Star Wars
- Disambiguation: This article deals with the science fiction saga, not the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI).
Star Wars is a science fiction film saga and fictional universe created by American director George Lucas. The original Star Wars movie (episode 4) came out on May 25th, 1977. The earlier set of Star Wars movies (Episodes 4, 5, and 6) are renowned as classics of cinema, and were some of the first "summer blockbusters" ever made. Episodes 1, 2 and 3 were released in 1999, 2002 and 2005 respectively. All six movies are amongst the top 25 highest grossing films of all time.[1] In 1984 and 1985, two spinoff movies to the original trilogy (Episode 4,5 and 6) were made featuring the Ewok characters seen in Episode 6, Return of the Jedi.
Development of the Monomyth
George Lucas built on the idea of the monomyth - a dominant mythic structure that for some reason resounds especially strongly with the human psyche - in structuring his narrative. He consulted closely with Joseph Campbell, author of the book, "Hero of a Thousand Faces," towards the end of utilizing the monomyth structure especially well. In Star Wars (now known as Star Wars Episode 4:A new Hope), the reluctant hero is obviously Luke Skywalker, the teacher Obi Wan Kenobi, and the inner world the galaxy at large.
Star Wars became forever linked to politics when a missile-defense plan was devised under the Reagan administration which was nick-named Star Wars.
Several novels have been written as follow ups to the films.