Give yourself a minute on that one.
The Pirate Menace: How Lucas Stole 98% of Star Wars
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How To Make a Multi-billion Dollar Empire off One Original Idea
Or a coal-scuttle helmet, or Darth Vader's signature cap,
How To Make a Multi-billion Dollar Empire off One Original Idea
I'd like to just start off by pointing out that I love Star Wars. It could turn out to be a gigantic re-working of a teletubbies episode and I'd still love it. But with that being said here are 5 sources to which Lucas is indebted and a tribute to his one original idea.
5. Westerns: Not only is Han Solo basically just a John Wayne-esque cowboy, but the Mos Eisley Canteena scenes are pretty much a staight up rip off of a shoot-out at a saloon. Try this on for size:
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Star Wars Episode 4
4. WW2: An evil empire tries to take over the world (galaxy) with an entire race of soldiers designed to be genetically perfect. Am I talked about Hitler's Aryan race or Emporer Palpatine's Clone army? Either way they're called stormtroopers. Whether he's attacking Poland or Endor, it comes down to pretty much the same thing.
Whether it's a B-17 or an X-Wing,
5. Westerns: Not only is Han Solo basically just a John Wayne-esque cowboy, but the Mos Eisley Canteena scenes are pretty much a staight up rip off of a shoot-out at a saloon. Try this on for size:
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
Star Wars Episode 4
4. WW2: An evil empire tries to take over the world (galaxy) with an entire race of soldiers designed to be genetically perfect. Am I talked about Hitler's Aryan race or Emporer Palpatine's Clone army? Either way they're called stormtroopers. Whether he's attacking Poland or Endor, it comes down to pretty much the same thing.
Whether it's a B-17 or an X-Wing,
Or a coal-scuttle helmet, or Darth Vader's signature cap,
Or just the way you dress your soldiers,
It's pretty clear that evil minds think alike.
It's pretty clear that evil minds think alike.
3. The Bible: Virgin conceives a child destined to change the course of history and the fate of the entire universe; turns out that's not an original story either. While Darth Vader was no Messiah, he was that long awaited, much prophesied hero.
2. Wagner: In Wagner's classic opera Der Ring des Nibelungen a good son must fight an evil father, along with his pirate-type friend and his twin sister, in order to ensure that the evil father doesn't destroy the world with his extremely powerful spherical object (Death Star). Read all about it here. And I won't subject you to it now, but if you are ambitious get on YouTube and compare Wagner's "Flight of the Valkyries" to John William's "Star Wars: Main Theme."
1. Ivanhoe: It's a long boring book, but it's where the story of Robin Hood comes from, and since I'm teaching it this year, I figured I'd throw it in. If you've seen the Disney movie, you'll probably get all the parallels anyway.
Ivanhoe/Luke Skywalker - Estranged son rises to prominence again through prowess in battle.
Robin Hood/Han Solo - Rugged outlaw, despite cool, rebelious exterior is always fighting for the good guys.
Friar Tuck/Chewbacca - Big guy, the muscle of the outlaw group. Robin Hood's sidekick and life-long friend (Note: this doesn't apply to the Disney movie, only to the book).
Maid Marion/Leia - Would be, should be royalty, removed from the throne by a cruel despot.
Sheriff of Notingham/Darth Vader - The muscle on the side of evil, who pretty much does all the dirty work.
Emporer/Prince John - The brains of the evil operation. The mover and shaker behind all the empire's work.
I know all stories are based on earlier works, but it's funny to know what we are actually saying when we say we like Star Wars.
But he did come up with one idea on his own.
The Lightsaber: Pretty much Lucas' only original idea. I know, I know, it's just a sword right? Well, why were you watching Star Wars? For the rigorous exploration of the Sci-Fi genre? It's pretty bland as far as Sci-Fi goes. For the Old West feel and the wacky special effects? Well, most of that stuff was claymation, just like Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer. Really, the only reason anyone loved Star Wars was for the lightsaber battles. "Not as clumsy as a blaster; an elegant weapon for a more civilized age."
I've often thought about either becoming filthy rich and funding the research to build a lightsaber or just freezing myself in carbonite until somebody makes one for me. Either way, I don't think I'll live to see it... naturally.
5 comments:
You, perhaps intentionally, left out an important documented influence of Lucas, The Hero with a Thousand Faces!
I don't do html, here is an url.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hero_with_a_Thousand_Faces
All you need for a good story is a big bowl and a lot of ingredients.
There are also parallels with the King Arthur stories and there are some with the Wizard of Oz as well.
You also forgot Flash Gordon.
Although really, you can do this with any story. There are only a few basic plots, and a handful of common symbols. What are the chances of any particular story sounding like a bunch of other stories that follow the same basic plot? Pretty good, I'd imagine.
To me, the resemblance of gear between the German army helmet and the Darth Vader helmet, among other things, aren't that far fetched.
What I mean is, that by the late 1950s humanity had nearly perfected the mechanics of warfare. I know Star Wars happened 'before' any of these conflicts, but is it far fetched to assume that through technological advancement, which given the specific set of elements and physical properties that we have to work with, a set of beings with similar intelligence would arrive at the same conclusions as to the most effective way to kill someone, or protect your neck from injury, or which uniforms protected the body from debris as well as they intimidate the enemy?
I don't think so. I think Rifles and thus-shaped Helmets are all natural consequences of enough thought and technology and combat experience, and though I can't extrapolate to the point of speculating as to whether or not humanity will ever invent laser weapons, I can say that if we do, and if they prove more efficient than the comparatively 'messy' powder-propelled weapons of today, we will certainly adopt them.
Since '59, the primary battle rifle cartridge is still the 7.62x51mm, while the assault rifle cartridge is still 5.56x45. The rifles are the same, with small improvements to the M16, M14, FAL, and G1. Given how much computers have advanced since 1959, it might seem curious that weapons simply haven't at all. The only logical conclusion then, is that we've perfected the rifle.
When you have a system that doesn't malfunction, that doesn't recoil, that is sub-MOA at 100 yards (the max range of almost all infantry engagements), whose ammunition can be created for less than a penny per round- a penny per kill, potentially- what else is there to improve?
As to the helmet specifically, it should come as no wonder that any well thought out helmet would end up looking like the Black one, assuming it's lightweight.
The German helmet of the day was indeed very heavy compared to the USG helmet, but simply putting one on was said to make German soldiers feel bulletproof. Unlike the US helmet, it covered the ears and the back of the neck.
Given that it was such a great design, it's no surprise that the modern US helmet (that the entire modern world uses now, the PASGT) is almost a clone of the German WW1&WW2 helmet, except it's made out of Kevlar instead of steel.
I like my PASGT.
Another note, aside from the paint markings, I see no resemblance between the Flying Fortress and the X wing. Or the 1944 style Western-Front German Wehrmacht Grenadier uniform and the 'white dude'.
I'm not defending Star Wars- I like the movies, but not enough to defend them. Just thought I'd weigh in.
CORRECTION: The PASGT is no longer standard issue around the world... I learned after writing this article that most country's have, as of a couple years ago, been issuing slightly lighter version of the PASGT under many different names.
Dang... I guess I have to get one of those.
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