Newsgroup: it.fan.starwars
Titolo: Star Wars as a Mythology

Extract from 'Star Wars As a Mythology' article at 
the Star Wars Resource Center
http://www.castlebooks.com/starwarsbooks.html
 
     Fifteen years ago, I set out to make a movie for a
generation without fairy tales.
                    -George Lucas
     There exists in every culture a series of folk tales and
stories which make up a part of that culture's history.  These
stories, called myths, often venture into the magical and fantastic,
with great heroes battling terrible monsters to save exotic lands. 
As the human race has evolved, we have moved beyond the need
to attribute unexplained events to supernatural workings beyond
our ken.  As a result, modern culture puts its faith in science and
organized religion, and for centuries there have been no new
myths.
     In the nineteen-seventies, a young and enthusiastic film
maker/director put his imagination and heart into changing that. 
George Lucas's now legendary Trilogy of movies and books, Star
Wars, is the result.  To the casual observer, the movies are only
exciting science fiction stories, but a closer look reveals nothing
short of a complete mythology within.  George Lucas collaborated
with Joseph Campbell on the making of the first movie of the
Trilogy, A New Hope (A New Hope is more commonly known as
Star Wars, but to be accurate, Star Wars will be used when
discussing the entire Trilogy and A New Hope will be used when
discussing the first movie only.)  Before he died, Campbell was
widely accepted as the foremost authority on myths and
mythologies in the world.  Campbell strongly believed that every
culture's myths and legends were strikingly similar, even identical,
to those of every other culture.  His The Hero With A Thousand
Faces compares the trials and traits of heroes from all legends. 
Lucas incorporated Campbell's model of the Hero in developing
Luke Skywalker as the Hero in A New Hope.
     The plot line of A New Hope is very similar to that of many
mythologies.  In order to better understand how Luke evolves as a
Hero, it is necessary to examine the early events of the film and
note how these key events are typical of other myths.  A New Hope
takes place in a typical science-fiction galaxy.  There exist many
planets and races of intelligent life.  The galaxy's government has
recently been thrown into turmoil by the emergence of the evil
Emperor and his Empire.  The Empire is the typical tyrant of
mythological stories.  In Greek legend, the creation of the universe
proceeded smoothly until Cronos, father of the gods, decided he
wanted supreme power.  He took over and ruled ruthlessly, and it
was up to Zeus and his divine siblings to overthrow him and
restore peace.  In A New Hope the Rebel Alliance takes the place
of the gods.  As in many myths, the Rebellion is young and
hopelessly outnumbered.  Campbell wrote that the Hero is almost
always a youth and weak relative to his enemies.  The Rebellion
has just won its first victory by stealing classified information
from the Empire and smuggling it to Princess Leia, a high ranking
Alliance member.  Princess Leia is on her way to deliver the
information to Obi-Wan Kenobi, a former general.  It is the
Alliance's hope that Kenobi can safely get the information to the
Rebel base.  Obi-Wan lives on Tatooine, a desert planet on the
outskirts of the galaxy which happens to be home to a young Luke
Skywalker.  Luke knows Obi-Wan as "Ben," and believes he is
only an old hermit.  This element is also present in Greek
mythology.  Cronos swallowed all of his children to ensure that
they could not overthrow him.  His wife hid his last son and gave
Cronos a rock to swallow instead.  The youngest son, Zeus, was
sent away to live in a remote mountain valley until he grew old
enough to challenge his father.  Tatooine corresponds to Zeus's
valley as the distant sanctuary for the growing Hero.
     On the way to Tatooine, Leia's ship is intercepted and
boarded by one of the Empire's ships.  In desperation she sends the
information, stored in a droid named Artoo-Detoo, to the planet's
surface.  Artoo-Detoo and his companion, an interpreter droid
named See-Threepio, meet and are bought by Luke's uncle.  Thus,
Luke enters the story.
.
.
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___________________________________________________________
Star Wars Resource Center
Books, Videos, Calendars, Free Articles all about the Star Wars
Trilogy.
http://www.castlebooks.com/starwarsbooks.html
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I have also heard people refer to the Star Wars Trilogy as a mondern day tale
of King Arhur..Would you say this is true?
Aaron