One thing that has always fascinated me with the Star Wars saga is where the inspiration of the characters and storyline we know today was drawn from and how some of the fathers of storytelling and film influenced George Lucas’ mind to create a master piece that made an instantaneous classic before it was even released. George Lucas pulled much inspiration from Akira Kurosawa, Joseph Campbell and the ideologies of the Samurai to create essentially the tagline that sold Star Wars to that is; “Cowboys and Indians in space”.
Taking Film and Media studies for my A levels has let me gather an understanding to both the visual and theoretical aspects of the film world which I can use to greater the knowledge of why Star Wars was so successful. One theory that matches Star Wars is that of Vladimir Propp. He was a Russian critic in the 1920’s who took an interest in the narrative of folk tale. Through reading many tales he noticed a pattern in different areas of the tale. From this he created a theory that there is a selection of characters in each narrative that play a vital function in order for the story to follow the audiences expectations.
The list of recurring characters and their functions are as follows:
- The Hero – a character that seeks something
- The Villain – who tries to oppose the hero
- The Donor – provides an object of significant power
- The Dispatcher – who sends the hero on his/her quest via a message
- The False hero – who disrupts the hero’s journey by making false claims
- The Helper – who aids the hero
- The Princess – acts as a reward for the hero
- Her Father – who acts to reward for the hero
- Now any fan could match up some characters to these titles pretty quickly but just for some reassurance here’s how and why they match.
- The Hero – Luke Skywalker, he looks to become a Jedi and defeat the evil Darth Vader
- The Villain – Darth Vader, he looks to rein terror across the galaxy and defeat Luke Skywalker
- The Donor – Obi-Wan Kenobi presents Luke with a Lightsaber, a weapon only worthy of a Jedi
- The Dispatcher – R2D2, he lands near Luke’s home with a message from Princess Leia
- The Princess – Leia, The princess of Alderaan, needs saving from the Empire
- The Helper – Han Solo, alongside Chewie he accompanies Luke on missions
- The Father – Darth Vader, acting as the evil Dark Lord, he isn’t revealed to be the father till later on
The functions of the characters have been twisted to create a mix of expected with unexpected. Luke isn’t a hero that is traditionally bulky and very masculine, but rather kind and innocent which is why the audience still dig him. Darth Vader is the big bad villain but turns out to be the father as well which shocks the world and actually provides a sense of sympathy for him on his death bed. Princess Leia acts more manly than Luke and is ready to pick up a blaster at any time and become a martyr. Han Solo and Chewbacca start out as scoundrels and do not feel loyalty towards Luke as they just want to get paid. It’s the great balance between expectations and plots which is every films foundation. Having a set line of characters with known functions sets an expectation for the audience which is what they want. People are familiar with these characters and therefore comfortable. People want the hero to win, people want the villain dead, people want a happily ever after.
However George didn’t provide this in a mediocre way. He shook things up a little; the princess wasn’t a damsel in distress but instead a feisty fighter ready for any battle. The father turned out to be the villain which shocked the world and if that wasn’t barbaric enough the princess, was in actual fact the hero’s unknown twin, which sparked controversial outrage about the kissing scene. This however didn’t put people off but rather kept them intrigued. George had found the balance, there was the underlying functions of the characters that brought comfort to the viewers while the tweaked identities kept them in awe. George had intertwined traditional characters with underlying identities to completely play with the audiences expectation leading to their reaction.