Star Wars

Star Wars is a six-film space-adventure saga that began in 1977 with the release of the movie Star Wars (later retitled Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope). The epic has been presented as a set of two trilogies. The series of movies is unusual in that the "Original Trilogy," Star Wars episodes four through six, were produced between the years 1977 and 1983, while the "Prequel Trilogy" was created more than 20 years later. It also crosses several film genres: science fiction ("sci-fi"), fantasy, epic, and adventure.

This article will discuss Star Wars as a cultural phenomenon; how it influenced the movie industry, and its impact on society at large.

2007 marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of the original film, sparking re-releases, intense merchandising, books and games, and much discussion. Particularly contentious among fans are the questions of whether or not the series was intended to be a set of six or nine films, whether George Lucas has been true to his fans in releasing revamped editions of the original trilogy, the impact of mass merchandising on the development of the subseqent trilogy, and of course, which film set is best.

What is not debated is that the films (particularly Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope) have had a lasting impact on society, changed movie-making techniques and contributed significantly to the development of new ones, and have influenced later film releases, particularly the action-adventure film genres and "Space Operas" in a copy-cat style.

Background: Society in 1977

There was severe economic recession in the industrial west, largely related to the oil crises and the end of the Vietnam War. The iconoclastic reformers of the 1960s had been replaced by a hedonistic group of young adults who would come to be referred to as the “Me Generation.”

It has been argued that the mood of the country was similar to that which existed at the time of the Great Depression of the 1930s, and so there was the same need for escapism in popular culture, a need that ‘’Star Wars’’ was well able to fill.

External Links

Wookiepedia, the Star Wars Wiki. Covers subjects to a degree of depth and breadth not maintainable on Citizendium. Articles are written from an "in-universe" perspective.