It's all because of Jimmy Carter and his peanuts

Rating: 2/10 (20 April 2013)

Both Star Wars and Star Trek are not movies about the future, but about the past.
Star Trek relies upon the adventures of Captain Cook (even down to red uniforms for the marines, the ones who always get shot). Star Wars relies upon the tales of Medieval Europe.
Someone once told me that the white clad troopers in Star Wars were based upon Nazi storm troopers. Err...this is nonsense. Nazi storm troopers rape and pillaged on a mass scale, neither of which are evident in this movie. The white troopers are the equivalent of medieval crossbowmen; skilled fighters but far below the heraldic level of knights (Jedi Knights).
Star wars is a variant of a late medieval version of Camelot but set in Jerusalem during the Crusades, with Luke Skywalker playing the role of Arthur, Obi Wan Kenobi playing the role of Merlin and Hans Solo playing the role of Lancelot. The robot R2D2 is the court jester and C3Po is a serf. Darth Vader is Saladin, the enemy of the white Christian Knights. Princess Leia is a dose of women's lib thrown in for good measure.
"Feel the force Luke" is the most putrid sickening phrase of the whole movie. It comes straight out of the late 1970's disco scene and is laced with homo-eroticism. "Feel the force." says monkish Obi Wan to his young male student with a twinkle in his eye. It sounds like the advice of Catholic priest to his preferred choir boy.
So I ask myself, why did this movie became so successful? We know up until this point that sci-fi movies were largely serious affairs: 2001 and Silent Running just two examples. Prior to Star Wars the most successful sci-fi movie had been Planet Of The Apes. Is the re-direction from these genres sufficient to explain the success of Star Wars? Probably not.
I believe the true answer lies in the year it was made and the political environment of that year. Jimmy Carter was the president and he was pushing for economic austerity in the use of energy supplies. Driving speed limits were 55mph and the Saudis were in control of most of the US energy supplies(note Darth Vader = Saladin).
Along comes Star Wars where energy usage is limitless. There's plentiful energy for a Death Star, space buggies, robots, laser swords and space fighters. Nobody in the movie is concerned about how much energy they are employing. And the movie doesn't explain where the energy comes from...unless it's that homo-erotic Force? Energy is apparently limitless. No driving speed restrictions, no queues at the pump for your space buggy. Put away those energy efficient, slow moving space ships in 2001 and Silent Running. No need to ride a horse as in Planet Of The Apes.
The audience felt a sense of relief from Carter's energy austerity. Soon they would actually get it when they voted for Jedi Knight Reagan and his "Star Wars" program.