Star Wars

George Lucas’s Star Wars revived old myths and elements that would prove to transcend time and generations. Not simply the special effects, acting, or characters but mostly the story itself has the greatest influence on the film. Focusing on the dynamic character Luke Skywalker, travelling through an experience unprepared for, and watching his epiphany-like growth creates the film’s utmost accomplishment: a tangible relationship between the character and the movie goer.

As a recurring war movie theme, Star Wars also approaches pride and courage, but with a new style. Instead of only portraying emotional aspects through the actions and dialog of the characters, Lucas focuses his impact on visual tricks selling science-fiction through the physical sensations experienced by the viewer. One scene in particular with Luke escaping the enemy in the Death Star, exemplifies this technique. The zooming camera and flying objects, as well as the many other effects, sparks the excitement and sense of courage that Luke is also experiencing. This battle compares to other war battles showing the adrenaline filled “good guy” fighting off the enemy while his friends die around him. The same thing was seen in the final air-strike in Platoon with Chris overcoming his fears to defend not only his life, but his pride as well.

The other characters also play a key, but not sole, role. Without participation of others, Luke’s personal transformation would not have occurred as it did. A good war movie has many antagonists facing the main character influencing their development. Obi Wan particularly awakened Luke to a spiritual realm he never new existed, leading Luke to begin a quest to find his own destiny. In comparison, the professor in All Quiet sparked the boys to travel on their own quests to find their passions and face their fears. Traditionally, the main character enduring the learning experience reaches maturity through his own actions. Yet, without these outside influences they would never be able to discover themselves.

Once again, religious symbolism opens up a substantial relationship between film and real-life. Tying such ideas into a film helps the audience to relate with the characters, applying the universality of humanistic qualities to enhance enjoyment (and of course