CT Star Wars as a product of the 70's

I agree with the stuff about Nixon and Vietnam being very much reflections of the times and the counterculture.

The 'Used Future' look had of course appeared before but Star Wars was a very different kind of sci fi film; not a dystopian future. It's something that'd mostly been in cult cinema before so I think you can regard it as still bucking the trend of the times as far as sci fi goes. As far as the broader culture goes I'm not too sure. I was too young then to be a good judge in this respect.

Star Wars was very much a reaction against film making dogmas of the time. It was the heyday of naturalistic drama and method acting. Lucas wanted to show that other ways of telling stories were possible and valid, drawing on Campbell's ideas about myth, using classically trained actors (Cushing, Guinness, Jones) and favouring that style of performance, and a very different type of script that was far more expository than naturalistic. These were all reasons why the critics hated Star Wars at the time.

 

I think every movie is inescapably a product of its time in some ways. That said, I think A New Hope tried as hard as it possibly could to avoid specifically evoking the era in which it was made. It used a throwback 1930's directorial style, dressed its characters in weird get-ups from various historical periods and cultures, and used special effects that could only be described as "ahead of their time." Sure, some of the more "generic" haircuts are a dead giveaway, and there's something about the "feel" of the film image and the make of the props that is very distinctively 1970s. That's not necessarily a bad thing, but I don't think it's an inherent strength of the film, either. I think Star Wars is at its best when it is able to more or less detach itself from its present historical context and become something truly timeless.

 

The hairstyles, and some clothes are 70s. I think also having a psuedo catch phrase (not saying this in any disrespect at all), but May the Force be With You is very much a 70s thing. The emergence of a strong female character is also 1970s.

You could also argue that Solo is definitely of the "Me generation" which 70s young people were accused of being (I was too young to understand that at the time.)

The serial format, selflessness and triumph of good over evil is definitely from an earlier time frame though - that felt very WWII to me to and I like this.

 

I don't see Leia as a strong female lead at all. She's still very much a stereotype of bossy and whiny woman very common for the time. We still lack strong male and female models in much of story and entertainment yet today.

 

Well, I can see where you get "bossy" from, but I wouldn't describe her as "whiny." And she had every right to want to boss Han and Luke around--they clearly had no idea what they were doing and spent more time arguing with each other than coming up with a plan. I think the strongest female characters are generally the ones that are depicted with a real sense of agency, while avoiding the pitfall of simply being a male-written character portrayed by a woman. I think one of the best examples of this kind of character is Ripley in Aliens. And if Princess Leia doesn't quite live up to that standard, I think she only just barely falls short. I can't think of too much about her that is too stereotypically feminine--at least not in A New Hope.

 

Ah, might work for some but for me it just was a waste of time and didn't do either gender credit.

 

Leia, when confronted with setbacks - doesn't give up.

Her ship is boarded? Sneak the plans onto an escape pod, inside a droid.
She's being tortured and "mind-probed"? Resist giving anything away.
Her world is threatened with destruction? Lie, as convincingly as possible.
Her world is destroyed anyway, and she is soon to be executed? Be ready in case the opportunity comes to escape.
She's cornered in the detention area? Shoot a hole and escape into the waste disposal system.
Your rescuer is grieving the death of their mentor? Comfort them.
You're being tracked to the Rebel base? Remain optimistic and do not despair.

If Leia's not a strong female lead, I'm curious as to who is.

 

I consider Leia to be a very strong character with a compelling arc. However, I think I know where Cushy's coming from. Despite the fact that Han and Luke (and the others) are saving her from imminent death, you do get the impression from her sometimes that the whole operation is a huge inconvenience and she'd rather be doing it all herself! The guys are in her eyes essentially bumbling fools and she spends a lot of time on exasperated sighs and eye rolling.

 

Exactly, Yak. I was speaking solely of SW Leia but I don't see her as strong over all, either. Others do, that's cool.

 

I could imagine the same sort of things being said by a Prince Leia:

"When you came in here, didn't you have a plan for getting out?"
"Put that thing away- you're gonna get us all killed"

and so forth. The reactions make sense to me.

 

I read SW as a battle of genders particularly between the Big 3 and I don't consider that 'strong'. Instead it's pointless and strips the film of much of it's potential. Leia's manner with Tarkin isn't a plus, either.

 

Hassling Luke about his height and insulting Chewie, for example, don't really demonstrate a great deal of gratitude.

Having said all of that, I actually think it was pretty effective portraying her that way in ANH as it set up the development of her character over the trilogy. She initially felt that she didn't need to rely on anyone and she hated it when she did. Han was the same, only in different ways. They both discovered otherwise ultimately, largely through each other.

 

She doesn't know Luke's a rescuer when he enters her cell. I figure that bit, at least, is bravado.

 

True. That bit probably deserves credit for simply mouthing off at the enemy!

 

Same principle probably applied to Tarkin for that matter. She knows she's facing sentence of death - (which Tarkin goes on to state outright) - she's recently been tortured - yet she's defiant to the last.

Sniping at Chewie is a bit uncalled for - but it was Chewie's fear of the dianoga (after they've escaped from the masher) that caused Han to shoot (in her opinion unnecessarily) and make noise that's likely to attract soldiers.

 

Yeah, a lot of it has nothing to do with gender, it's just Leia being bolshy and mouthy and God bless her for it. I do think, though, that intentionally or otherwise, it does play out, when placed alongside Han's strutting rooster and Luke's adoring puppy dog, as a bit of a battle of the sexes, 70's style. I wonder if she'd have behaved the same way if she'd been rescued by a group of women.

 

I like to think so.

 

I don't think being mouthy to an adversary is any way a credit to anyone. *Shrugs*

 

It's a pretty common thing in stories though:

http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/PoliteVillainsRudeHeroes

 

To some extent the mythic format really did require Leia to be a damsel in distress. By casting Fisher to type (as a real life Hollywood Princess with attitude) Lucas was bringing that mouthy side to the part, reflecting an intelligence that was down to earth and practical, which was against the stereotype and also very different to anything in the source inspiration for a lot of the political stuff and the 'space nobility' in Dune.

 

Well, if you think about it, all they really did was bust her out of her cell to be immediately shot to death by approaching stormtroopers. A nice gesture, to be sure, but also pretty good cause for annoyance, even if they were risking their lives.

But yeah, it was pretty mean of her to insult Chewie like that.

 

Yeah, her exasperation wasn't completely without foundation...

 

"Not this ship, sister." Yep, definitely a product of the 70s.

 

Star Wars is pure 70s funk, baby.