Star Wars sources and analogues

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Star Wars, the popular science fantasy saga, and cultural touchstone, is acknowledged to have been inspired by many sources. These may include Qigong, Greek Philosophy, Greek mythology, Roman History, Roman Mythology, parts of the Abrahamic religions, Confucianism, Islam, Shintō, and Taoism.

George Lucas has said that chivalry, knighthood, paladinism, and related institutions in feudal societies inspired some concepts in the Star Wars movies, most notably the Jedi Knights. The work of the mythologist Joseph Campbell, most notably his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces, directly influenced Lucas, and was what drove him to create the 'modern myth' of Star Wars.^[1]^[2] The supernatural flow of energy known as The Force is believed to have originated from the concept of prana, or ki/qi/chi, "the all-pervading vital energy of the universe".

Amongst the celebratory 30th Anniversary of Star Wars, The History Channel premiered a 2-hour event covering the Star Wars Trilogy entitled Star Wars: The Legacy Revealed. Featuring interviews from the likes of Stephen Colbert, Newt Gingrich, Nancy Pelosi, Tom Brokaw, Dan Rather, acclaimed scholars, and others, the program delved further into the Heroic Epic concept and the influences of mythology, and other motifs that were important in making Star Wars the standard of movies and other series for years to come, such as Sins of The Father and Redeeming the Father, Coming of Age, Exiting the Ordinary World, and others that all led to the defining "modern mythology" of our time.

1 Similarities
2 References
3 External links

[edit] Similarities

[edit] Film

Star Wars was heavily inspired by Akira Kurosawa's films The Hidden Fortress and Yojimbo. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope features the exploits of C-3PO and R2-D2, whereas the plot of The Hidden Fortress is told from the point of view of two bickering peasants. The two peasants, Tahei and Matashichi, are first shown escaping a battle, while C-3PO and R2-D2 are first shown fleeing an attack in A New Hope. Additionally, both films feature a battle-tested General -- Rokurota Makabe in The Hidden Fortress and Obi-Wan Kenobi in A New Hope -- who assist a rebellion led by a princess and engage in a duel with a former rival whom they fought years earlier. Lucas also features many horizontal wipe scene transitions in A New Hope, a technique used thoroughly by Kurosawa in his films.
Lucas has also cited The Searchers and Lawrence of Arabia as references for the style—if not the story—used in the films. A more direct homage to Lawrence of Arabia occurs in Attack of the Clones, as Padme and Anakin talk while walking around the Theed palace on Naboo. It was filmed at the Palacio Español in Seville, Spain, which in Lawrence of Arabia was the site of the British Army HQ in Cairo, and was shot in the exact manner as the scene in Lawrence of Arabia where Allenby (Jack Hawkins) and Dryden (Claude Rains) discuss whether to give artillery to Lawrence's Arab troops. In the same film, Padme and Anakin also retreat to an estate called Varykino - the name of the Gromeko family estate in Doctor Zhivago (1965). (Some also have considered Tom Courtenay's Pasha/Strelnikov character from Zhivago as an inspiration for Anakin/Darth Vader, but the similarities are likely coincidental.) A reference to The Searchers occurs in A New Hope, when Luke discovers the burning moisture farm.
Another controversial source for Star Wars is the Nazi propaganda film Triumph of the Will by Leni Reifenstahl. It was the primary influence for the final scene in which Han, Luke and Chewbacca walk through a hall of assembled rebel soldiers to receive their medals, it is strikingly similar to Hitler’s pompous march between ranks of Stormtroopers at the 1934 Nuremberg Rally.^[3]
Lucas is also a fan of Sergio Leone's film Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), and according to Leone's biographer, Christopher Frayling, he listened to the score from Leone's film while editing The Empire Strikes Back. Many have considered Vader's first appearance in A New Hope as being an "homage" to the introduction of Henry Fonda's villainous Frank in the Leone film.
The space battles in A New Hope were based on filmed World War II dogfights.
The attack on the "Death Star" in the climax of the film Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope is similar in many respects to the strategy of Operation Chastise from the 1954 British film, The Dam Busters. Rebel pilots have to fly through a trench while evading enemy fire and drop a single special weapon at a precise distance from the target in order to destroy the entire base with a single explosion; if one run fails another run must be made by a different pilot. Some scenes from the Star Wars climax are very similar to those in The Dam Busters and some of the dialogue is nearly identical in the two films. These scenes are also heavily influenced by the action scenes from the fictional wartime film 633 Squadron. That film's finale shows the squadron's planes flying down a deep fjord while being fired at along the way by anti-aircraft guns lining its sides. George Lucas has stated in interviews that this sequence inspired the 'trench run' sequence in Star Wars.
A New Hope shares at least one similarity with the classic 1942 film Casablanca. A fez was placed on Jabba the Hut's head as an homage (or reference) to the heavyset Signor Ferrari. ^[4]
The battle scene in Revenge Of The Sith on Kashyyyk is based on the famous opening scene of Saving Private Ryan. [1] [2]

[edit] Literature

The science fiction writer Isaac Asimov stated on several occasions that George Lucas's galaxy-wide Empire bore a close resemblance to the Galaxy depicted in Asimov's Foundation Series. The greatest differences are that Asimov's Galaxy contains no robots or non-human aliens; Asimov addressed both issues directly in the saga's later volumes, most notably Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth. Since Asimov's death in 1992, the Star Wars cinematic universe has gained new Asimov-esque elements: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace introduced the planet Coruscant, which bears a close resemblance to Asimov's Trantor (Coruscant technically originated in a book from the Star Wars Expanded Universe released in 1991).

In a 2005 interview, George Lucas was asked the origins of the name "Darth Vader", and replied: "Darth is a variation of dark. And Vader is a variation of father. So it's basically Dark Father." (Rolling Stone, June 2, 2005). "Vader" is the Dutch word for "father" (the Dutch word is instead pronounced "vah-der"), and the German word for "father" (Vater) is similar. However, in the earliest scripts for Star Wars, the name "Darth Vader" was given to a human Imperial general.

[edit] Historical

George Lucas has stated that many historical events have been used in the Star Wars saga, for example, that the Empire was based on Hitler's Third Reich. The storm troopers from the movies share a name with the Nazi stormtroopers (see also Sturmabteilung). The imperial officers' uniforms also resemble some (historical) German Army uniforms (see Waffen-SS). In addition, some World War II terms may have been used for names in Star Wars; examples include the planets Kessel (a term that refers to a group of encircled forces) and Hoth (Hermann Hoth was a German general).