Throughout his life George Lucas had a number of major interests in addition to cinema: anthropology, politics, history, mythology, adventure stories and speed. He connected all of this to liberation from the conventions typical of the Sixties and to liberation from gravity in outer space. He began to convert into space fantasy concepts and symbols he had planned to use in "Apocalypse Now" [1979], a protest film about the Vietnam War, which was eventually created by his partner Francis Ford Coppola.
Lucas imagined a large technological and fascist space empire haunting a small group of freedom fighters. He began by a two-page handwritten idea, telling the story of a revered Jedi warrior, as told by his apprentice. A more advanced ten-page script, entitled "Star Wars," dated May 1973, is based on Akira Kurosawa's film, ''The Hidden Fortress'' (1958). This film had a huge impact on him. Lucas had no basic plot, and he used the bond that appears in this film between the samurai and his apprentice. Kurosawa also influenced him visually, through duels in swords, epic battle scenes and quick editing. The martial arts of the Jedi in "Star Wars" led to a wave of film productions with superheroes in this category in the 1980s, for example "American Ninja" (1985) produced by Menachem Golan.
Throughout 1973 and 1974, Lucas worked on the script, writing and living most of the time alone. He tried to create a classic genre picture of an adventure movie. As a result he sought to connect to the collective unconscious that exists in legends. Among the scholars who influenced him were Bruno Bettelheim and Carlos Castaneda, but the most important was Joseph Campbell.
Lucas completed the rough draft in May 1974. It is a wide-ranging story, featuring many elements that will appear in subsequent drafts: the Jedi vs. the Sith, two lovable robots, Princess Lia, Han Solo. But nothing is yet in its final form. Lucas finished the first draft in July 1974.
The initial script version Lucas wrote includes many scenes with maneuvers of spaceships battles. He wanted to sell the script to the studios, but did not know how to visually illustrate it to them. The solution was to hire artists who created illustrations and production models, which would provide a basis for budget estimates. The artist chosen, in November 1974, was Ralph Macquarie, a former illustrator at Boeing. Macquarie painted a series of eye-catching drawings of stars, spaceships, characters and scenes, in collaboration with Lucas. Later, along with other illustrators, the first drawings for the visual product known today evolved. In this way, the script and the characters also developed.
The ''Star Wars'' movie series is mostly based on the pattern of superheroes in the stories of mythology. As part of this film series, nine sequels have been released, which constitute the canon of the series as a feature epic. The first film in the series, "New Hope", was released in 1977. The last, "The Rise of Skywalker", was released in late 2019.
The series gained unprecedented popularity. So important was the series at the time that the National Museum of Aviation and Space in Washington dedicated a special exhibition to it, showcasing the mythical message of Luke Skywalker's "Hero's Journey."
There are three main factors for the initial success of the ''Star Wars'' series: a. The structure of the narrative. George Lucas and his fellow creators of the series have been influenced by many sources of inspiration. Prominent among them was Joseph Campbell and his book on the theory of monomyth. B. The order of magnitude of the epic. Today we are inundated with similar, high-budget science fiction films and blockbusters. At the time of the production of the first trilogy in the "Star Wars" series, no similar productions had yet been made. C. "Star Wars" was a product of its time, the mid-1970s. It resonated with the spirit of the time. It touched on the anxieties and tensions of the public consciousness at that time and in particular on the issues of the Cold War and the Vietnam War.
The series was regarded as redefining cinema, as it create an imaginary universe rich in details. It is known in almost every home in the world and has gained millions of devout fans, including at the level of religious believers, who see it as a modern expression of the biblical struggle between good and evil.
The nine-film canon consists of three trilogies, which represent the parts of the human psyche and its development, according to id, ego, super ego. The Disney company, which acquired the franchise for the brand from Lucas, also develops it through anthology films, complexes in theme parks, TV series, animated series, computer games, books, comic books, clothing and toys. In this way the brand reaches every person in the most appropriate way, according to the latest branding and marketing approaches and the plan for the future is to continue to develop it intensively.
Prof. Joseph Campbell is considered a world expert in mythology and follower of Carl Jung. Campbell researched and found that in all cultures of the world there are myths with the same characteristics, all of which together can be called "monomyth". His books have been a major source of inspiration for George Lucas. His main book is "The Hero with a Thousand Faces". This book presents the constant characteristics of the superhero character, which are preserved behind its many incarnations in different cultures and periods.
The ''Star Wars'' movie series is based entirely on this concept. The films include a gallery of archetypal characters typical of the world of mythology, such as the superhero, the mentor, the distressed young lady, the trickster, the evil hero, the omnipotent magician, the binary duo, the extended family of close friends and more. At the same time, the superhero goes through in the films of the series a journey, known in terminology as "The Hero's Journey. This journey includes many stages of development, which are well characterized in the stories of superheroes from all cultures.
George Lucas spoke at a conference in honor of Professor George Campbell in 1985, to which Campbell responded. Much can be learned from the exchanges between them regarding the "Star Wars" series.
Lucas told the conference that about ten years ago he intended to write a screenplay for a children's film and had an idea to create a modern fairy tale. This is despite the opposition of his friends, who thought he should do something more important and socially relevant. Lucas began research and writing and a year passed without progressing, then he encountered the book ""The Hero with a Thousand Faces '', read it and began to focus. He found in this study parallels to his intuitive writing and answers to many questions that came to his mind. He continued reading Campbell's books and at the same time writing the script, in a process that lasted several years and ended in a script of hundreds of pages.
Campbell replied in his speech that he had not seen movies for many years, as he was engrossed in research. He came as a blank page to the estate of Lucas, who invited him to be a guest and watch the three first films. He was thrilled with admiration. Lucas was in his eyes a man who understood the use of metaphor. The lack of use of metaphors was in his eyes a built-in weakness of American art. What he saw were things that were in his books, but were presented in terms of a modern problem, which is man and the machine: Is the machine going to serve human life, or is it going to be the master and dictate. The definition of "machine" also includes the totalitarian state, whether fascist or communist and also includes things that happen in the United States, such as the bureaucrat phenomenon that is the man-machine.
In the twentieth century the character of the superhero was often identified with the pioneers of flying in airplanes and spaceships and a very important secondary superhero in the series is Han Solo, the photogenic and cynical pilot who is a loyal friend of Luke Skywalker, the idealistic boy who is the superhero of the series. Han's ''Millennium Falcon'' spacecraft, which has a double bow, is the fastest in the galaxy. It is the object most identified with the series, except for Luke's Light Sword. In the series complex at the Disney theme parks, the full-scale spacecraft is the main attraction.
The importance of Han Solo's character is great, as aviation is linked in the series to the superhero skills. Anakin Skywalker and his sun Luke are described as the best pilots of the galaxy, before they become Jedi warriors. Harrison Ford, who plays the character in the series, has earned superstar status and played the role of other fictional heroes in cinema, including Indiana Jones. Along with the rough identity of the cowboy-pilot character, Han is also undergoing a moral awakening. The process of his development into a superhero continues after his death, through his son Ben, who turns from being Darth Vader's successor into a positive character.
A second significant connection between aviation and the "Star Wars" is the space battles, which are a key element in the series. Lucas drew inspiration for them from World War II aviation films, which he watched during the long years of writing the script versions. A collection of aerial combats scenes in old aviation films, which he filmed and edited in a 16mm format, were an integral part of the presentation concept and later the main source for the spaceships battles scenes. The flight scenes in the series are always a spectacular show, accompanied by pyrotechnic displays of firing and spaceships crashes, which reinforce a sense of alchemical connection of the human figures with the metallic objects.
In order to produce these scenes, Lucas set up a special company to deal with the subject of special visual effects. The company is ILM (Industrial Light and Magic). Following the success of "New Hope", ILM became one of the most successful companies in the industry. All the films of the ''Star Wars'' saga were filmed by it and in addition the special visual effects of many other successful film series.
There are similarities between the ''Star Wars'' films and the Nazi aviation films on several levels: A. Emphasis on the photogenicity of the aircraft and the multiplicity of aviation scenes. B. The aviation films of the Nazi regime developed the character of a fighter pilot for propaganda purposes and in this way they also contributed to the developing of the pilot character in the "Star Wars" series. C. The wicked characters Palpatine and Darth Vader are reminiscent of Hitler and Himmler. D. The uniforms of the warriors of the evil empire are similar to the Nazi uniform and so are the mass gatherings. E. The most popular films in the Nazi regime were aviation dramas, in which the romantic scenes are between flight scences during a war and in this too they are similar to the "Star Wars" films.
The "Star Wars" saga can be analyzed as a biblical text about the cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil and the desire to survive with the help of God - "the power" in trhe series. There are Jewish scholars who challenge the ideological separation between popular culture and religious life and link episodes in the saga to Jewish religion and history. The saga allows for a critical discussion of various issues, such as feminism and gender, government and minorities, psyche and personality, quality of life, environment and more.
"Star Wars" also has practical importance for Israel. Militarily, it is synonymous with space warfare and is a source for learning military strategies. From the Israeli society point of view, the popular culture in the United States greatly reinforces the myth of aviation, but at the same time also the image of the pilot as a private person with personal doubts, which are also expressed in the Israeli feature cinema.
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