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From its explosive success with its viewers, George Lucas' Star Wars grew into a phenomenon spanning forms of media, from cinemas to television series, comic books, novels, interactive fiction and mountains of a merchandise. From the single movie that started it all in 1977, Star Wars underwent multiple revisions through digital improvements over the years, received sequel as well as prequel movies and thanks to its popularity expanded its fictional universe past the cinema screen in the form of books, comics, TV series and interactive games. After Disney purchased the franchise in 2012 and announced that the "Expanded Universe" (stories within the Star Wars universe outside the movies and some currently ongoing series) would have no bearing on any future Star Wars project, this created space to tell new tales and produce more, new content for the beloved franchise. In this review, we will take a look at the original 1977 version of the film, now known as Episode IV: A New Hope, originally named simply Star Wars, and how it achieved the popularity that started a phenomenon that is still growing today.

The basic plot of the movie is quite simple, in fact, like many elements in the story it draws heavily on mythology, literature and history. It has many similarities with Arthurian legends and fantasy stories, it is the tale of the underdog fighting against a larger power, freedom fighters rebelling against tyranny and last but not least, it is the coming of age story of a boy leaving home to explore the world. During the almost two hour adventure, we encounter many characters and themes we are already familiar with: the wise old wizard as a mentor figure, the magical sword being handed over to the next generation, saving the princess, the dark knight, the loveable pirate and the loyal sidekick. The way the universe is painted and the story is presented is similar in style to the Saturday morning serials Lucas grew to love, like Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon.

For the American audience there are several historic elements, or allusions to such within the movie as well. Slavery is portrayed with the introduction of droids, robotic servants to the people inhabiting the universe, intelligent work force treated as property. Luke Skywalker, portrayed by Mark Hamill, is living on the frontier, under constant threat from natives. The Rebel Alliance is fighting a galactic War of Independence.

Because these are familiar themes, the movie doesn't spend overly long explaining them. We are shown enough to recognize characters and what archetypes they represent, but little more than that, allowing the movie to convey information about them within a short amount of time and progress naturally. The exploration of individual characters does not happen until the sequel movie, The Empire Strikes Back, appeared in 1980.

Star Wars makes interesting if not bold choices at the beginning in regards of pacing. The viewer is greeted with an expositional reading at the start of the film, three simply worded paragraphs explaining an in medias res opening, and the status quo of the galaxy.

Once the opening text vanishes from the screen, the action starts strong with a space battle and a boarding party sequence for an intense five minutes, showing off the special effects used throughout the film. After this appetizer, a taste of what is to come in the action scenes later, the movie slows down to immerse the audience into the galaxy far, far away. Suspension of disbelief is achieved by characters acting and interacting naturally in fantastic environments and with technology. It is important to also take note of the mise-en-scene throughout the shots. The construction of the indoor sets and shots are such that there are usually small details packed within the frame, often at the edge of the shot, giving us the impression that that particular detail or scenery continues off camera. A doorway, a running pipeline, the corner of a table, a flickering switch or wall panel might be just at the edge of the frame in most indoor shots. With the outdoor scenes, panning shots are often used to emphasize the vastness of the landscape, a strong contrast to the cramped enclosed spaces of homesteads, starships and bases. During the often fast paced character dialog, a number of reaction shots are used to make characters feelings and motivations as well as the mood of the scene clear in very little time. At this point, it's important to mention Mark Hamill and Harrison Ford, both delivering fantastic performances, the choices in their acting making their characters have a strong impression on the audience.

A curious choice in the movie construction is that the main character, Luke, is not shown until well into the movie, a good 15 minutes after the start. Being an inexperienced farm boy mostly ignorant of the larger galaxy, he becomes the audience surrogate for the rest of the movie. For the next several scenes we spend a good deal of time focusing on Luke and his life, exploring his small and enclosed world of chores and mundane days, building empathy towards his thirst for adventure. Just as Luke, we are in for quite a ride once the action picks up once again, not slowing or stopping until the end of the movie. The plot has a distinct beginning, middle and end, leaving the viewer satisfied with the resolution of the main conflict, but leaving a number of issues and subplots unanswered, provoking fascination and curiosity about further stories in this strange galaxy far, far away.

In conclusion, the film is just one story set within a much larger universe, a great start to a saga that is still growing today. Star Wars, like its successors is a movie not afraid to take risks, let that be in writing, cinematography or technology. It builds on basic archetypes that were later expanded with more depth in the follow-up films and created some of the most unique and beloved characters and locations in movie history.

 

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