindu texts in their <a href="https://www.walden.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Walden16PondInWinter.pdf">poems and essays</a>. Emerson copied long passages from Hindu texts in his journals and called the <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/B/bo5950787.html">Bhagavad Gita</a>, a Hindu text composed approximately 2,000 years ago, a <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=E1XhhYR2W6cC&pg=PA172&lpg=PA172&dq=emerson+bhagavad+gita+transnational+book&source=bl&ots=LjyTZs32PU&sig=rfJ9oBsdxYn2Mdtb141f9aMWvmM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjlp4OB3IfZAhWnq1kKHXhrCvYQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=emerson%20bhagavad%20gita%20transnational%20book&f=false">“trans-national book.”</a> Emerson’s poems, “Brahma” and “Hamatreya,” modeled on passages from Hindu texts speak about the impermanence of life and the immortality of the human soul. </p>
<p>Indeed, their adulation has assured the presence of the Bhagavad Gita in most large libraries in the United States. </p>
<h2>Hinduism in popular culture</h2>
<p>Since the 1960s, two kinds of Hinduism have made their home in the U.S.</p>
<p>One is a continuation of the popularization of meditation started by Vivekananda and Mahesh Yogi. Many other gurus came from India during the sixties and taught self-transformation through yoga and meditation. This acquired such popularity that Life magazine called 1968 the <a href="https://www.saada.org/item/20130722-3032">“year of the guru.”</a> </p>
<p>In more recent years, <a href="https://www.biography.com/people/deepak-chopra-9542257">Deepak Chopra</a>, who was once a disciple of Maharishi, brought the meditation-body-mind healing to American consciousness. This work has made Chopra a popular author, public speaker and advocate for complementary healing in America today. </p>
<p>Some, though not all, of these movements underplay or distance their connections with the word “Hindu” and some use labels such “spiritual” to emphasize their “universal” content. </p>
<p>In other words, though the teachers were Hindu and their teachings had Hindu origins, they were presented not as Hindu or as “religious,” but in a generic form as “spiritual” and as applicable to all human beings. </p>
<p>Meditation advocated by these gurus became distanced from its religious roots. In India, meditation, especially on a mantra (a syllable, sound, word, or phrase), is only <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Mantra.html?id=YMPibh4_XuoC">one part of the larger Hindu culture</a>. </p>
<p>Conservative estimates by the National Institute of Health show that over <a href="https://nccih.nih.gov/research/statistics/NHIS/2012/mind-body/meditation">18 million Americans meditate</a> and approximately <a href="https://nccih.nih.gov/news/press/02102015mb">21 million adults and 1.7 million</a> children practiced yoga regularly. Interestingly, although some Americans may associate meditation with Hinduism, another set of data shows that <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/religious-landscape-study/frequency-of-meditation/">more than half the Hindus in America never practice it</a>.</p>
<p>Movies too have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2014/dec/25/movies-embraced-hinduism">embraced Hindu ideas</a>. For example, “the Force” in “Star Wars,” has parallels with Hindu philosophical ideas such as “Brahman,” the Supreme, the ultimate principle of the universe, as does the illusory overlay in “The Matrix,” with “Maya,” the wondrous illusory power. It’s no accident that the creator of Star Wars, George Lucas, learned from Joseph Campbell, who was a <a href="http://www.starwars.com/news/mythic-discovery-within-the-inner-reaches-of-outer-space-joseph-campbell-meets-george-lucas-part-i">student of Hindu-Vedanta philosophy</a>. </p>
<h2>Hinduism today</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204647/original/file-20180202-19961-ydxqyy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/204647/original/file-20180202-19961-ydxqyy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204647/original/file-20180202-19961-ydxqyy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204647/original/file-20180202-19961-ydxqyy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204647/original/file-20180202-19961-ydxqyy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204647/original/file-20180202-19961-ydxqyy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/204647/original/file-20180202-19961-ydxqyy.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Hindu and Jain temple in Nevada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vasudha Narayanan</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The second kind of Hinduism that has grown in America since the 1960s is what I would call “temple-Hinduism,” brought by immigrants from India and the Caribbean. </p>
<p>In 1900, seven years after Vivekananda set foot in America, there were only about <a href="https://www.hafsite.org/hinduism-101/hindu-demographics">1,700 Hindus</a>. Today, there are <a href="http://www.pewforum.org/2015/05/12/americas-changing-religious-landscape/">about 2.4 million Hindus</a> who have made America their home today. Many of the current immigrants came following a <a href="http://www.history.com/topics/us-immigration-since-1965">new immigration law enacted in 1965</a> that abolished a quota system. </p>
<p>The new immigrants wanted to practice of their faith centered on <a href="https://svsbalaji.secure.force.com/">rituals</a> done in <a href="http://hindutempleofatlanta.org/photoGallery.aspx">temples</a> at specific days and times with processions, dances and music. Meditation was only one part of it. </p>
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<p>Thoreau could have hardly imagined that within 150 years of his meditations, the waters of the Ganges in India would be mingled with waters of Walden to consecrate the temple of the <a href="https://www.srilakshmi.org/">Goddess Lakshmi</a> in Ashland, Massachusetts, in 1989, and <a href="http://pluralism.org/profiles/tradition/hinduism/">hundreds of temples across America</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/90081/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Vasudha Narayanan is on the advisory board of the Pluralism Project, Harvard University <a href="http://pluralism.org/affiliate/vasudha-narayanan/">http://pluralism.org/affiliate/vasudha-narayanan/</a></span></em></p>
In the 1960s many Americans may have only known Hinduism through meditation, but the story of this country’s relationship with Hinduism is much longer and more complex.
Vasudha Narayanan, Professor of Religion, University of Florida
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/76098
2017-05-25T09:24:52Z
2017-05-25T09:24:52Z
Star Wars is a fantasy film firmly based on America’s real conflicts
<p>Since its release on May 25, 1977, Star Wars – now known as <a href="http://www.starwars.com/films/star-wars-episode-iv-a-new-hope">Episode IV: A New Hope</a> – has inspired millions of followers across generations. The film has stood the test of time, but the original circumstances of Star Wars’ creation, and the film’s deliberately constructed relationship with US history, have become obscured. </p>
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<p>It seems unthinkable that <a href="http://www.starwars.com/films/star-wars-episode-iv-a-new-hope">Star Wars</a> was a film that <a href="http://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2015/12/star-wars-george-lucas-independent-film">studios did not want</a>. George Lucas’s treatment was rejected by United Artists, Universal and even Disney – ironic given the $4.05 billion they <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/12/disney-star-wars-return-on-investment/">paid for the franchise</a> in 2012. Though 20th Century Fox picked up the project, it was Lucas they wanted, not Star Wars. </p>
<p>The deal Fox and Lucas made was unusual. Lucas’s previous movie <a href="http://lucasfilm.com/american-graffiti">American Graffiti</a> had been such a hit that Lucas could have raised his fee, but he chose not to. Instead, he negotiated a deal which <a href="http://theweek.com/articles/575363/star-wars-isnt-movie-franchise-toy-franchise">gave him merchandising and sequel</a> rights in what was a pivotal moment for the industry, establishing the <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-star-wars-kick-started-modern-toy-collecting-76099">practice of merchandising</a>. </p>
<h2>Interpreting America’s history</h2>
<p>After American Graffiti, Lucas initially returned to Apocalypse Now, a project he had been working on with screenwriter John Milius. It was to be a subversive film: Lucas wanted to make an anti-violence movie, showing so much violence that the audience would be repulsed. Ultimately, Lucas opted out of directing Apocalypse Now, but his <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=N_6rAgAAQBAJ&pg=PT101&lpg=PT101&dq=After+I+finished+American+Graffiti,+I+came+to+realise+that+since+the+demise+of+the+western,+there+hasnt+been+much+in+the+mythological+fantasy+genre+available+to+the+film+audience.+So+instead+of+making+isnt-it-terrible-whats-happening-to-mankind+movies,+which+is+how+I+began,+I+decided+that+Id+try+to+fill+that+gap.&source=bl&ots=r4y5KeHbDo&sig=pBZK4icpBqGmQiXvcJ9MwqfsAh4&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiW6_a-htTTAhVkDcAKHSWFCxcQ6AEIIjAA#v=onepage&q=After%20I%20finished%20American%20Graffiti%2C%20I%20came%20to%20realise%20that%20since%20the%20demise%20of%20the%20western%2C%20there%20hasnt%20been%20much%20in%20the%20mythological%20fantasy%20genre%20available%20to%20the%20film%20audience.%20So%20instead%20of%20making%20isnt-it-terrible-whats-happening-to-mankind%20movies%2C%20which%20is%20how%20I%20began%2C%20I%20decided%20that%20Id%20try%20to%20fill%20that%20gap.&f=false">reasons for doing so</a> are illuminating: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>… since the demise of the Western, there hasn’t been much in the mythological fantasy genre available to the film audience. So instead of making “isn’t-it-terrible-what’s-happening-to-mankind” movies, which is how I began, I decided that I’d try to fill that gap.“</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This statement, lamenting the state of American myth in contemporary culture, reveals a great deal about what Star Wars was intended to be. The <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKRIUiyF0N4">iconic scrolling opening title</a>, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away …”, vividly establishes Lucas’s idea: Star Wars is both history and fantasy. It provides audiences with an escape, something cinema had always done, but this was a consciously constructed escape into a fairy tale, a universal mythology of heroes and villains, good and evil and, crucially, a milieu where the good guys win.</p>
<h2>Western wars</h2>
<p>Myth is the key to unlocking Star Wars. These shared stories, typically with a basis in history, shape and explain national values, characteristics and identity. The experience of the frontier, of the “Wild West”, is central to the American myth. But that myth was badly damaged by the ugliness and violence of American involvement in Vietnam, and the fractures it caused at home. Star Wars seeks to retrieve these shared stories, <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-force-awakened-why-so-many-find-meaning-in-star-wars-51853">rebuilding the myth</a> by reminding audiences of simpler, more innocent times. </p>
<p>Star Wars rejects the ambiguity and moral uncertainty of post-Vietnam America and instead depicts a universe of moral absolutes. It deploys <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.3366/j.ctt1g0b1pw">elements of classic western films</a>: characters Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Chewbacca resonate with frontier archetypes. The dust up in the saloon and the frequent shoot outs play with the conventions of the genre. </p>
<p>References to American wars in which the US held the moral high ground are another recurring motif. The imagery and <a href="http://www.popularmechanics.com/culture/movies/a24456/rogue-one-world-war-ii-movie/">iconography of World War II</a> is everywhere in Star Wars. Terms like <a href="http://www.starwars.com/news/from-world-war-to-star-wars-stormtroopers">stormtroopers</a>, the evil empire and super weapons are suggestive. The <a href="http://www.starwars.com/news/from-world-war-to-star-wars-the-millennium-falcon">design of the ships</a>, <a href="http://www.starwars.com/news/from-world-war-to-star-wars-imperial-officers">costumes</a> and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/checkpoint/wp/2015/10/20/the-real-world-small-arms-that-inspired-the-weapons-of-star-wars/?utm_term=.e7689c6f5fe3">weaponry</a> are modelled on examples from World War II. The choreography of the space battles are <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/star-wars-match-frame_us_55afc8a6e4b08f57d5d3430c?ir=entertainment&utm_hp_ref=entertainment">even based on</a> aerial dogfight sequences from other war movies. </p>
<p>Lucas also employs a range of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/film/star-wars--a-new-hope/movies-influences-george-lucas/">visual cues from Nazi propaganda film</a> The Triumph of the Will, most obviously <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iH6a1iYQ0GA">in the closing medal ceremony</a>. </p>
<h2>Moral high ground</h2>
<p>In the film’s opening moments, Lucas reminds audiences of another war with mythic implications, America’s Revolutionary War. This conflict ideally suited Lucas’s purpose because it is perhaps the most unambiguous war in American history: the Americans were underdogs fighting a well-equipped empire – but they were victorious. For Lucas it is a compelling and attractive alternative to Vietnam’s moral ambiguities, atrocity and defeat. </p>
<p>Looking at the film through the lens of the Revolutionary War, Lucas’s myth building is fascinating. The opening shot of the small blockade runner <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHfLyMAHrQE">being chased down</a> by the massive Star Destroyer perfectly articulates the heroic context and asymmetry of the conflict. </p>
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<p>This sense of poorly equipped rebels versus a professional military force is further enhanced when the action comes aboard the smaller ship, where a small force of men awaits combat. These are not traditional soldiers, however: they are not young men at the peak of physical and psychological readiness. Rather they are all older, scared, a volunteer militia, and the coming combat, as historian John Hellman <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/American_Myth_and_the_Legacy_of_Vietnam.html?id=uPH86IxSwjsC&redir_esc=y">has suggested</a>, resonates with the iconic clash of redcoats and minutemen.</p>
<p>Lucas’s efforts were an attempt to repair and rebuild American confidence and the belief that the United States was a force for good by celebrating the simplicity and certainties of mythic narratives. Star Wars reminds audiences of the qualities of innocence, purity and heroism these stories contain. The “<a href="http://www.newyorker.com/books/double-take/takes-kael-on-star-wars">return to childhood</a>” that critic Pauline Kael recognised in her famously negative New Yorker review in 1977 is an acknowledgement of Star Wars’ ability to reconnect audiences with a more innocent time.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76098/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Stephen McVeigh does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
As it turns 40, it’s worth remembering that Star Wars was more than just a space film, it reframed America’s troubled history.
Stephen McVeigh, Associate Professor in War and Society, Swansea University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/76099
2017-05-04T07:38:53Z
2017-05-04T07:38:53Z
How Star Wars kick-started modern toy collecting
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167734/original/file-20170503-21612-1725sgf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/luciuskwok/5945034489">Lucius Kwok/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>On 25 May, 1977 <a href="http://www.starwars.com/films/star-wars-episode-iv-a-new-hope">Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope</a> opened in movie theatres across America. The now iconic science fiction film has lasted the test of time, spawning two sequels – <a href="http://www.starwars.com/films/star-wars-episode-v-the-empire-strikes-back">Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back</a> (1980) and <a href="http://www.starwars.com/films/star-wars-episode-vi-return-of-the-jedi">Episode VI: Return of the Jedi</a> (1983) – a <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/danidiplacido/2016/12/15/looking-back-at-the-star-wars-prequel-trilogy/#4f89af762a9c">prequel trilogy</a> between 1999 and 2005; a sequel trilogy <a href="http://www.starwars.com/films/star-wars-episode-vii-the-force-awakens">beginning in 2015</a>, and further spin-off movies, too. </p>
<p>Centred around the “long time ago” adventures of an adolescent farmer, a reckless smuggler and a strong-willed princess, the original film starred Mark Hamill as Luke Skywalker, Harrison Ford as Han Solo, and Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia. From the <a href="http://www.galaxyfaraway.com/gfa/2005/12/what-is-the-text-of-the-star-wars-episode-iv-a-new-hope-opening-scroll/">film’s famous opening crawl</a>, we learn “secret plans” to the evil Galactic Empire’s dreaded space station, the Death Star, have been stolen by rebel spies and entrusted to Princess Leia, a leader of the Rebel Alliance, who hopes to use them to “restore freedom to the galaxy”. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’m not such a bad pilot myself – Luke Skywalker</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Like <a href="http://igrewupstarwars.com/">thousands of other 1980s children</a>, I grew up imagining myself in this “galaxy far, far away”, playing with action figures, playsets, and a host of other accessories to recreate the Star Wars scenes in my own bedroom. These must-have toys of the late 1970s and 1980s were the most prized items in my toy box.</p>
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<p>As adults, many Generation X-ers like myself have rekindled their love affair with Star Wars, giving rise to a huge collector market for those who hope to access, own and collect the toys they had as children.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I find your lack of faith disturbing – Darth Vader</p>
</blockquote>
<p>While the film was a massive hit with moviegoers, most toy companies showed little interest in taking on a Star Wars product license before its release. <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=R2xJLgEACAAJ&dq=stephen+sansweet&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwigy5mwu8DTAhWLCMAKHQrrDcIQ6AEIJzAB">Collecting modern toys</a> was not the thriving market then that it is today. In the 1970s, movie tie-in merchandise was in its infancy and Twentieth Century Fox, the film studio that produced Star Wars, did not pursue the rights which, by default, fell to Lucas.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167719/original/file-20170503-21635-ijw5he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/167719/original/file-20170503-21635-ijw5he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167719/original/file-20170503-21635-ijw5he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167719/original/file-20170503-21635-ijw5he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=381&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167719/original/file-20170503-21635-ijw5he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167719/original/file-20170503-21635-ijw5he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/167719/original/file-20170503-21635-ijw5he.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kenner Toys’ early bird certificate packaging, 1977.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Star_Wars_Early_Bird.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="http://www.rebelscum.com/vintage.asp">Kenner Toys</a>, a small company based in Ohio, eventually took the gamble – though it was unable to ready any toys for Christmas 1977 because of the time required for production. To satisfy unexpected customer demand, Kenner, ignoring marketing advice, created and sold an <a href="http://vintageactionfigures.com/star-wars-early-bird-certificate-package-1977.html">Early Bird Certificate Package</a>, essentially an “empty box” that contained only a mail-in coupon for the first four action figures – Luke Skywalker (with a rare double-telescoping lightsaber), Princess Leia, Chewbacca and R2 D2. They were shipped when they became available in early 1978, along with stickers and a colourful cardboard stand to display the complete set of the first 12 figures produced. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Where did you dig up that old fossil? – Han Solo</p>
</blockquote>
<p>When the plastic action figures hit the shelves of UK shops and newsagents during the late 1970s, they cost about £1.50, a reasonable price for a children’s toy. By the <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=SweGCwAAQBAJ&pg=PA209&lpg=PA209&dq=1978+kenner+42+million&source=bl&ots=2eolrGUMXm&sig=ACR1eZIk3KALAqJdPOLe2DDdI98&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiO-s6GwMDTAhXrC8AKHZ3RA7EQ6AEIQzAG%20-%20v=onepage&q=1978%20kenner%2042%20million&f=false#v=snippet&q=1978%20kenner%2042%20million&f=false">end of 1978</a>, Kenner had sold 42m Star Wars toys. And by the time the last of the 100 original – now commonly referred to as “vintage” – Kenner action figure line was released in 1985, an estimated <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=R2xJLgEACAAJ&dq=stephen+sansweet&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwigy5mwu8DTAhWLCMAKHQrrDcIQ6AEIJzAB">250m had been sold</a>. </p>
<p>To this day, the final action figure, <a href="http://www.rebelscum.com/vintyakface.asp">Yak Face</a>, who appeared in a few brief scenes in Return of the Jedi, remains highly sought after. Due to dwindling interest in Star Wars toys and falling sales, Yak Face never retailed in the US, and can sell today for several hundred pounds, if in both original packaging and mint-condition. </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Don’t you get technical with me! – C-3PO</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The holy grail for collectors of vintage Star Wars figures, however, is the <a href="http://www.rebelscum.com/VINtJawa.asp">Jawa with a tan coloured vinyl cape</a>, a production soon halted in favour of a darker brown cloth cape. In 2013, an example of this rare action figure fetched <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tees-24660920">£10,200 at auction</a>. </p>
<p>In 2015, an immaculate Boba Fett, the feared bounty hunter who appeared first in The Empire Strikes Back, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/jan/29/star-wars-boba-fett-replica-sells-for-18000-auction">sold for £18,000</a>, the highest price paid to date for a Star Wars action figure.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/z2XVl2zGQmw?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>However, even some loose figures, no longer in their original box and played with, can sell for many times more than their original price, especially rare prototypes or those with uncommon moulding variations or accessories. For some collectors, even the packaging alone, <a href="http://www.starwars.com/news/collectibles-from-the-outer-rim-vintage-kenner-cardbacks">authentic and undamaged</a>, is highly sought-after, and auction valuations and prices continue to rise.</p>
<blockquote>
<p>They’ll soon be back, and in greater numbers – Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The original action figures – and other playthings in the toy line – certainly played an important role in the success of Episode IV. For children of the late 1970s and early 1980s, the adventures of Luke, Han and Leia continued, not through rewatching the movie on videotape or satellite television, but through their toys, and, of course, a little imagination. </p>
<p>As generations of fans come together at events, exhibits and other activities to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the movie, the Star Wars brand remains an important and influential part of contemporary popular culture – it has even become an object of <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Finding_the_Force_of_the_Star_Wars_Franc.html?id=PB57P_dOF7EC&redir_esc=y">academic study</a>. As that fan base continues to grow, it looks like the Star Wars story will continue to entertain and inspire for many more years to come – whether that is on the big screen, or in the imaginations of youngsters playing in their bedrooms.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/76099/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Anderson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The Star Wars saga is interlinked with its merchandising success.
David Anderson, Senior Lecturer in American History, Swansea University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/68812
2016-11-22T19:26:27Z
2016-11-22T19:26:27Z
Star Wars goes Rogue – but will this risky move backfire?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146909/original/image-20161122-24550-utmnuk.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Felicity Jones as Jyn Erso and Diego Luna as Captain Cassian Andor in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, set for release on December 15.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.starwars.com/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-gallery">© Lucasfilm Ltd</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2488496/">Star Wars: The Force Awakens</a> left audiences desperate to know WWLS? (What Will Luke Say?) But fans will be waiting quite some time to find out. The new film, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, which opens in <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3748528/releaseinfo">Australia on December 15</a>, does not continue the trilogy begun last year. </p>
<p>Rogue One is, instead, the first of Disney and Lucasfilms’ standalone Star Wars movies. The main Star Wars saga will continue as a trilogy - with a film released every two years - which means fans will have to wait until 2017 to learn about the fates of Rey and Finn. Standalone films, meanwhile, are planned for <a href="http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/star-wars/241723/full-star-wars-movie-release-calendar">every other year through to 2020</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146880/original/image-20161122-24578-14wspg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146880/original/image-20161122-24578-14wspg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146880/original/image-20161122-24578-14wspg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146880/original/image-20161122-24578-14wspg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146880/original/image-20161122-24578-14wspg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=893&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146880/original/image-20161122-24578-14wspg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1122&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146880/original/image-20161122-24578-14wspg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1122&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146880/original/image-20161122-24578-14wspg4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1122&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Carrie Fisher as Princess Leia in Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977).</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0000008/mediaviewer/rm1378258688">© LucasFilm Ltd</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although Rogue One is being touted as independent of the main Star Wars story (dedicated to following the fortunes of the Skywalker family), it does fit within the franchise’s broader arc. The first Star Wars in 1977 began with Princess Leia attempting to smuggle stolen plans to the Death Star so her rebel allies could plan an attack on a planet-destroying space station. Rogue One jumps back in time from this point, telling the story of a desperate mission by a ragtag crew to steal those plans from the Galactic Empire and deliver them to Leia.</p>
<p>Still, prequels are a potentially risky move for Star Wars. As viewers, we already know the outcomes of much of the story. In the case of Rogue One, we already know that the mission will be successful and the plans will, after some unexpected detours, be delivered to the rebel alliance.</p>
<p>What we do not know at this stage is who, if anyone, amongst the team sent to retrieve the plans will survive. The lure of Rogue One for audiences must therefore be in experiencing the thrill of the journey to a known end rather than anticipating the shock of the unexpected.</p>
<p>From what little the <a href="https://youtu.be/frdj1zb9sMY">trailers have revealed so far</a>, it seems that Rogue One will follow a fairly standard <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061578/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Dirty Dozen </a>style narrative formula. Disparate misfits are assembled to undertake a suicide mission that will likely send them to their deaths – but also promise redemption from past sins. (It does, however, have the added bonus of an appearance by Darth Vader and an <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/star-wars-celebration-rogue-one-ben-mendelsohn-2016-7/?r=AU&IR=T">extremely menacing Ben Mendelsohn</a> playing imperial officer Director Orson Krennic.)</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146870/original/image-20161121-4552-e65spe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146870/original/image-20161121-4552-e65spe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146870/original/image-20161121-4552-e65spe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146870/original/image-20161121-4552-e65spe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146870/original/image-20161121-4552-e65spe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146870/original/image-20161121-4552-e65spe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146870/original/image-20161121-4552-e65spe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146870/original/image-20161121-4552-e65spe.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ben Mendelsohn as imperial officer Director Orson Krennic.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.starwars.com/rogue-one-a-star-wars-story-gallery">© Lucasfilm Ltd</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Perhaps of most appeal to audiences of a certain age may be the opportunity to once again delve into the aesthetic of the original trilogy. Since Rogue One takes place in the same time period, costumes and equipment will be designs familiar from the earliest films such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1">Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope</a> (1977) and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0251071/?ref_=nv_sr_3">The Empire Strikes Back</a> (1980). </p>
<p>In fact, the early teaser trailer for Rogue One earned the admiration of fans when it was revealed the movie featured giant ATAT walkers, huge mechanized assault vehicles that tower above the battlefield on stilt-like legs. The walkers – a fan favourite – have not been seen in action since the <a href="https://youtu.be/jnl9ffCfrsc">Hoth battle sequence</a> in The Empire Strikes Back. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146887/original/image-20161122-24578-1l94xf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146887/original/image-20161122-24578-1l94xf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146887/original/image-20161122-24578-1l94xf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146887/original/image-20161122-24578-1l94xf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146887/original/image-20161122-24578-1l94xf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146887/original/image-20161122-24578-1l94xf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146887/original/image-20161122-24578-1l94xf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146887/original/image-20161122-24578-1l94xf8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Giant ATAT walkers in action for the Hoth battle sequence is Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080684/mediaviewer/rm1157989120">© LucasFilm Ltd</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>It remains to be seen just how well audiences will respond to Rogue One, and whether they will be confused by the non-sequential narrative. As Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez learned through their unsuccessful double-feature experiment Grindhouse (2007) not everyone is paying attention to your press releases.</p>
<p>Grindhouse gave audiences two features for the price of a single – one each from Rodriguez and Tarantino – with a selection of fictitious movie trailers separating them. Unfortunately for the filmmakers, in spite of months of hype and fanboy expectation, casual <a href="http://sumonova.com/grindhouse-proves-that-tarantinos-audience-isnt-as-hip-as-they-thought/">audiences were confused by the film</a> and many were reportedly leaving the cinema during the faux trailers after seeing only half the show.</p>
<p>Most moviegoers are casual fans who expect all necessary information to be provided by the movie they are seeing. This could be a problem for Rogue One, if rumours of another controversial choice are true. Rogue One, it is said, will be the first Star Wars movie to begin <a href="http://www.cinemablend.com/news/1527889/why-star-wars-rogue-one-may-ditch-the-opening-crawl">without a title crawl</a>.</p>
<p>Since 1977, seven Star Wars movies have begun with the now iconic yellow crawling text. It established just enough backstory to set up the action about to burst onto the screen. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146889/original/image-20161122-24569-dwvo4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146889/original/image-20161122-24569-dwvo4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146889/original/image-20161122-24569-dwvo4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146889/original/image-20161122-24569-dwvo4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146889/original/image-20161122-24569-dwvo4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=759&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146889/original/image-20161122-24569-dwvo4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146889/original/image-20161122-24569-dwvo4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146889/original/image-20161122-24569-dwvo4d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=954&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The iconic opening crawl from the first Star Wars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Opening_crawl.jpg">© Lucasfilm Ltd</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Originally intended as a homage to <a href="http://mashable.com/2016/04/15/flash-gordon/#DjO9cR8tgkqT">Flash Gordon serials</a> from the 1930s, the title crawl, in this case, would have been the perfect opportunity to warn audiences that Rogue One is not what they were expecting to see (ie an update on Rey, Finn and Luke). </p>
<p>Of course, all of this is simply conjecture. And in the coming years we will see just how much Star Wars the world can stomach. New standalone films in 2018 and 2020 will feature respectively a young <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-33439026">Han Solo</a> (to be played by relative newcomer Alden Ehrenreich) and, perhaps not coincidentally, a young version of <a href="http://www.cinemablend.com/new/Star-Wars-Definitely-Giving-Boba-Fett-His-Own-Movie-Get-Details-71265.html">Boba Fett</a>, the bounty hunter who captured Han Solo in The Empire Strikes Back.</p>
<p>Rogue One tells an established story but will do so with largely unknown characters. However recasting Han Solo in a stand alone film is a bold and risky move. Harrison Ford is one of the most beloved actors of the franchise – replacing him has sparked some <a href="http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/movies/star-wars-fans-unhappy-alden-ehrenreich-han-solo-article-1.2627206">extreme reactions</a> from fans.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146892/original/image-20161122-24550-156vcsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146892/original/image-20161122-24550-156vcsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146892/original/image-20161122-24550-156vcsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146892/original/image-20161122-24550-156vcsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146892/original/image-20161122-24550-156vcsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146892/original/image-20161122-24550-156vcsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146892/original/image-20161122-24550-156vcsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/146892/original/image-20161122-24550-156vcsr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Harrison Ford as Han Solo in the first Star Wars.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0000002/mediaviewer/rm1462144768">© Lucasfilm Ltd</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And while Boba Fett became an unexpected favourite after his brief appearance in The Empire Strikes Back, sometimes the mystery of a character appeals most. Do we really need or want to know everything about him?</p>
<p>The immense cultural standing of Darth Vader – once the greatest movie villains of all time – was severely undermined by the existence of the prequel series as we saw Anakin Skywalker shift from irritatingly precocious child hero to brooding, angsty teenager (<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-tVAdTMojfGk/TzRTydEbM7I/AAAAAAAAEXs/KWWBHbkKgPw/s1600/9.jpg">and the butt of memes</a>) before eventually becoming Darth Vader.</p>
<p>Here’s hoping that as Disney and Lucasfilm move forward by looking backward they do so without making similar mistakes.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68812/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Allen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The next Star Wars film, which opens on December 15, will be a prequel to the first one, made in 1977. Just how much Star Wars can the world stomach? And is looking backwards to move forwards such a good idea?
Peter Allen, Lecturer in Film and Television, Victorian College of the Arts, The University of Melbourne
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/51853
2015-12-17T20:52:00Z
2015-12-17T20:52:00Z
A force awakened: why so many find meaning in Star Wars
<p>After witnessing the overwhelming popularity of Star Wars, director Francis Ford Coppola <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Lucas-Effect-George-Hollywood/dp/1934844675">told George Lucas</a> he should start his own religion. </p>
<p>Lucas laughed him off, but Coppola <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/1204829.stm">may have been onto something</a>.</p>
<p>Indeed, the Star Wars saga taps into the very storytelling devices that have structured myths and religious tales for centuries. And with every new film, fans are able to reinforce their unique communities in a world that has grown, in many ways, increasingly isolated.</p>
<h2>A universal hero</h2>
<p>Lucas <a href="http://billmoyers.com/2012/08/09/moyers-moment-1999-george-lucas-on-mentors-and-faith/">freely admits</a> he based his Star Wars epic on the “hero’s quest” that mythologist <a href="http://jcf.org/new/index.php">Joseph Campbell</a>, in his 1949 book Hero with a Thousand Faces, argued underscores many myths and religious tales.</p>
<p>According to Campbell, hero quests have similar trajectories: the hero leaves his ordinary world and ventures to a place of supernatural wonders. He faces a series of trials to prove his mettle, survives a supreme ordeal, is granted some sort of boon or treasure and returns home to share his knowledge or treasure with those he left behind.</p>
<p>Following this formula, Lucas substituted his own characters for the heroes, villains, and saviors of earlier hero quests.</p>
<p>Take Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope: the hero (Luke Skywalker) leaves his ordinary world (Tatooine) after receiving “a call to adventure” (Princess Leia’s hologram message) and learns he has the special talents of a Jedi. A supportive mentor (Obi Wan Kenobi) offers supernatural aid (light saber) and guidance. Then Luke faces a series of trials to prove his mettle (storm troopers, Jabba the Hutt), survives a supreme ordeal (Death Star, Darth Vader) and returns home wiser and victorious.</p>
<p><a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Lucas-Effect-George-Hollywood/dp/1934844675">According to Lucas</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I became fascinated with how culture is transmitted through fairy tales and myth. Fairy tales are about how people learn about good and evil…it’s the most intimate struggle that we cope with – trying to do the right thing and what’s expected of us by society, by our peers, and in our hearts. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>These stories typically appear during times of doubt and can help viewers reclaim the goodness and innocence in themselves, reminding them they can overcome the evil they see in the world. When Lucas set out to create Star Wars – against the backdrop of Vietnam, Watergate and the assassinations of the Kennedy brothers and Martin Luther King, Jr – he had his work cut out for him. </p>
<p>Lucas <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Lucas-Effect-George-Hollywood/dp/1934844675">acknowledges</a> he wrote Star Wars because he believed our society was in dire need of fairy tales, myth and fantasy – a “new myth” would provide a “New Hope” for an audience that had grown cynical and demoralized. </p>
<p>Today’s anxieties are just as acute. Exhausted by the wars in the Middle East, faced with global terrorism and beset with economic woes, the American people yearn for a mythic narrative that will reaffirm their view of the world, with a traditional American hero who will triumph over evil and ensure “everything will turn out okay.” </p>
<h2>Looking into the mirror</h2>
<p>Lucas is <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/426128.Hollywood_from_Vietnam_to_Reagan">sometimes accused</a> of promoting escapism. But he’s actually tapping into some key facets of the human condition. After all, it’s in the telling of mythic or religious stories that we attempt to answer fundamental questions like “Who am I?” and, ultimately, “What does it all mean?” </p>
<p>It’s no wonder, then, that in an <a href="http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/peterfoster/100260301/america-is-turning-secular-much-faster-than-we-realise/">increasingly secularized society</a>, many find themselves gazing away from the pulpit, instead finding meaning in the stories playing out on screens in living rooms and movie theaters across the country. </p>
<p>Film is <a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/471.html">sometimes described</a> as a “dream screen” – a mirror, when held in front of an audience, reflects both the personal and collective subconscious of our culture. It’s a place where all our hopes, fears and desires find expression. </p>
<p>Considering Star Wars’ mythic foundation, it’s not surprising that it packs such a powerful, emotional punch, stirring the hearts of passionate fans yearning to see the next chapter of the Star Wars universe. </p>
<p>Myths are about creating meaning, reinforcing connections between the <a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/buber/">I and Thou</a>, and mending the rift between the sacred and profane. They give us heroes we can identify with, who allow us to eventually realize that divinity is not outside the self, but within. In the beginning, Luke might be the character you wanted to pretend to be. With time “playing Luke” helps you become the person you always wanted to be. </p>
<h2>Transcending the screen</h2>
<p>If all roads of the hero’s journey lead inward, then film, as a shared cultural artifact, begs us to take the first step. </p>
<p>Unlike a simple, standalone artifact (such as a piece of pottery), film is a shared experience. For the audience, the story, its characters and unique props (like the lightsaber) become stored in an emotional and psychological cache. Filed into memory, they become part of the viewer’s personal history and identity. </p>
<p>Rather than Star Wars existing as something outside of viewers, it takes root within. Many were exposed to the Star Wars films as children. Some acted out scenes at home and at school, investing time and creative energy into a fictional universe and characters who became like an extended family. For them, their “best birthday ever” became indistinguishable from the experience of playing with friends, the cutting of the cake – and their new Star Wars action figures. </p>
<p>In this way, Star Wars no longer remains just a film; it becomes much more. </p>
<p>Even subtle challenges to a narrative we’ve created about the world and ourselves can be stressful. In response, <a href="https://theconversation.com/for-believers-fear-of-atheists-is-fueled-by-fear-of-death-41724">we’re prone to cling even more tightly to our beliefs</a>. </p>
<p>For this reason, minor changes in the Star Wars narrative can unnerve fans. Denying that <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_shot_first">Han Solo shot first</a> is like finding out you’re adopted; it’s akin to changing your fundamental understanding of the truth. </p>
<h2>Forging connections to the past</h2>
<p>Star Wars has further transcended the screen in the form of t-shirts, action figures, theme parks, and in cosplay and fan fiction. </p>
<p>As powerful as any holy relic (which, among believers, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=LUEABAAAQBAJ&oi=fnd&pg=PA1&dq=religious+relics+psychology&ots=Z-ShVdQE1i&sig=J9hZNHgTNkcr6hJnSg9DE1BdcSM#v=onepage&q=religious%20relics%20psychology&f=false">can provide affirmation and emotional support</a>), buying and collecting Star Wars merchandise can trigger memories of the past. Accessing positive memories and tapping into nostalgia <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=xNyoCgAAQBAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=psychology+of+nostalgia&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiy8oCEuuHJAhWIVhoKHfkNDrIQ6AEIJTAA#v=onepage&q=psychology%20of%20nostalgia&f=false">have been shown</a> to be a critical component of forming a meaningful personal narrative, and the simple act of picking up a toy light saber can return fans to childhood, to a time when they felt happy and secure. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106567/original/image-20151217-8081-1nc8qmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106567/original/image-20151217-8081-1nc8qmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/106567/original/image-20151217-8081-1nc8qmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106567/original/image-20151217-8081-1nc8qmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106567/original/image-20151217-8081-1nc8qmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=407&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106567/original/image-20151217-8081-1nc8qmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106567/original/image-20151217-8081-1nc8qmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/106567/original/image-20151217-8081-1nc8qmq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=511&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A boy wields a toy light saber.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://pictures.reuters.com/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=2C0BXZZ12O8_K&SMLS=1&RW=1277&RH=703#/SearchResult&VBID=2C0BXZZ12O8_K&SMLS=1&RW=1277&RH=703&POPUPPN=3&POPUPIID=2C0BF1ORKHQSP">Benoit Tessier/Reuters</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Even if someone didn’t have the rosiest childhood, he or she can still escape to the Star Wars universe, creating an alternate reality where cherished friends, caring mentors and happily-ever-afters await. </p>
<p>Situated in an advertising and media landscape that often overpromises and underdelivers (“Buy this and you will be happy”), the world of Star Wars helps fans create meaning when they might otherwise be unfulfilled. </p>
<h2>Cosplaying for community</h2>
<p>Watching a Star Wars film or buying Star Wars memorabilia doesn’t only remind us of the “good old days.” It serves a more meaningful purpose: it builds community in a world that has grown increasingly isolated, that has traded the physical for the virtual.</p>
<p>If the decline of <a href="http://bowlingalone.com">social capital</a> in public life (which includes religion) is partially responsible for this phenomenon, the rise of technology is equally at fault.</p>
<p>Even when surrounded by people, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-value-of-unplugging-in-the-age-of-distraction-43572">our attention is diverted</a> – we are distracted, disembodied, absent – <a href="http://web.mit.edu/sturkle/www/Always-on%20Always-on-you_The%20Tethered%20Self_ST.pdf">existing everywhere but in the present</a>. The connections made through social media are often frayed, and can even lead to <a href="http://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1753613">heightened feelings of isolation or loneliness</a>.</p>
<p>On the other hand, Star Wars, via play – whether it’s cosplay or swinging a light saber with a friend – demands social interaction, communication and engagement. (<a href="https://theconversation.com/rival-fantasies-dungeons-and-dragons-players-and-their-religious-critics-actually-have-a-lot-in-common-40343">Some theorists have even argued</a> that play served as the seed from which all human culture, including religion, evolved.) </p>
<p>Waiting in line for days to buy tickets, wearing your favorite Star Wars t-shirt to school and dressing up as your favorite character at a convention are all social touchstones – icebreakers that facilitate a sense of community and belonging. </p>
<p>It is in this shared storytelling space where history lives and meaning dwells. As cultural critic Lewis Hyde <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Gift-Creativity-Artist-Modern/dp/0307279502">writes</a>, meaningful stories can induce a “moment of grace, a communion, a period during which we too know the hidden coherence of our being and feel the fullness of our lives.”</p>
<p>Once upon a time, we gathered around fires to tell stories. Today we assemble in movie theaters to watch with wonder and awe the flicker of our stories on the screen.</p>
<p>Star Wars is, of course, different from religion in a number of ways. But it still allows us to transcend the everyday and enter a sacred realm – a place where we can glimpse the Holy Land of our better selves and become the heroes we want to be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51853/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patti McCarthy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Film sagas like Star Wars transcend the screen, connecting viewers to their pasts, to one another and to the hero within.
Patti McCarthy, Assistant Professor, Film; Department of Theatre, Film & Communication Arts, Whittier College
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/51775
2015-12-14T11:48:00Z
2015-12-14T11:48:00Z
Star Wars: a New Hope for franchise longevity
<p>Surely it is no overstatement to say that the seventh episode in the Star Wars saga – <a href="http://www.starwars.com/the-force-awakens/">The Force Awakens</a> – is the most anticipated film of this century so far. Thanks to a marketing campaign that has drip-fed trailers and on-set images over the course of the past 12 months, expectation from fans is at fever pitch. And that’s just the 40-something mums and dads caught up in wistful reverie of their youth.</p>
<p>One of the curiosities of the Star Wars phenomenon is that it all flows from a movie trilogy which ended before younger fans were born. And so what we are left with is a reliance on the advertising of the Star Wars brand and, what we might call a manufactured “vicarious nostalgia” that will see bemused four-year olds unwrapping <a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Star-Wars-Boba-18-inch-Figure/dp/B00J8M6V2M">Boba Fett figurines</a> this Christmas in front of overexcited parents. Disney and Lucasfilm have put in place the ingredients to capture a whole new spectatorship.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105274/original/image-20151210-7438-15am10n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105274/original/image-20151210-7438-15am10n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105274/original/image-20151210-7438-15am10n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105274/original/image-20151210-7438-15am10n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105274/original/image-20151210-7438-15am10n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105274/original/image-20151210-7438-15am10n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105274/original/image-20151210-7438-15am10n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105274/original/image-20151210-7438-15am10n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Captured!</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/popculturegeek/4534091564/in/photolist-7UEpsu-5hwLm5-BMUM4e-BKAVRJ-BSTFGE-8j2Xrb-BVcfTx-8wRDBp-8wyX4g-8iYnin-d6F6ro-bGdJgT-pzHPkU-8iYnEa-6YqueL-amGbJV-8r8qCS-8r5iQR-8r5iNH-8r8tSA-8r5nTB-8r8tro-9PdB95-8r8uxS-8r8rZb-9GnwcV-aARRUS-pcUvMC-dpzHAU-5quVmt-6q7yZn-ekMV3L-7UEpWy-7UBau8-CgVNJ-aAP9pv-cS2g4U-rob9cu-rohqzX-bGgNzB-rmpSse-4D815F-nK9her-8u15w4-nK7d6Q-8r4qCP-27LLTU-5fDKT9-amG98z-58JVYu">The Conmunity - Pop Culture Geek</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Making a hit</h2>
<p>The original movie – Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope – which was released in 1977, was envisioned as a mid-range budgeted “sci-fi” adventure and <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/">made for an estimated $11m</a>. According to academic Pam Cook, neither creator/producer/director George Lucas nor production company Fox imagined it doubling its budget at the box office, let alone the $500m it would eventually make <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=aD1EBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA173&lpg=PA173&dq=corrigan+1991+lucas+star+wars&source=bl&ots=u8WzfzLK6H&sig=V-QbajGXpHBZHT7Cr76lTJLz_fk&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiNn9CFntvJAhUHPBQKHRpcB7QQ6AEIHzAA#v=onepage&q=corrigan%201991%20lucas%20star%20wars&f=false">by the end of 1980</a>.</p>
<p>However, as innovative and successful as the whizz-bang special effects, outer-space dog fights and blistering sound design were, what set a new precedent for Hollywood filmmaking with Star Wars was the boldness of its merchandising strategy. Action figures, games, T-shirts; all of these movie tie-ins helped fashion Star Wars as a brand that invaded the popular consciousness, and became valued in the billions of dollars as it grew.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105248/original/image-20151210-7463-190nkuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105248/original/image-20151210-7463-190nkuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105248/original/image-20151210-7463-190nkuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105248/original/image-20151210-7463-190nkuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105248/original/image-20151210-7463-190nkuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=474&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105248/original/image-20151210-7463-190nkuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105248/original/image-20151210-7463-190nkuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105248/original/image-20151210-7463-190nkuv.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=595&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flash Gordon approaches another cliffhanger.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/kndynt2099/5739974306/in/photolist-cVUvt-45GQJH-63SfZM-9KdSof-m24opa-8WjnGy-8E39mS-x9MgpS-wuo41w-wuwqZz-xrYRVH-xqA3Bq-x9MduG-xp5fyb-xp5fpJ-x9Mgfo-8E3b8m-8DZeJr-8E3a75-8CZkfs-9uD4ge-afhcyi-2FzFmV-7LC51R-8Drc6o-8CWemK-8CWfNT-8E3ekU-8DYNZ6-8DrciR-4xXP2T">Dennis Amith</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Box office takings and ancillary marketing aside, the effect of nostalgia is crucial to how Star Wars “works” for audiences. It was conceived by Lucas to be a throwback to the science fiction of Saturday morning serials from the 1940s and 1950s, which he had himself grown up watching. The cliffhanger action, archetypal characters, and even the horizontal and vertical screen wipes all contributed to the sense of longing for an earlier and cherished memory of weekends spent in movie theatres. Of course this same feeling would have been experienced by many audience members watching Lucas’s film.</p>
<h2>Layers of meaning</h2>
<p>First used in the 17th century <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/when-nostalgia-was-a-disease/278648/">as a medical diagnosis</a>, “nostalgia” is derived from the Greek “nostos” (to return home) and “algia” (pain). Today its use has evolved to refer to a desire to return to a way of life or a moment with sentimental value, often associated with childhood. Therefore, Lucas’s return to the franchise in the late 1990s with a trilogy of prequels appealed to the generation who had gone with their parents to see the original trilogy – but this time they could take their own children. </p>
<p>The brand remained vibrant during the intervening 20 years. I remember seeing the original three films when they were re-issued in UK cinemas in the mid-90s with my father in anticipation of the release of the fourth film, The Phantom Menace, in 1999. I subsequently pestered my parents every birthday and Christmas for the latest action toy, before meticulously recreating scenes and reinventing others in my bedroom bellowing out John Williams’s now ubiquitous score. I had thus wholeheartedly bought into Lucas’s vision.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/sGbxmsDFVnE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The Force Awakens trailer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And so the saga continues. In 2012 another film merchandising behemoth, <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/08/when-nostalgia-was-a-disease/278648/">The Walt Disney Company, acquired Lucasfilm</a> and it was announced that a new trilogy of Star Wars films, set after the events of Return of the Jedi, were to be made. This week, the new owners will see if the manufactured nostalgia trick has worked its magic as a new generation of fans soaked in peripheral marketing, get to have their own cinema experience. The early signs are that <a href="http://wap.engadget.com/2015/12/08/star-wars-the-force-awakens-vue-booking-record/">Disney needn’t worry</a>.</p>
<h2>The Disney Death Star</h2>
<p>The explosion of satellite television channels, and developments in computer game technology since the prequel trilogy has resulted in new and diverse marketing strategies for the Star Wars brand. Key in appealing to the current generation of youngsters to see the new films is animated television series Star Wars: Rebels, screened on the Disney XD channel (Star Wars: The Clone Wars is another series which pre-dates the Disney acquisition). </p>
<p>Furthermore, the original films often enjoy successful re-runs on satellite channels and Episode 1 was re-released into cinemas a few years ago in converted 3D format. More opportunity, then, for parents to pursue this vicarious nostalgia and posit Star Wars as some kind of sacred text to their children, however displaced it might be from the original film.</p>
<p>It boils down to a rigorous and lucrative marketing plan that can continue ad infinitum with each subsequent generation. And it doesn’t end here either.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105275/original/image-20151210-7438-1vvvee8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105275/original/image-20151210-7438-1vvvee8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/105275/original/image-20151210-7438-1vvvee8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105275/original/image-20151210-7438-1vvvee8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105275/original/image-20151210-7438-1vvvee8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105275/original/image-20151210-7438-1vvvee8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105275/original/image-20151210-7438-1vvvee8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/105275/original/image-20151210-7438-1vvvee8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Kerching…</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/pkbomb/11395093616/in/photolist-imWQkj-8sgDZ9-71W3JH-6CBqJT-4azLkW-8XQhta-y8JbN-r8iRP7-cadJoq-qamtgo-72MtbM-2RQxAs-5gosgD-jgYjn-8MVpzz-dGtj7-a4ZqWo-bDjbAB-pVdFG6-7bi6Mn-67pNaE-2VxPxJ-qiAXaP-3bYytr-99Pgdb-dWvU3r-cd2qSJ-bVE1nz-ckytZ-byRVVL-4omomH-bvME3a-bvMzhn-7omeFG-5UEt4J-5D3Ei2-pVcm4n-bX7tzN-864g1R-864fY8-867qjs-9rJ8wJ-bvMA7R-864fWx-3L8Doy-6kb9mz-6Aksxb-6Agkwg-5uQPsC-6AgiT6">Jose Manuel Ruiz</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Disney are planning to create a multiverse approach to the new Star Wars films akin to that of their other brand acquisition, Marvel. </p>
<p>As the tagline for The Force Awakens states; “every generation has a story”. However, we could just as easily say that every generation has a Star Wars movie. Will the force be strong enough with this latest stage of the intergalactic saga to entice a whole new audience?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51775/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Adam Vaughan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
How to build a movie empire that will last for generations.
Adam Vaughan, Postgraduate Researcher, University of Southampton
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/39103
2015-04-03T10:12:53Z
2015-04-03T10:12:53Z
Using Wikipedia: a scholar redraws academic lines by including it in his syllabus
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76963/original/image-20150402-9328-1sfhyg1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Wikipedia is coming into the classroom in new ways.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/bastique/639784808/in/photolist-Yx4Jy-aeyphU-Dm4mQ-8Xk9wd-8vMaCk-87zVAe-aeyp4o-beLrpH-39hab-8fPixb-7JgHLk-6yWQJ9-8vQeWE-64zsLg-3PTXnr-9DAJd5-Yx4GJ-aBxUaK-bQJCr6-6sYeby-aeAjuf-4JVgL-cuNbQG-5UJsKH-doe4xN-4RicGv-532v2c-C3C52-9zAePZ-fSGVcv-bf1Gt2-5G6eHw-aeypcu-beGHH6-ebVPse-57hYVH-6uT1ou-6mCZGX-ejGYrk-8mKt1-m7caTd-98ZhyR-4PKfjA-m7b6qX-LzFA8-iQzkDW-vHM8C-39o88-AjZA-6kLGHs">Cary Bass-Deschenes</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you are familiar with the phrase <a href="http://study.com/academy/lesson/hidden-curriculum-in-education-definition-examples-quiz.html">“hidden curriculum”</a> (referring to rules, norms and behaviors that are taught intentionally or not in nearly all classes), then the idea that Wikipedia is not a place to find “legitimate” information on a subject falls well within the purview of the term. </p>
<p>Most professors mention the website as “that place that you are not allowed to cite in your research papers”. This mini-lesson is hammered into the head of every freshman, sophomore, junior and senior. </p>
<p>Yet, Wikipedia remains a popular resource for both students and professors when they need immediate access to specific bits of information that fall outside of their areas of knowledge. Wikipedia is <a href="http://www.alexa.com/topsites">the #6 most accessed website in the world</a>, and the only nonprofit site in the bunch.</p>
<p>In essence, we have a love-hate relationship with Wikipedia in higher education. </p>
<p>In my classes, however, I’ve been experimenting for the past six years with how we might move beyond this narrow, schizophrenic approach to one of the most popular educational resources online. And what I’ve found is that my students are excited by the idea of engaging with this part of the internet that is otherwise deemed “off-limits” in their courses.</p>
<p>I teach our required course in sociological theory - something, admittedly, most students dread. Students are not just reluctant to take a course they haven’t chosen, but they also suspect, and rightly so, that they’ll be delving though texts that are often hundreds of years old, written in jargon-heavy terms for other academics, and often translated from a foreign language into English. </p>
<p>To address, in part, this interest gap that most students arrive with, for the past five years I have been requiring each of them to “adopt” the Wikipedia page of a particular sociological theorist (such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Horkheimer">Max Horkheimer</a>). </p>
<h2>Students adopt a Wikipedia page</h2>
<p>First the students individually draw a card from a “deck of social theorists” I’ve constructed to reveal the name and photograph of the sociologist they’ll be researching for the project. While they’re welcome to exchange their card with someone else, or even draw again, I find that most stick with the one they’ve drawn originally.</p>
<p>Students then review their adopted theorist’s page and begin the process of upgrading the information in a way that reflects research practices that meet the standards of what we might consider acceptable in academia.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76965/original/image-20150402-9328-1mo6prd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/76965/original/image-20150402-9328-1mo6prd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76965/original/image-20150402-9328-1mo6prd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76965/original/image-20150402-9328-1mo6prd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76965/original/image-20150402-9328-1mo6prd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76965/original/image-20150402-9328-1mo6prd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/76965/original/image-20150402-9328-1mo6prd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Students learn by editing Wikipedia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/127568736@N02/15090540084/in/photolist-dn6K1e-pWhmbX-oZuXPA-oZuXiL-oPTnka-7bo7Pg-oZy17V-pWhmeH-oZxXJi-oZxX4a-qcSB4-2RF1Ds-35Pi5N-6Xv72U-ojnA4-pDU7YY-pW7CtH-pWhmLz-9ZHEf-hDxMVS-hDx7zs-oZy1Hp-8AjNs-beMknB-9KV2pv-3k6zGC-5f9iad-TKxL-jArozB-6t9yvC-ap7x-iH2PU-8QhsD5-aB4f71-8prdvp-qfCFt-6QLo2u-5NXnYg-pK298e-9aBzwc-9n8t8u-9ybPV-6JxYJc-3qDJx-E1o39-gJ3ivk-gJ48up-93xd5g-3wcdWC-7NK54J">Wikimedia Finland</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In other words, they proofread the text, correct citations, visit the college library in search of relevant books, dig through online academic databases, and piece together a puzzle of why we value these particular theorists and how their work allows us to reveal parts of the world that might otherwise remain hidden to us. </p>
<p>Students document their research process in a paper they turn in along with a “before” and “after” version of the theorist’s Wikipedia page with their changes highlighted in yellow.</p>
<p>In the process of this exercise students register on Wikipedia and begin applying what they’ve discovered in their research to editing these theorists’ pages. Eventually, they often end up in a virtual dialogue with the scholars from across the globe, who function as self-appointed caretakers of these same pages. </p>
<h2>Not every change is accepted</h2>
<p>Not every change is accepted by the “community of caretakers” and, indeed, some will be undone. </p>
<p>Corrections of minor errors are universally embraced, while the addition of major sections (such as a summary explanation of a particularly important concept or work) are occasionally rejected in part or in whole. </p>
<p>If my students think the change they are proposing is an important one, I often encourage them to engage others online in a dialogue in order to convince others to keep the change. Wikipedia allows contributors to comment on the reasoning behind each change they submit (under the “History” tab) as well as start an ongoing conversation about various aspects of the page (under the “Talk” tab).</p>
<p>More typically, these “caretakers” embrace the opportunity to further improve, clarify, and re-write what the students are proposing until the additional material is transformed into more definitive improvements, and as a consequence the page evolves. </p>
<p>For example, if a student notices that <a href="en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_Lukacs">Georg Lukacs’ page</a> is missing a section on his theory of “reification”, they may add a paragraph explaining its significance and practical use. While the paragraph is usually well-researched, it may not be particularly well-written, or it may include some misconceptions about the term that more senior scholars can see very clearly.</p>
<p>In this case one of the gatekeeper scholars will rewrite the paragraph in order to increase clarity and accuracy. The page will now include a thoughtful explanation of an important theory that was otherwise being overlooked.</p>
<h2>Students see impact of their research</h2>
<p>It is exciting for students to see how their research has an immediate impact on global Wikipedia readers. They receive quick feedback from others who share their interest in improving the quality of information available on a subject they care about, the field of sociology and how it is understood by the rest of the world. </p>
<p>And, along the way, they become better researchers, better writers, and maybe even better thinkers. Wikipedia adoption is easily one of the highlights of the course for most of them.</p>
<p>While the students are engaged in this work, we often have discussions in class about the strengths and weaknesses of Wikipedia. </p>
<p>We consider how to strategically utilize what it has to offer – a starting point for exploring a world of knowledge – while avoiding its many pitfalls. </p>
<p>We also take the opportunity to discuss what a radical model Wikipedia is proposing as it offers up the potential to democratize knowledge, expertise, and education.</p>
<p>But like all democracies, to achieve its full potential, it requires thoughtfully engaged citizens (or rather netizens) to contribute their own sense of what is important to a public sphere that will wither without them. </p>
<h2>The experiment takes us out of the ivory tower</h2>
<p>I find that this small but meaningful experiment allows students to combat their own occasional but not uncommon feelings of apathy, disengagement, and isolation. It also allows me to build another bridge between the walls of our own little ivory tower and people’s everyday, albeit online, lives. </p>
<p>This exercise is, in a sense, a way for students (and myself) to embrace a bit of idealism. They contribute time and energy to people they do not know in the hope that others will do the same, and with the greater goal of the whole world slowly but surely becoming better educated through a resource that is freely available to anyone with access to the Internet.</p>
<p>In this new age of information, we as academics need to redouble our efforts to reach out to communities, small and large, to reinvigorate public dialogue and to model to our students the behaviors we hope to see them adopt when they pursue their own careers. </p>
<p>Public sociologists, like myself, often feel a duty to both educate students about the variety of social problems that face us in the 21st century and to offer ways that students can participate in their resolution. </p>
<p>Wikipedia offers us more than just a straw man example of where the lazy student may turn when desperate for a quick source of information for a mediocre paper. Wikipedia gives us academics a way to engage the global public and to take responsibility for how our respective disciplines are seen in the eyes of the world. </p>
<p>It is also the case - at least from the experience of my class – that Wikipedia allows us to embrace new forms of teaching that will enhance the online skills students so desperately need to integrate with their own academic training.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/39103/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ellis Jones does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
One academic’s experience on how Wikipedia can help students become better writers, better researchers and even better thinkers.
Ellis Jones, Assistant Professor of Sociology, College of the Holy Cross
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.