LOOKING BACK TO THE FUTURE OF STAR WARS
By John L. Flynn
“A Long Time Ago… In A Galaxy Far, Far Away….”
Even now, some seventeen years later, those words still strike such an emotional response of awe and wonder in the hearts of audiences worldwide. Without doubt, the most popular space age adventure of all time, the “Star Wars” trilogy mesmerized filmgoers with the exploits of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Ben Kenobi and Darth Vader, and delighted both young and old alike with the antics of See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo. Few film series have enjoyed such success, or have had such an impact on the popular culture of an entire generation. And now, the word for which hundreds of millions of fans have been waiting comes that there will be more adventures. Late last year, George Lucas announced plans to produce not only another installment in the Indiana Jones films but also the first three motion pictures in the “Star Wars” saga. By utilizing the refined digital-image “compositing” technology (first introduced by Industrial Light and Magic in “The Abyss,” later showcased in “Terminator Two” and perfected in “Jurassic Park”), Lucas hopes to complete his three prequels between 1995 and 2001. The first trilogy, set some twenty years before the action in “Star Wars,” has remained both a mystery and the subject of rumor and baseless speculation for over ten years. George Lucas himself has kept purposely tight-lipped for fear that some movie-of-the week (like “Battlestar Galactica”) might “borrow” key elements and upstage his project. However, by looking back at the original films, their novelizations and early drafts, tantalizing clues do reveal the future of his sprawling space saga. “I wanted to make a kid’s film that would strengthen contemporary mythology and introduce a kind of basic morality,” Lucas explained his vision in 1983. “Nobody was saying the very basic things; they were dealing in the abstract. Everybody was forgetting to tell the kids, ‘Hey, this right and this is wrong.'”
While in preproduction of “Star Wars,” Lucas wrote dozens of scripts and story treatments. Each were unique in some way, and featured a different perspective of the space fantasy. One of the earliest scripts dealt with Luke’s father and his relationship to Darth Vader and Ben Kenobi. Fearing that the story would bore modern audiences because it focused more on character development than action, George discarded the treatment in favor of another story, which eventually became “Star Wars.” But he never abandoned its precepts. The earlier material became the back story upon which “Star Wars,” “The Empire Strikes Back” and “Return of the Jedi” would turn. Lucas also knew he had enough raw material to make several other motion pictures, and envisioned a saga which would take place over a sixty-year period. He has always maintained that the narrative link between the films (and trilogies) would be his two lovable ‘droids, Artoo-Detoo and See-Threepio, and that each trilogy would be a complete work unto itself. Those guiding principles and the presuppositions drawn from the earlier films have made certain details about the first trilogy somewhat immutable. By the same token, Lucas’s decision to structure his middle trilogy like a classic work of Greek tragedy suggests that the first trilogy might also have the same dramatic structure. “Star Wars,” like the first act of a Greek play, provides exposition for the major characters, introduces central conflict (which will later be resolved) and ends triumphantly. “The Empire Strikes Back,” like the second act, begins “en medias res” (in the middle of the action), provides a somewhat darker vision of the central conflict and ends with many issues left unresolved. “Return of the Jedi,” the third and final act, resolves all of the conflicts, ties up the loose ends in the denouement and offers some form of redemption or hope. Perhaps “The Clone Wars,” “The Seduction of Darth Vader” and “Fall of the Republic” represent acts one, two and three (respectively) in his new drama.
Central to this analogy is also a tragic figure whose “hamartia” (error, transgression or weakness of character) has caused him to fall from grace. Darth Vader, the evil Dark Lord of the Sith, is clearly this tragic figure. When he first appears in “Star Wars,” he is a most reprehensible character, capable of any abomination. But, by the end of the third film, Vader is portrayed sympathetically as a pitiful old man who has made one too many mistakes in his life. He also emerges as the true hero who, by destroying the Emperor, saves not only Luke but also the Rebel Alliance. Clearly then, his struggles as a younger man (Anakin Skywalker) with Obi-wan Kenobi and the Emperor are central to this tale of fall and redemption, and must form the basis of the first trilogy.
Similarly, George’s fondness for the work of classicist Joseph Campbell (in particular, The Hero With a Thousand Faces) reveals a common narrative thread that runs through the stories of both Luke Skywalker and his father Anakin. Campbell wrote that heroes in every culture share a common journey that begins with a Separation from home, family and familiar surroundings in what he terms the “call to adventure.” [Some heroes refuse the call, but are later forced by circumstances to take the journey anyway.] And while everyone knows that “a Jedi craves not these things,” these heroic figures are often called upon to undertake a dangerous journey or unknown risk. Their journey into the heart of darkness leads to an Initiation, in which they gain valuable insight about the nature of the universe and themselves from an older mentor. That insight helps them deal with a confrontation with the dark father, wounding, and often dismemberment. Heroes who survive the ordeal are awarded great treasure (in either a physical or spiritual sense), and Return with their treasure to empower or control other men. “The Adventures of Luke Skywalker” clearly follow this path.
Whereas audiences are aware of the final disposition of Darth Vader by the close of “Return of the Jedi,” Anakin Skywalker’s journey as a tragic hero begins nearly twenty years earlier in “The Clone Wars”…
