Cultural impact of Star Wars

George Lucas's epic space opera multi-film Star Wars saga has had a significant impact on modern popular culture. Star Wars references are deeply embedded in popular culture; references to the main characters and themes of Star Wars are casually made in many English-speaking countries with the assumption that others will understand the reference. Darth Vader has become an iconic villain, while characters such as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Chewbacca, C-3PO and R2-D2 have all become widely recognized characters around the world. Phrases such as "evil empire", "May the Force be with you", "Jedi mind trick" and "I am your father" have become part of the popular lexicon. The first Star Wars film in 1977 was a cultural unifier, enjoyed by a wide spectrum of people.
Many efforts produced in the science fiction genre (particularly in filming) can now be seen to draw heavy influence and inspiration from the original Star Wars trilogy, as well as the magnitude of sequels, spin-offs, series, games, and texts that it spawned. Sounds, visuals, and even the iconic score of the films have become integral components in American society. The film helped launch the science fiction boom of the late 1970s and early 1980s, making science fiction films a blockbuster genre. This impact also made it a prime target for parody works and homages, with popular examples including Spaceballs, Family Guy's Laugh It Up, Fuzzball trilogy of specials, Seth Green's "Robot Chicken: Star Wars", Steve Oedekerk's "Thumb Wars", and Lucas's self-proclaimed favorite parody, Hardware Wars by Ernie Fosselius.
20th Century Fox optioned Star Wars. When it unexpectedly became the decade's blockbuster, grossing $100 million in three months, Fox's stock soared from $6 to $25 per share and generated revenues of $1.2 million a day for the studio. Fox purchased the Aspen skiing and Pebble Beach golf corporations with the increased cash flow and still declared excess profits in 1977. Income from Star Wars re-releases, sequels, and merchandising enriched the studio in the following decades. Star Wars helped Fox to change from an almost bankrupt production company to a thriving media conglomerate.
Star Wars fundamentally changed the aesthetics and narratives of Hollywood films, switching the focus of Hollywood-made films from deep, meaningful stories based on dramatic conflict, themes and irony to sprawling special-effects-laden blockbusters, as well as changing the Hollywood film industry in fundamental ways. Before Star Wars, special effects in films had not appreciably advanced since the 1950s. Star Wars was also important in the movement towards the use of computer-generated imagery in films. The commercial success of Star Wars created a boom in state-of-the-art special effects in the late 1970s. There was increased investment in special effects. Companies like Industrial Light & Magic and Digital Productions were created to provide them. The 1977 Star Wars pioneered the genre pastiche, where several classic film genres are combined in one film. In Star Wars, the genres were science fiction, the Western, the war film, and the quasi-mystical epic. Along with Jaws, Star Wars started the tradition of the summer blockbuster film in the entertainment industry, where films open on many screens at the same time and profitable franchises are important. It created the model for the major film trilogy and showed that merchandising rights on a film could generate more money than the film itself.
Another impact Star Wars made on film making was its use of the "monomyth" or "hero's journey," as detailed in Joseph Campbell's book The Hero with a Thousand Faces. After writing the first of what would be four drafts of the film, George Lucas read Campbell's work. He was surprised to find that his first draft followed many of its principles. This epic device at the deepest roots of the films was a major factor in its success. Many future films successfully adopted the monomyth, such as The Matrix trilogy, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and The Hobbit Trilogy to name a few.
The plot of a second-season episode of The CW television series Legends of Tomorrow (2017), entitled "Raiders of the Lost Art", centered on the impact of George Lucas's films on the titular heroes.
The Star Wars saga has had a significant impact on modern American popular culture, both the films and characters have received official parodies in numerous films and television productions.
Darth Vader, as well as Yoda and Starkiller, appear as playable characters in the 2008 fighting game Soulcalibur IV.
The lightsaber appears as a reskinned bat for the Scout in Team Fortress 2. It was added to the game in October 2015.
Darth Maul appears in Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 as a guest skater.
Fallout New Vegas features the burnt bodies of Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru in Nipton. With the Wild Wasteland trait, players can find two skeletons outside a burned home with their names.
The Sims 4: Journey to Batuu is an expansion pack released in September 2020. The pack lets players meet Kylo Ren, Rey, and others. Players also get the chance to join the Rebels, Empire, or Scoundrels.
Fall Guys teamed up with Star Wars for a May 4th promotion. Costumes were released that allowed players to dress as Boba Fett, Han Solo, and other characters.
The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum had an exhibition called Star Wars: The Magic of Myth. It was an exhibition of original production models, props, costumes, and characters from the first three Star Wars films. In October 2007, NASA launched a Space Shuttle carrying an original lightsaber into orbit. The prop handle had been used as Luke Skywalker's lightsaber in Return of the Jedi. After spending two weeks in orbit, it was brought back to Earth on November 7, 2007, to be returned to its owner, George Lucas.
The first successfully launched space-rocket, to be sent by the private spaceflight company SpaceX, was named the Falcon 1. Elon Musk used the word "falcon" within the name of the space-rocket, as a reference to the Millennium Falcon from Star Wars. The Falcon 1's success led to the fabrication of updated versions of the space rocket, in what became known as the Falcon family of space-rockets. The Falcon 1 has since been retired, in favor of the Falcon 9.
The spacecraft LICIACube, a part of DART mission, is equipped with two optical cameras, dubbed LUKE and LEIA.
When Ronald Reagan proposed the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), a system of lasers and missiles meant to intercept incoming ICBMs, the plan was quickly labeled "Star Wars", implying that it was science fiction and linking it to Reagan's acting career. According to Frances FitzGerald, Reagan was annoyed by this, but Assistant Secretary of Defense Richard Perle told colleagues that he "thought the name was not so bad."; "'Why not?' he said. 'It's a good movie. Besides, the good guys won.'" This gained further resonance when Reagan described the Soviet Union as an "evil empire".
In television commercials, public interest group critics of the Reagan administration's Strategic Defense Initiative program deridingly referred to the orbital missile defense project as "Star Wars". Lucasfilm originally sued to try to enjoin this usage of its trademark, and lost. Explaining its decision, the court said,
When Margaret Thatcher won the 1979 United Kingdom general election held on May 3, the Tories took out a newspaper ad that read "May the Fourth Be with You Maggie. Congratulations."
On May 4, 1995, during a defence debate in the UK parliament, MP Harry Cohen related the Star Wars Day joke: "May 4 be with you".
In England and Wales, 390,127 people (almost 0.8%) stated their religion as Jedi on their 2001 Census forms, surpassing Sikhism, Judaism and Buddhism, and making it the fourth largest reported religion in the country.
The holographic video effect associated with Star Wars served as a technological tool for CNN during its 2008 Election Night coverage. CNN reporter Jessica Yellin and musician will.i.am looked as though they were in the network's New York City studios talking face-to-face with hosts Anderson Cooper and Wolf Blitzer, when in reality, they were in Chicago at Barack Obama's rally. The process involved Yellin and will.i.am standing in front of a blue screen in a special tent, while being shot by 35 HD cameras.
On March 1, 2013, American President Barack Obama spoke on the sequestration debate. He said that some people expect him to do a "Jedi mind meld" on the Republicans who refuse to deal.
In the 2014 Ukrainian presidential elections, the Internet Party of Ukraine tried to nominate a man named Darth Vader; but his registration was refused because his real identity could not be verified. A man named Darth Vader was a candidate at May 25 2014 Kyiv mayoral election and the Odesa mayoral election of the same day for the same party. In the 2014 Ukrainian parliamentary election the Internet Party let Darth Vader along other Star Wars characters such as Chewbacca, Padmé Amidala, and Yoda run for seats in the Ukrainian parliament. In the election the party failed to clear the 5% election threshold (it got 0.36% of the votes) and also did not win a constituency seat and thus no parliamentary seats.
In 2015, as a part of the decommunization process in Ukraine, a statue of a Vladimir Lenin was modified into a monument to Darth Vader at the territory of Pressmash plant in Odesa.
In the 2020 Odesa local election, a person called Darth Vader was again a candidate for mayor of Odesa (nominated by Darth Vader Bloc). He scored 0.48% of the total votes cast.
A real-life religion based on Star Wars called Jediism follows a modified version of the Jedi Code, and they believe in the concept of The Force as an energy field of all living things, which "surrounds us... penetrates us" and "binds the galaxy together", as is depicted within Star Wars movies, although without the fictional elements such as telekinesis. Many citizens around the world answer list their religion as Jedi during their countries respective Census, among them Australia and New Zealand getting high percentages. A petition in Turkey to build a Jedi Temple within a university, also got international media attention.
Several airlines around the world formerly featured or currently features a special Star Wars themed jet on one of its aircraft.
Between 2002 and 2004, museums in Japan, Singapore, Scotland and England showcased the Art of Star Wars, an exhibit describing the process of making the original Star Wars trilogy.
In 2013, Star Wars became the first major motion picture translated into the Navajo language.
Professional sports teams in the United States and Canada regularly hold Star Wars-themed promotional nights. In 2015, Star Wars-themed Major League Baseball (MLB) games had average higher attendance than typical MLB games. Star Wars promotional nights in minor league sports events often feature teams wearing Star Wars-inspired uniform designs. Outside of Star Wars-themed games, North American sports teams often play "The Imperial March" over their public address systems while opposing teams are being introduced.
Several organizations worldwide teach lightsaber combat as a competitive sport, instructing on techniques interpreted from the films, and using life-size replica weapons composed of highly durable plastic that emit lights and sounds. One of these organizations being ludosport.
During the 2012 Emerald City Comicon in Seattle, Washington, several prominent cartoon voice actors, consisting of Rob Paulsen, Jess Harnell, John DiMaggio, Maurice LaMarche, Tara Strong and Kevin Conroy, performed a parody reading of A New Hope as a radio play in each of their signature voice roles; i.e. Paulsen and Harnell as Yakko and Wakko Warner from Animaniacs, Strong as Bubbles from The Powerpuff Girls and Timmy Turner from The Fairly OddParents, LaMarche and DiMaggio as Kif Kroker and Bender from Futurama, and Conroy narrating as Batman.
After Disney's acquisition of Star Wars, they proceeded to open Galaxy's Edge. Star Wars themed parks in both Disney World and Disneyland that opened in December 2019 in Disney World and January 2020 in Disneyland. In the theme parks fans will be transported to a Galaxy Far Far Away and live their own Star Wars experience, through flying the Millennium Falcon, or stopping at Oga's Cantina for some food and drinks.
"Star Wars bar" has entered the English language vernacular meaning a less than desirable bar or pub. This is because the "Mos Eisley Cantina", and the events depicted therein during the original Star Wars film, is a sufficiently well known cultural reference for the term to have become useful in everyday conversation.
In 2023, a Judge in the Akron Municipal Court announced that he would be officiating Star Wars-themed weddings on the 4th of May 2023. The celebrations included Star Wars: A New Hope in the background and Star Wars-inspired vows.