The members of Odyssey proudly use the democratic process in making group decisions. Last week, we voted to decide on a common theme we would all write about for our next article. The winner was our favorite movie(s).
One of my favorite movies of all time is the action-packed, intergalactic space opera that has mesmerized viewers the world over for nearly 40 years—Star Wars.
I will evaluate Star Wars based on three cinematic criteria: casting, musical score, and story to explain my case for why George Lucas’ film is a tremendous masterpiece that will endure beyond the ages.
Casting
Casting can make or break a movie. A movie with spectacular special effects and a good story can be ruined if actors play characters unconvincingly and stale. The casting of Star Wars is superb. Leading and supporting actors bring their characters to life with intriguing depth, and their engaging performances suspend our disbelief that we are watching a sci-fi movie.
British film legend Sir Alec Guinness played Obi-Wan "Ben" Kenobi, the wise Jedi master who trains Luke (Mark Hamill) to become a Jedi and defeat the Empire. Adding Sir Guinness to the cast provided heavyweight star power to a sci-fi movie at a time when established actors often didn’t participate in the young genre, which was considered not as prestigious as period pieces or other dramas. Luke, the young, somewhat naive boy looking to understand the world, is accompanied by the rough-riding rebel and smuggler Han Solo (Harrison Ford). Han Solo was played so convincingly that the movie propelled Harrison Ford into superstardom, and he would go on to be one of the most successful actors of all time.
The third lead, Princess Leia, was played by the late great Carrie Fisher. Witty, brave, and fierce, Princess Leia provided pushback to Han’s machismo, calling him out when he’s too pompous for her liking, and kept Luke and Han safe during dangerous situations.
Each character, from the leads to the bickering pair of droids that accompany them, was played well, and the actors created iconic moments with their characters. That qualifies as great casting in my view.
Musical Score
Most people enjoy the groundbreaking musical score in Star Wars. The great music in the movie adds another layer of art into the film and transforms it from a regular movie to an appreciated work of cinema. It helps set the stage and evoke powerful emotional reactions in the audience. The powerful music that bellows out as the opening crawl moves its way over the screen instantly—from the first moments of the movie—conveys to the audience that they are going to be transported into an heroic adventure, and they will experience something new and surreal that they have not seen in previous sci-fi movies. The music creates a world unto itself, and as soon as you hear the first powerful notes, you are captivated and you forget where you are, which is the point of all good storytelling and music making.
Story
The most important element of cinema is the story. All other elements (music, dialogue, setting, camera angles, etc.) are designed to further enhance the story in some way. The basic story structure of Star Wars is relatively simple: normal boy lives unassuming life, meets a sage, gets his quest, and saves a princess from certain doom. Happy ending. Some may, and a few original critics did, criticize the story as being unoriginal, uninspired, and derivative. Is this the case? I think not.
Many fans appreciate now the amount of weight and depth Star Wars added to a relatively simple story that some original critics didn’t understand at the time. The story is about much more than saving a princess and was indeed original.
Since I am a libertarian, I can’t help but to enjoy a plot about a small group of rebels—massive underdogs—overthrowing a tyrannical government (the Empire). George Lucas was partially inspired by World War II when he was writing his story, and he designed the Empire’s uniforms to resemble Nazi uniforms. The main soldiers are called Stormtroopers, named after a paramilitary division of the Nazi army.
A critic may counter and comment that while Lucas' allegorical references to World War II are worthy of appreciation, the baseline structure is still nothing more than a glitzy, laser-blasting space version of the exhaustive "good vs. evil" troupe lazy screenwriters use for mass appeal while sacrificing depth and nuance.
The story is much more than a clichéd “good vs. evil” as the line is blurred. Han Solo is an antihero whose true allegiances are speculative. There are religious elements in the story, with strange new concepts like “the Force” alluded to and only briefly displayed in the movie. Faith is another prominent theme, neatly displayed when Darth Vader chokes a subordinate who questions his adherence to the ancient philosophy.
Ultimately, the movie delves into existentialism, and the main plot summarizes a young man’s quest to find meaning in the universe. Obi-Wan, acting as a Virgil-like sage, guides Luke into an understanding of the universe lost to many current inhabitants, and Luke fights to preserve these principles against corrosive institutions that seek to obliterate this knowledge in a mad quest for unending power.
The thought-provoking power of Star Wars is its most enduring quality, and indeed a quality that needs to return to modern-day filmmaking.
