TheReviewAwakens

Wookies, spaceships, gunfire, lightsabers!

Those terms are what we remember from Star Wars, but what about the context surrounding its release?

We all know what Star Wars has become, but its history its actually fascinating. Lets find out more about how this machine landed on screens in 1977. This my take on how the film got made. Here we go!

1) New Hollywood

Star Wars was released during what was known as new hollywood and the American new wave.

New Hollywood was a period where there was more clear understanding of genres in
film, the 60’s was a time for horror and Sci Fi. New Hollywood could also be
described as an influential time for film directors as many filmmakers went
independent from studio systems, which to some extent provoked further unique
creativity. In the late 60’s, the industry was taking shape and was becoming more
developed, with the introduction of rating systems.

This rating system would help distinguish the genre of film and made going to the movies a prestigious experience. This will be important by the time Star Wars comes out which I will get into later. The 1970’s for the film industry were a tough period financially, America had experienced a recession in 1969 where they had made a loss of $600 million between 1969-71, this had impacted the film industry right throughout the 70’s.

This made studios usually dismiss projects that were low budget productions and indie films. When we look at high grossing films in the New Hollywood era, most of them were studio produced, most notably Psycho and the classic western The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Hollywood wasn’t interested in George Lucas’s fancy new idea about wookies.

LOS ANGELES, CA – FEBRUARY 05: George Lucas and Steven Spielberg attend the Dedication of The Sumner M. Redstone Production Building at USC on February 5, 2013 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Valerie Macon/Getty Images)

These directors played close attention to the production process and post-production process. For example, the editing process of their films gives the director complete control of their picture and editing became a part of the art form in the 70’s, which George Lucas and Steven Spielberg utilized effectively used in their films during this time.

The American new wave consisted of George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, William
Friedkin, Martin Scorsese and Francis Ford Coppola, for the purpose of this
George Lucas as a technical auteur in the industry. The term auteur became a well-understood idea in Hollywood in the 70’s because it was being taught in film schools. If you watch his earlier work including American Graffiti and THX-1138, you can definitely see the auteur traits come through.

Upon George Lucas’s upbringing, the sci fi genre was starting to introduce itself and
take shape to audiences in the 50’s. George Lucas grew up watching movie serials
on television, which included a lot of sci fi. Some of These films were usually centered
on the fear of the unknown, featuring space aliens, spaceships and sea creatures.
The narrative was usually told around these creatures, they were at the focal point of
the plot. On the basis of the sci fi genre, it was still being explored. For example, with the release of the science fiction classic 2001: A Space Odyssey. That film was classified as science fiction, which had the theme of exploration, contained in its plot but the film was artsy and open for interpretation because of its non-linear narrative, which made it attract a more specific audience type. This goes to show that Science fiction was’nt set in stone and was still being explored.

Yet, Star Wars has a more structured and mainstream narrative progression, which makes it more accessible to wider audiences because doesn’t have to target a specific demographic.

Rather than explain science, it makes it fun, which makes for an easy going cinematic experience. Although, thought provoking science fiction can still work wonders. 2014’s Interstellar is one of the best examples of this. Compelling human drama in space, without the lightsabers, but with more complication.

Back to the American New Wave

The majority of the American new wave compromised of directors who graduated
from art school, more specifically UCLA and NYA. The common theme that these directors share is the content of their films were original stories and all had artistic visions when approaching a new project. George Lucas in particular came from more of an artistic background in film with a passion for documentary films, more specifically cinema Verite and the canyon cinema movement. When he was making American Graffiti, his ambitions for the film were to document the classic social interactions, common amongst students. It was a documentary with style.

This leads me into the critical success and cultural impact of Star Wars, why was it such a hit in 1977? Because it showed audiences what Hollywood was capable of in terms of technology. This added to the fact that the film was originally rated U by the BBFC, which meant that all audiences could go and see Star Wars.

To a large extent, Star Wars was a social commentary on how people lived their lives. It documented characters behavior on making both the right and wrong decisions. In my opinion, this type of science fiction was vastly different to the works of Ridley Scott’s Alien. It had a much different tone and feel. Perhaps, audiences prefer that kind of science fiction. The more human it is, the more we can relate.

3) The Star Wars story

Why do we love the Star Wars story so much?

It’s fundamentally a hero story for everyone.

From every angle you look at, it’s still a fun story to tell. There are relevant themes placed in the Star Wars universe that exist in todays society. It’s about human drama at the core and for that it’s timeless.

In terms of the narrative, It’s story is based around good vs evil and having a
character who aspires for something greater, which is a very relatable theme for all
audience types. The narrative is good vs evil, in the good we saw Luke Skywalker who has dreams of fighting for the empire and becoming a Jedi warrior. This has become the novelty of the Star Wars franchise, the theme of Good vs evil has remained a prominent element to the success of the franchise ever since the originals release back in 1977.

It was a positive film. This theme was helped by the music of John Williams. Releasing a Star Wars film today is probably quite different. There is a different context and our cultural understanding of Star Wars has changed over the years. We know what to expect from a new Star Wars movie and we have expectations.

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Author bio

Sam is a content writer. He loves all elements connected with film and writes with passion, always. You can find him on his Linkedin, where you will be able to read more articles. When he is not writing, you can find him practicing football.

1) Context
2) Darth Maul’s backstory
3) The sith ideology
4) Conclusion

Are you a vivid reader of Star Wars?

The great point about this book is that you don’t have to love comic books to get engaged with this story. It ties into and adds more knowledge on sith mythology whilst adding interesting layers to one of the galaxies most famous villains: Darth Maul.

Comic books were never a huge passion of mine, but the Darth maul comic book 2017 grabbed my interest.

How could one write a compelling backstory to such a mysterious character. The one takeaway we learned from The Phantom menace was that he had a double ended lightsaber and was terrifying, but not much else.

Here are reasons to check out the 2017 Darth Maul comic book, written by Cullen Brow.

1) Context

Star Wars has been very successful in in transferring itself into media texts whilst still containing the core themes that George Lucas set out to achieve when making the original trilogy, known as the mythology. A great example would be Darth Maul’s story because it takes an inhuman character who becomes more humanized

Darth Maul is a Sith lord, a character of pure evil and driven by revenge. His aesthetic
features of red, black and horns, resembles the making elements of the devil, making him feel closed off from the world. He originates from the species known as a force-sensitive Dathomirain Zabrak and made his first appearance in The Phantom Menace

2) Darth Maul’s backstory

The greatest reason to read this comic book is for his backstory.

His backstory has been fully told in Star Wars: Darth Maul 2017 comic book and his resurrection was told in The Clone Wars 2008. In Star Wars: Darth Maul it begins with historical context of the story, it states very clearly that Darth Maul is out for revenge against the jedi. Our first introduction to Darth Maul is portrayed as a mysterious dark silhouetted figure.

This story takes place before The Phantom Menace and shows a deepened comradely between Darth Sidious and Darth Maul. We get introduced to a new planet named Twon Ketee, where we see Darth Maul hiding in the dark shadows. There is also a textual crossover, where we see the creature the Rathtar, who later features in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. For anyone with a good eye, you will be able to spot it.

Most of his lines are said through his subconscious mind, so they are silent. Which is a reminiscent trait that he had in The Phantom Menace. The character has taken on a new aesthetic, a re-design in the opening scene. We get see him wearing an all new face mask, which adds another interesting edge and dimension to the character. We get to visit the very popular and re-visited location, Coruscant, which was heavily used in the Star Wars prequel trilogy. This time, we get to see new jedi being introduced. The drawing artist, takes inspiration by the animation style of The Clone Wars version.

His main colour and physical features are there. The main theme in this comic book is revenge. Darth Maul is on a quest for revenge and he drives the narrative forward. It’s here that we see a character who had limited lines and screen time in The Phantom Menace get a fully fleshed and compelling back story that only adds to the fandom and popularity to a character that has since gained a cult following.

3) The Sith ideology

This book allows us to explore what the sith stand for.

Revenge is a big thematic element in this comic book, however there is a deeper personal element here too. The part that shows this is in chapter 2 when Darth Sidious makes Darth Maul, who is in deep meditation, relive the over throw and mass murdering of the sith, which triggers his PTSD. This is an excellent and pivotal example of the creator actually humanizing a character through a comic book. We get to see many close-ups, where we see the bold drawings of his face to express feelings of anger.

The story told in this book clearly leads to how he was portrayed in Episode 1. He was portrayed as emotionless and now we get to see why, adding more weight to this character because of his violent past which puts him on a quest for his revenge against the Jedi. This aspect fits the definition of what audiences and George Lucas see as the Sith. Its these characters that are defined and motivated by negative feelings and dark experiences.

All of this has been told through comic book format and telling short stories through the comic book format has many benefits, as it allows for a more focused and specific angle on a character. It’s these individual stories that offer fans a niche experience, because the comic book can be tailored and geared towards the interests of fans, who have a particular interest in the universe.

On the subject of Sith lord mythology, we can apply this to Anakin Skywalker’s betrayal to the dark side, the way in which the narrative concludes is not positive, in fact it’s a tragedy. This element of tragedy is an essential part to the mythology of Sith lords, which is shown in this addition.

4) Conclusion

Overall, it was an interesting read and I recommend reading it before you watch Episode 1 the Phantom Menace, I can guarantee that knowing and understanding his backstory will add to the lightsaber duel at the end, which will just enhance the viewing experience.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=Qp91xlsaKSo

You can purchase the book here.

Are you a fan of Star Wars? What’s your favorite comic book?

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