Music & Pop Culture
STAR WARS
Origins
Books and Comics:
•Beowulf (8th Century)
•King Arthur
•Flash Gordon: Space adventure comic.
•The hero with a thousand faces (J. Campbell)
Movies:
•Apocalypse Now
•The Hidden Fortress (Akira Kurosawa)
•The seven samurai (Akira Kurosawa)
•2001: A space Oddyssey
King Arthur Beowulf
Star Wars Industry
Lucasfilm (1971):
•Star Wars Saga
Industrial Light and Magic (1975): Visual Effects
•Alien (1979)
•Battlestar Galactica (1978)
•Star Trek Saga
•Pixar industry (1986)
Skywalker Sound (1977): Sound Effects
•THX Sound (1977)
Lucas Arts (1982): Games
•Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic
•Star Wars Online: The Old Republic
Star Wars Movie
•Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, originally released as Star Wars, is a 1977 American epic space opera film written and directed by George Lucas.
•It is the first film released in the Star Wars saga and is the fourth in terms of the series' internal chronology.
•Groundbreaking in its use of special effects and science fiction and fantasy storytelling, the original Star Wars is regarded as one of the most successful and influential films.
Actors:
• Mark Hamill
• Harrison Ford
• Carrie Fisher
Star Wars: Symbolism and Imagery
THE EMPIRE
•One man rules every thing: Communism
•They use the dark side of the Force: Evil
•They are selfish and violent: Authoritarianism
•They use mainly dark colors.
•They are clone soldiers, no-conscience.
•Storm Troppers: Body trap
•Sith Warriors: Mind trap
•Red Lightsabers, and blasters guns.
THE REPUBLIC:
•A group of representatives takes decisions: Democracy
•They use the light side of the Force: Good
•They are peaceful and assertive: Freedom
•They use mainly light colors.
•They are free people:
•Rebel troppers:
•Jedi Knights:
•Blue and green lightsabers and blasters guns.
•Green is for wisdom
What is the Force?
The Force is an energy field generated by all living beings, and "binds the galaxy together.
•For at least some gifted individuals, the Force is a source of both power and guidance, by which properly trained adepts can achieve startling effects: Objects can be made to levitate or fly through the air, and distant locations or the future can be seen.
•The Force appears to be morally polarized, with a "light side" and a "dark side. Both of them are equally strong, comparable to the yin-yang balance of Taoism.
•The Force is the symbol of the will of God.
Star Wars: Major characters
Luke Skywalker:
•Luke’s quest to become a Jedi Knight is the main engine driving the plot of Star Wars Episodes IV–VI.
•He is a callow youth, dreaming of adventure and escape from the backwater setting in which he finds himself.
•Through Ben, Luke gets the opportunity to travel, to help the Rebel Alliance against the evil Empire, to feel closer to the father he never knew (who was also a Jedi), and to grow as a person through contact with the Force.
•The irony, of course, is that Vader actually is his father, a truth that devastates Luke when he learns it. Disappointed in Ben for hiding the truth from him and horrified at what Anakin Skywalker has become, Luke must learn at last to be his own man.
•In the end, Luke saves his father’s soul, gains a sister, and sees Yoda, Ben, and Anakin (his whole paternal set, as it were) united in the afterlife. Much of his success is thanks to Yoda, who encourages Luke to examine himself and to judge how much he has been motivated by a desire for glory and how much by a true devotion to others.
Darth Vader:
•A fallen Jedi Knight, now Dark Lord of the Sith and a fearsome evil presence.
•Darth Vader is the apprentice to the Sith Master, Emperor Palpatine, and serves as his chief enforcer, the iron fist with which the Emperor rules the galaxy.
•Vader pursues Luke and his friends relentlessly throughout the trilogy, ostensibly in order to crush the Rebellion of which they are a part.
•Vader’s deeper motive, however, is to bring Luke, his long-hidden son, into the Emperor’s orbit and to turn him to the dark side of the Force.
•In the end, Luke succeeds in awakening the good that is dormant within Vader, and Vader turns on his master, becoming, at the very end of his life, Anakin Skywalker once more.
Leia Morgana:
•A member of the Imperial Senate and, secretly, one of the leaders of the Rebel Alliance.
•Leia meets Luke Skywalker and Han Solo when they rescue her from the Death Star and soon becomes close to them both.
•Courageous, level headed, and sharp tongued, Leia’s intense focus on the cause of overthrowing the Empire prevents her from acknowledging her growing attraction to Han Solo until it is almost too late.
•Early in the trilogy, Leia loses the only home she has ever known, when the planet Alderaan is destroyed by Grand Moff Tarkin via the Death Star.
•After that, she finds a new family, and learns that Luke is actually her twin brother and, more disturbingly, that Darth Vader is her true father.
Han Solo:
• A brash, roguish smuggler who becomes a hero despite his cynicism and his instinct for self-preservation.
• Solo is captain of the Millennium Falcon, a battered hotrod of a starship that, like its pilot, masks a valiant heart in an unprepossessing exterior.
• Initially Solo joins Luke and Obi-Wan on their quest purely for the money he is promised, but, moved by Obi-Wan’s sacrifice and by the courage of his young friend, Solo ends up joining their cause and becoming a leader of the Rebel Alliance.
Emperor Palpatine:
Emperor Palpatine:The Sith Lord, ruler of the Galactic Empire, and the motivating force behind Darth Vader. Hideously scarred and twisted, the Emperor’s own body seems to revolt against the evil it is forcedto contain.
The living embodiment of the dark side of the Force,the Emperor is driven purely by hatred, anger, and lust for power, and he desires to draw others to the dark side by bringing out these qualities in them as well.
The primary focus of his attention is his apprentice, Darth Vader, and Vader’s son, Luke Skywalker. The Emperor tries to pit father against son in afight to the death, in the hope that Luke will destroy Vader and become the Emperor’s new apprentice.
The Emperor’s twisted desire is thwarted, however, when Luke resists the lure of fear, anger, and hatred, becoming at last a true Jedi. Vader’s love for his son is awakened by the Emperor’s deadly attack on Luke, and he kills the Emperor, though not before sustaining a fatal wound himself.
Obi Wan Kenobi:
One of the last of the Jedi Knights and Luke’s first mentor. Obi-Wan is a steady, wise, reassuring figure who, though old, is still a Jedi, with a Jedi’s deadly skill and uncanny powers. Obi-Wan reveals to Luke that his father was once a Jedi Knight and that Luke is meant to follow in his footsteps, but he doesn’t reveal the full truth: that Luke’s father Anakin is not dead but has become the evil Darth Vader. Obi-Wan also neglects to mention that Princess Leia is Luke’s twin sister, in an attempt to preserve her safety. Obi-Wan begins training Luke in the ways of the Force and continues to advise him even after Darth Vader strikes Obi-Wan down in a lightsaber duel. Far from being killed in the duel, Obi-Wan merges with the Force, preserving his consciousness even as he transcends the limits of the flesh.
Master Yoda:
The greatest Jedi master and Luke’s teacher. At first, Yoda is reluctant to take Luke on as a student, fearing that he is too much like his father, driven by ambition, anger, and a love of adventure. Yoda’s fears seem well-grounded when Luke rushes off to face Vader before his training is complete, a reckless decision that nearly costs Luke his life. Later, however, when a more humble, controlled Luke returns to complete his training, Yoda send him back to face Vader again, telling Luke that he must confront his father to become a true Jedi. Despite his elliptical way of speaking, Yoda is the most eloquent spokesman for the wisdom of the Force in the trilogy and represents the moral center of the films. Yoda, then, is the polar opposite of Emperor Palpatine, and it is by staying true to Yoda’s teachings that Luke is able to triumph.
C3-PO:
A golden, humanoid protocol droid. C-3PO is best friends with R2-D2, though the two often quarrel. Unlike R2-D2, C-3PO has little taste for adventure and is mostly an unwilling participant in the action, convinced all along that he and his friends are “doomed.” Though more a diplomat than a fighter, C-3PO always comes through, proving his worth time and again as a translator, a computer hacker (with R2), and a surprisingly quick thinker in a tight spot. Despite all his worries and complaints, C-3PO’s saving grace is his strong loyalty to “Master Luke” and his great affection for R2-D2.
R2-D2:
A spunky, trashcan-shaped “astromech droid.” R2, along with his friend C-3PO, is swept up into the epic battle for the fate of the galaxy when Princess Leia hides the stolen plans for the Death Star inside his databanks. R2-D2 becomes Luke’s robotic copilot and all-around mechanical assistant and always seems to find himself in the thick of the action. Unswervingly loyal, brave, and feisty, R2-D2 is one of the films’ most popular characters, as well as a main source of comic relief, all the while communicating only in a series of electronic whistles, beeps, and chirps.
Soundtrack
• The music of Star Wars consists of the scores written for all six Star Wars films by composer John Williams from 1977 to 1983 for the Original Trilogy, and 1999 to 2005 for the Prequel Trilogy. Williams' scores for the double trilogy count among the most widely known and popular contributions to modern film music.
• One technique in particular is an influence: Williams's revival of a technique called leitmotif, which is most famously associated with the operas of Richard Wagner and, in film scores, with Steiner. A leitmotif is a phrase or melodic cell that signifies a character, place, plot element, mood, idea, relationship or other specific part of the film. It commonly is used in modern film scoring as a device for mentally anchoring certain parts of a film to the soundtrack.
•Star Wars (Main Theme) (all episodes). The anthem of the saga, easily its most recognizable melody, the main theme is variously associated with Luke Skywalker ("Luke's Theme"), heroism and adventure.
•Force Theme or "May the Force be with you“: It’s the theme for the light side of the Force
•Princess Leia's Theme (Episodes III, IV, V and VI). A lush theme for Princess Leia, one of the central protagonists of the Original Trilogy. The theme represents the romanticized, somewhat naive idea of the princess, and hence is most often heard in Episode IV, but is used in the next two films when she is acting on her own, when she is particularly vulnerable, or when she is mentioned.
•The Imperial March or "Darth Vader's Theme" (Episodes I, II, III, V and VI). The theme that represents the totalitarian Galactic Empire as a whole, and Darth Vader specifically.
