Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Star Wars and its Influence on America


“A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...” These are the words that we have all come to know so well. Saying these words gives us right away images that we have seen so many times. These ten words are the opening of a movie that has had such a huge influence on our culture, Star Wars.


Star Wars is a science fiction movie about good vs. evil. It is futuristic, yet to be placed a long time again.  The movie is placed in space, showing many different planets where, Jedi knights fight The Dark Side. Many characters are put within the different episodes (episodes is what they call each movie.) Anakin Skywalker is a jedi, Darth Vader,who turns evil through hate with the Sith lord's help. In the sixth episode the Dark side is defeated and the rebels ( against the dark side) had won the on going battle.


The Star Wars uses this conman line in every movie over and over again, "May the force be with you." This line is what it is known for, also it says a lot about the worldview of the episodes A New hope or episode IV was the first movie to hit the theater. The following is the original trailer that came out in 1977.







The Following is a summary of the very first movie that came out, Episode IV Star  Wars: A New Hope.

“Palpatine, an evil Sith Lord, has overthrown the galactic Republic and become emperor of the new Empire. The Jedi Knights, an ancient peacekeeping order empowered and guided by the Force, have been eradicated.
Princess Leia Organa is a member of the Rebel Alliance, a group fighting to defeat the Empire and restore the Republic. She’s on a mission to bring Obi Wan Kenobi, an exiled Jedi living on Tatooine, to Alderan. The mission fails when her spaceship falls under attack by an Imperial star cruiser. Leia hides stolen schematics of the Empire’s Death Star, a powerful new space station, inside R2D2, a small droid, R2 and another android, C3P0 stow away in an escape pod and jettison to Tatooine.
The two droids are found by Jawas and sold to farmer Owen Lars. Owen’s young nephew and farmhand, Luke Skywalker dreams of leaving Tatooine and becoming a pilot like his late father. While cleaning the small droid, Luke stumbles across a partial holographic message for Obi Wan Kenobi. Intrigued by the beautiful young woman in the holograph, he thinks the message may be for Ben Kenobi, a hermit living on the outskirts.
When Luke discovers R2 missing the next morning, he and C3P0 search for him in Luke’s land speeder. They locate him, but encounter the hostile sand people. Ben Kenobi rescues them, and Luke learns Ben is actually Obi Wan Kenobi, a Jedi Knight. They watch the holograph in which Princess Leia implores Obi Wan to deliver theDeath Star technical plans to her father. It’s hoped a weakness in its defenses can be found. Obi Wan tells Luke that his father, Anakin Skywalker, was also a Jedi, and he was betrayed and murdered by Darth Vader, Obi Wan’s former apprentice. Vader was seduced by the dark side of the Force and now serves the emperor. Obi Wan tells Luke he must learn the ways of the Force and go with him to Alderan. An incredulous Luke refuses, but agrees to take Ben to nearby Mos Eisley to findtransportation. Realizing R2 and C3P0 could be traced to his family, Luke rushes home only to find his aunt and uncle murdered by Imperial storm troopers searching for the droids.
Luke now wants to become a Jedi and goes with Obi Wan. In Mos Eisley they meet Han Solo, captain of the Millennium Falcon, and Chewbacca, a wookie and Han’s first mate. Han, a smuggler with a bounty on his head, agrees to fly the passengers to Alderan for a hefty fee. Just as they’re about to depart, storm troopers swarm the hanger, and the Falcon barely escapes.
Meanwhile, Princess Leia is captive aboard the unfinished Death Star. Darth Vader demands the location of the rebel base camp, but Leia resists. Death StarCommander, Grand Moff Tarkin plots a course for Alderan, and threatens to destroy Leia’s home world if she refuses to reveal where the rebels are hidden. Unable to sacrifice Alderan, she provides coordinates, but Tarkin blasts the planet to demonstrate the Death Star’s full power. The information Leia gave Vader is false, and he schedules her execution.
The Millennium Falcon arrives in the Alderan system, only to encounter the planet’s shattered remains. Han spots an Imperial fighter near a small moon, but Obi Wan realizes too late that it’s actually a massive space station. As they attempt to retreat, the ship is caught by a tractor beam and pulled towards the Death Star. There is no escape, but Han has a plan.”
                                                                                                                           Quote's Sourse

Star wars is not just an epic movie, rather it is six epic movies, or even two trilogies. The Star Wars Trilogy and the Prelude Trilogy. It is different from other movies because it did not come out in order rather it came out in episodes IV, V, VI, I, II, III. As has been written above Star Wars.

 A New Hope: Episode IV, was the first movie to come out in 1977. To which made America is awe of the technology shown through this movie.  

The Empire Strikes: Episode V, was the second movie to come out in 1980. Only three years later due to the success of the first one.

Return of the Jedi: Episode VI, was the third movie to come out in 1983. Other then the order they came out, this is the last movie, ending the story.

The Phantom Menace: Episode I, was the fourth movie to come out in 1999.  There was a big gap between the two trilogies because the creator wanted to have the effects be far more real then in the past which took more time to do .Link
Attack of The Clones: Episode II, was the fifth movie to come out in 2002. This was the first film that used high definition.  Link

Revenge of the Sith: Episode III, was the sixth movie to come out in 2005. This movie was the last of the movies. 
        
Source


There truly was a difference between the first and second trilogy in the effects alone. Times had changes within the few years and we had become far more technologically advanced. The time difference not only made the pictures look more realistic, it also, changed the character. Take Yoda, the Jedi master, for an example.
This Picture is from the first trilogy.

This picture is from the second trilogy, which is much more realistic. 
George Lucas truly was the mastermind behind Star Wars, creating the scene visually and verbally. He created a new phenomenon, that has changed america for better. With 20th Century Fox, he was able to finally produces his space film he was hoping to create after being turned down by many others. His ideas for this film, though it was very different from anything else, was inspired from Flesh Gordon and Lord of The Rings. Link




"Besides his directorial and production work on movies, Lucas is one of the most significant contemporary contributor to modern movie technology" Quotes Source. A New Hope had won many awards for its special effects. The movie was far beyond its time with the technology it introduced. For example the light saber, droids, fighter plans, clones, and even the death star. It gave American's a whole new idea of creativity when it came to technology.

 Star Wars has left a big influence on our country, and even other countries for that matter. There  is everything star wars, for a lunch box to a shirt, to a phone cover. MacDonald's toys were sold with Happy Meals. The special effects change other movies, because they had to then match Star Wars as a product. However, it was not only the visual that it gave but it was also,

 Star Wars toys in and of themselves are huge, there are action figures, life size life sabers, and logo fighter planes. It soon seemed that every boy had at least one of these items. Video games were huge when it came to Star wars, it gave people the change to live out their favorite movie.




Something else that gave Star Wars fans a chance to love the story out is my STAT TOURS. This is on of many Star Wars themed rides. Source


"One of Reagan's controversial proposals was the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a system intended to make the U.S. invulnerable to nuclear missile attacks by the Soviet Union. By stationing those defenses in outer space, the U.S. was able to circumvent the United Nation's Anti-Ballistic (ABM) Treaty."Quote's Source Through cold war we had been afraid of the Soviet Union building a better atomic bomb then us, so we kept building. ( The weird thing about it is how much alike atomic bombs and the death star look alike.)  The more we built the more they would build. Until missiles came into the equation which took it into a whole new level. President Reagan then put together a program in space to help defend our country. A speech was also made about this in 1983. Because it was having to do with space they were called Star Wars.



Star Wars we will find is everywhere that we go. It has a huge influence on our country in that many products were made because of it. With the Cold War going on, they went together very well. The technology changed america because they saw these products and thought if they would have them in the future, almost as if the technology would then be expected to happen. one thing is gore sure though. Star Wars still has as many fans as it did in 1977.







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