Title: The Mythology of Star Wars
ISBN: unknown
Produced By: Public Affairs Television; Thirteen/WNET New York
Copyright: 1999
Length: 57 minutes
Reviewed by Lady Aeryn.
One afternoon in early 1999 Bill Moyers, noted journalist and longtime friend of the great mythological scholar Joseph Campbell (a mentor for George Lucas and whose studies Lucas has long acknowledged as a foundation for the framework of the Star Wars series) conducted a dialogue with Lucas at Lucas's Skywalker Ranch. They discussed Lucas's various inspirations, both mythological and personal, for the Star Wars saga and touched on some of the saga's basic themes, too much to go into detail on in a review. The Mythology of Star Wars shows us the highlights of this discussion, punctuated with appropriate clips from the original Star Wars trilogy as well as the then newly-released The Phantom Menace.
The discussion reveals that the inspiration for many elements in Star Wars comes from Lucas's personal quest to resolve his own questions of faith and religion, to aid others (more specifically, young people) who haven't yet formed beliefs on matters like the nature of God. Lucas describes searching across different myths and religions of different cultures for the most common ideas and beliefs that seemed to be shared by the most groups of people; when he sat down to write the Star Wars story many elements (the temptation of a hero by an evil force, the discovery of a mysterious child with a seemingly divine aura, etc.) came naturally as a result of this exploration, not being drawn from any specific culture. Lucas also tells of the journey of Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader coming from his exploration of the nature of humanity and what in that nature gives us the capacity for good or evil - a question which Lucas admits he still hasn't found an answer to.
Certain aspects of the saga are also shown to be direct influences from Lucas's own family experience. He admits to a bit of autobiography of his own apparently bittersweet relationship with his father in the scenes with Luke and Darth Vader, to the relationship between Luke and his mentors mirroring somewhat Lucas's own relationships with his mentors. He talks about his pursuing a life in filmmaking as opposed to taking up his father's family business as what Campbell referred to as "[following] your bliss," following your intuition and feelings to find your place in life, your destiny, which is what "feeling the Force" essentially is. He speaks of his belief that the most fulfilling purpose of life is having children, that a person is redeemed by their children, as Anakin is by his.
Just as much as this is an insight into the saga, it's an insight into Lucas himself. Fifty-seven minutes isn't the ideal amount of time to more deeply explore the topics Moyers and Lucas touch upon - I found myself wishing we'd been shown more than an hour of this discussion - but with the time alloted, this presentation still provides a well-rounded look at Lucas's thought processes and experiences and how they wound up helping shape Star Wars as we know it. It's not at all necessary to already be well-versed in mythological or religious studies to understand this discussion, which makes this a good introduction or Cliff Notes for anyone interested in exploring the background and inspirations behind the saga.
Since this title is not currently being produced on video or DVD, finding a copy may be tricky (my own copy is a rather worn six-year-old recording of the original PBS broadcast). However, if you're at all interested in background information on the inspirations of the saga, it's worth the effort to look for. Your best bet on locating a copy would probably be to look at your local library, or at online auctions such as Amazon and Ebay.
