Star Wars:The Continuing Cultural Juggernaught

Forty four years after the release of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope and the series’ cultural ubiquity continues unabated. The abysmal prequel trilogy has been brushed aside by the combined might of Episodes IV, V and VI, with Star Wars themed merchandise penetrating into every corner of our lives. Product designers have pillaged the Star Wars Universe for ideas: a lightsaber umbrella? Absolutely. An R2D2 projector? Sure! Darth Vader, stormtroopers and lightsabers are apparently limitless wells of inspiration. The desire of every male (and surely most females, right girls?) to wield a lightsaber and the Force has driven game sales for decades. An upcoming Kinect title tries to almost literally put on in your hand. The Lego Star Wars series combined – wait for it – Lego, and Star Wars, instantly breathing new life into the series on that platform. 

But I’m not here to talk about the design aspect of Star Wars. The thing that’s really kept the flame burning during the last decade is the internet. The internet has facilitated the enormous outpouring of love for the trilogy; before the internet the affection for it was equal but isolated. There was no YouTube to delight in the many idiosyncrasies, mistakes and blemishes. The latter two may sound like derogatory terms, but they are not. The stormtrooper that bangs his head; Han Solo’s awful manoeuvres; everything picked up on in Family Guy’s Blue Harvest (1 & 2, and plenty more on YouTube); these are all what Robin Williams’ character in Good Will Hunting would call his wife’s night-time flatulence. They are the ‘good bits, the juicy bits’. Some skilful editing can invert the tone of the film, like this great clip of Darth Vader being reduced from one of the great dark, iconic and complex villains in film history to an irritating child.  Or, in the case of this clip from Episode I, emphasise the absolutely tragic acting and dialogue. Live-action parodies are a risky business, but this one centred on the inability of stormtroopers to survive an laser-blast whatsoever is pretty decent.

It is doubtful that there are any other films that could stand up to such scrutiny as Star Wars has undergone, but it testament to its artistic integrity that these YouTube moments don’t damage its reputation, but enhance it. The internet has given Star Wars a personality beyond that present in the films. It is this territory that makes film the medium of the 21^st century. This global ransacking and good-natured piss-taking is impossible with a book. A book is extremely personal; each book is unique to each reader. It is internal, and sharing your own vision of the world in a book with someone else can spoil the illusion. The opposite is true for film. It is external; everyone sees the exact same thing. Thus it can be modified, shared and put on YouTube and, to misuse an expression, everyone will be reading from the same page. Parodies of books are difficult due to the time required to type the damn thing out. Gems like Pride & Prejudice & Zombies (a definite improvement) are extremely rare. Internet parodies just require a video editor, creating simple brilliance as in this video, where the voice actor for Darth Vader, James Earl Jones, has lines from his other films spliced into Star Wars.  

The music has become similarly iconic. Most obvious is the Imperial March, which, in the entirety of music history most easily denotes the presence of a bad guy, even ahead of the Jaws theme. By far the best use of the Imperial March I've ever come across is this daring use by none other than the Welsh Guards in protest against a state visit by the Saudi Arabian Sheikh, King Abdullah. Top-notch banter, boys, and love that Queen 'Liz has the misfortune of being cast as the Emperor. 

But a more niche example is the rise to fame of the wonderful Cantina Band music. Blue Harvest obviously has something to say about this, but my favourite, and probably the thing that made me write this post, is an incredible mash-up (so nearly an oxymoron) of the Cantina Band music and We No Speak Americano: We No Speak Cantina. It just works so unbelievably well. 

I think you'll agree it's an impressive oeuvre. In terms of cultural ubiquity, Star Wars is unparalleled in the arts. It succeeds in being a triumph of mainstream cinema and of geek culture simultaneously. The prequel trilogy may have been a colossal let-down, but it hadn't a chance in hell of replicating the feat of A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and The Return of the Jedi.

P.S - If you know of any more, and I'm sure there are, send them my way!
P.P.S - If you only watch one clip watch the James Earl Jones one. It's sublime.
Malc x