Force (Star Wars). Worlds. "Star Wars". The Force in Star Wars Living Force Star Wars

29.09.2020

Star Wars is a cult franchise that currently includes 8 feature films, animated series, books, comics, toys, video games and more. One of the key places in the epic is the concept of "Strength". The characters of the story explained the Force as the energy emitted by all beings. There were two philosophies in the use of energy: the Light side and the Dark side of the Force. There are also "Gray Jedi" who do not belong to either side.

Interpretation

In the first Star Wars trilogy, the concept of "Force" was interpreted as a spiritual ability of a mystical nature. The Jedi could develop it in himself through practical training with the masters. With the release of The Phantom Menace, the concept changed and began to take on a more material character. In the first episode, it was said that only the person who had midi-chlorians in his body could control the Force. Their number affects how successful the interaction with the Force will be.

Control takes a long time to learn. The masters of the Jedi Council believed that training should be from childhood. Children with midi-chlorians were taken by the Jedi for training if their parents gave their consent.

Despite the fact that only some of its bearers can use the Force, it is present in every living being.

Light side of the Force

In the Star Wars movie, the protagonists of the epic were on the Light Side of the Force. They were all selfless altruists who gave up their own ambitions to help others. They used the Force to protect the entire galaxy.

The first thing the Jedi taught boys and girls was how to control their anger. They also had to become free from their own passions and learn to bring peace and goodness throughout the universe.

Dark side

Everything must be in balance. And if there is a Light side of the Force, then there must be a Dark side as well. She is the complete antipode of the Light side. It is fueled by anger, love of power, hatred, fear, and a sense of superiority over other beings.

However, the Dark Side is not a property of the Force. Each person independently decides how to use the Force in himself. The main quote from the Dark Side of the Force is: "The Force will set you free."

Dark side abilities

All Jedi, no matter which side they chose, had telekinetic abilities. But if on the Light Side, telekinesis was used only for protection, then the Sith used it for torture.

One of the most common uses of telekinesis was asphyxiation. This technique was thoroughly mastered by Darth Vader, who with his help defeated many of his opponents and delinquent stormtroopers. The representative of the Light side used choke only once. This happened when Luke Skywalker removed two guards from his path. He decided to use the ability, since the guards were not affected by the mind trick. In addition to Vader, his son Kylo Ren, who first appeared in the seventh episode of Star Wars, owned this technique.

The second ability of the Dark Side of the Force is lightning. It was possessed by Darth Sidious. With the help of lightning, he was able to defeat Windu, but it was she who caused the deformity of the Emperor. Windu blocked the lightning with his lightsaber, deflecting it into Palpatine's face. This technique was used not only to destroy the enemy, but also for torture. At the end of the sixth episode, the Emperor attacked Luke Skywalker with lightning to make him turn to the dark side.

Many Jedi have tried to learn how to counter the powers of the dark side. If strangulation could be repelled by almost every one of them, then only Master Yoda could resist the lightning attack.

Sith

These are the brightest representatives of the Dark Side of the Force. According to legend, they appeared thousands of years ago. At first, the Sith were simple Jedi who possessed a large number of midi-chlorians. They had a large source of Power within them, which they decided to use to achieve their own goals, as a result of which they became apostates.

The ability to control the Force provided many advantages, and the Sith decided to use them, based on selfishness and the desire to gain power in the entire galaxy. Jedi renegades believed that the Force could free themselves.

Sith Order

The Order was an old sect that included Sith who could control the Force. Their representatives were emperors of many monarchies and initiated a large number of wars. The head of the order was the Dark Lord of the Sith. In the movie epic, he was Emperor Palpatine. At the time when the order received a new head, great changes took place in it. Only the main goal of the order remained unchanged, which was to destroy all the Jedi.

In the first three episodes, Palpatine was first Senator and later Chancellor of the Republic. In the original trilogy, he was already the Emperor of the entire galaxy and one of the most important antagonists in the entire Star Wars universe of George Lucas.

Darth Sidious

The Chancellor's real name is Darth Sidious. His first student was Darth Maul, the Sith Lord who appeared in the first episode and was killed by Obi-Wan Kenobi. After the death of his Padawan, Palpatine turned his attention to a boy named Anakin Skywalker. Darth Sidious tried to lure Anakin to the Dark Side of the Force during the first three episodes. He succeeded at the end of the episode "Revenge of the Sith".

At the end of the third chapter, Sidious entered into a fight with Elder Yodo and almost managed to defeat him, but the Jedi was able to escape from Coruscant to Dagobar, where he hid from the Empire for many years. The Emperor found the charred body of Anakin, who had been cut in half by Obi-Wan Kenobi, and was able to bring him back to life with the help of a special suit. This is how Darth Vader was born.

In the fourth episode, Sidious did not appear, and throughout the fifth he tried to get Darth Vader to kill his son. In the final episode of the original trilogy, the Emperor tried to lure Luke Skywalker to the dark side of the Force, but his plan failed.

Darth Vader

His real name is Anakin Skywalker. He was Obi-Wan's apprentice and the central character in the prequel. In the first part, Anakin was 9 years old when he was found by Kenobi and Genie. The boy's mother did not say anything about his father, which led the Jedi to believe that Anakin was created by the Force.

During the first Star Wars movie, the Jedi Council kept a close eye on the child. After Darth Maul killed Jinn, Obi-Wan asked the Council to become Anakin's teacher. In the second episode, Chancellor Palpatine began to implement his plan to convert the young Skywalker to the dark side of the Force. The Sith Lord tells the Jedi about the greatness the Dark Side can bring to him. He also tells Anakin that he is strong enough and smart enough that he does not need a mentor, and the Jedi Council assigned Kenobi to him to control every step.

Transition to the Dark Side

In the episode "Revenge of the Sith" the final formation of Darth Vader took place. At the beginning of the third part, Anakin killed Count Dooku, who deprived him of his arm several years earlier during the Clone Wars. At this point, Palpatine was convinced that his plan was almost complete. Darth Sidious became Skywalker's mentor.

After a while, Anakin realized that the Chancellor was the Sith Lord. He told Windu everything. He gathered the Jedi and went to Palpatine to arrest him. Later, Anakin realized that without the help of the Sith, he would not be able to help his dying lover. He followed the Jedi and, in the chancellor's quarters, saw Palpatine fighting Windu. Anakin then made the decision to side with Darth Sidious.

Turning to the Dark Side of the Force, Darth Vader destroyed all the children that were on Coruscant. He then went after Padmé and accidentally killed her. Vader lost against Obi-Wan. His body fell into the lava and he almost died, but the Emperor flew in a ship and placed the body in a special suit to keep him alive.

Return to the Light Side

In the sixth episode of Star Wars, Palpatine wanted to lure Luke Skywalker to the dark side of the Force. He manipulated Darth Vader in every possible way, and when he realized that his plan was not destined to come true, he ordered him to kill his son. In a fight between two Skywalkers, the younger one won, cutting off his father's hand.

After the student's fiasco, the Emperor decided to lure Luke away with his own forces. He told him what he could achieve by discovering the true Power in himself. But Luke was much stronger than his father. He did not succumb to the manipulation of Darth Sidious. After that, the Emperor decided to use force, taking advantage of the Dark Side. He shocked young Skywalker and almost killed him, but Darth Vader was able to find the strength to go over to the Light Side. While the Emperor was busy with Luke, Anakin got to his feet, picked up Sidious and threw him down.

The Great Force is an energy field that all living beings form. The Force is simultaneously contained both within and without, uniting the entire Galaxy. The main component of the Universe is described in the IV part of the Obi-Wan Kenobi film. Those who have the ability to direct their Force can form in themselves the ability to levitate, telekinesis, advanced hypnosis, clairvoyance, etc. There are two opposite directions - the Light and Dark Sides of the Force. This interaction is predetermined by the fact that in the cells of the body there are symbiotic creatures - midi-chlorians. Accordingly, the greater their number, the better the merging of the Force with its carrier.

Opposite of the Dark and Light Side of the Force

The Jedi Order preaches the Light Side. It relies on self-denial and altruism. However, this takes many years to learn. With parental permission, the Council of the Jedi Order took children for midichlorian-enhanced training. Thanks to training from early childhood, a person goes through three ranks of training. He first attains the rank of youngling when he becomes a Jedi Padawan apprentice, and subsequently attains the rank of Jedi Knight. A supporter of the Light Side should be able to control his anger, completely freed from any unrest and passions.

An adept of the Dark Side of the Force must perfectly master the fire within himself, cultivating and nurturing the main negative emotions in himself: deceit, hatred, rage and anger. The rest of the feelings, such as envy, fear and doom, should serve as fuel to kindle the inner dark flame. Using such a Force, each Dark Jedi purifies himself, creating personal power through ruthlessness even to himself. This helps to break all the shackles and get real freedom.

Exile of the Dark Jedi

Who are they, the most famous villains and the Dark Side of the Force? It all started from the moment when the apostates moved to the desert planet Korriban, inhabited by a race of red-skinned humanoids and the Sith. After 2000 years, the Dark Jedi enslaved the race and began to call themselves the Order of the Sith, while being considered direct descendants of Bogan. There was an ancient prophecy among the Jedi and Sith that a messiah would be born to restore the balance of the Force. However, the followers of the Dark Side, unlike their rivals, did not sit idly by, but were looking for their messiah.

The Dark Lord's first apprentice

Born Palpatine (Darth Sidious) was aware of the plans of the teacher Darth Plageis (nicknamed "The Sage"). Knowing about the "rule of two", he challenged and emerged victorious from the duel. A little later, Sidious learns about the birth of a messiah child on the planet Tatooine and begins preparing his insidious plan. Soon he kidnaps Darth Maul, still a boy, living on the planet Iridonia, with one goal - to make him a formidable instrument of retaliation. Palpatine begins to organize a political career on the planet Naboo, and Maul does all the dirty work instead of his mentor.

Soon, the sophisticated trickster Darth Sidious puts the planet under attack from the Trade Federation. In response, Chancellor of the Republic Valorum sends Qui-Gon Jinn and his Padawan Obi-Wan Kenobi to the camp of the enemy Jedi. As a result, they escape from the enemy ship, while helping to free Princess Padmé Amidala and her retinue.

Finding the messiah

By the will of the Force, the princess's starship lands on Tatooine, where the ubiquitous Palpatine sends Darth Maul as well. However, the pursuit did not bring the desired results. The Jedi with Amidaloo not only survived, but also found a messiah. It was nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker, who at that time lived with his mother in slavery. After freeing the boy, Jin takes him to the planet Coruscant, the capital of the Republic. In the future, Qui-Gon tries to persuade the Jedi Council to take Skywalker for training, but no arguments work.

Not having received the desired support from the Galactic Senate, the brave fly away with Padmé Amidala to liberate her planet Naboo from separatist occupation. However, Sidious resends his faithful servant. This time, Obi-Wan kills him, but Darth Maul manages to deal with the Genie. Before dying, Qui-Gon asks Kenobi to take Skywalker as his apprentice. This time, the Jedi manages to negotiate with the Senate.

The meeting of the chosen one with his beloved

After 10 years, Skywalker crosses paths with Queen Amidala again. A feeling flares up between them, which they carefully hide from the environment. Anakin is assigned to protect his beloved. It only brought them closer. At this time, Kenobi decides to take up an independent investigation of the assassination attempts made on the queen. Obi-Wan discovers that a massive clone army is being created on the planet Kamino for the Republic. Kenobi realizes that the perpetrator of the assassination attempts and the donor for the troops are one and the same person. In pursuit, he falls on the planet Geonosis directly into the hands of the enemy.

At the same time, Anakin is tormented by nightmares. He dreams of his mother's death. He decides to fly to Tatooine with Padmé to find her. Skywalker tries to free the parent, but it's too late. Having received a signal for help from Kenobi, they go to the planet, where they are captured by the natives. All three are sentenced to death in the fighting arena, but in the midst of the battle, the Jedi Knights come to the rescue. In response, the Separatists released their dark side of the Force in the form of a huge army of droids, many of the Jedi died, and the rest were surrounded. A clone army suddenly arrives and destroys all the droids. Mentor and apprentice failed to stop the enemy leader In this battle, Skywalker loses his right arm.

Birth of Darth Vader

The clone wars have been going on for three years. During this time, the cunning Palpatine becomes Chancellor, and Anakin falls under his influence. However, until now, no one even suspects that the Dark Lord of the Sith may be hiding under the guise of a manager. Soon the Dark Side of the Force completely absorbs Skywalker, and he receives a new name Darth Vader.

On behalf of Palpatine, he deals a crushing blow to the Jedi Order. This brought Darth Sidious over the Republic. The Dark Lord proclaims himself Emperor. A little later, Obi-Wan fights his former apprentice and wins, leaving Anakin's scorched body. But Palpatine brings the former Jedi back to life and, dressed in black armor, makes it his right hand. However, hope has returned to the asteroid colony. The former princess gave birth to two extraordinary children - Leia and Luke. Children are hidden on different planets.

Defeat Darth Vader

19 years later, Kenobi meets Luke and talks about his real father. The young man immediately understands that he can also become a Jedi, and undergoes training. First, Obi-Wan deals with him, and then Master Yoda. Luke later joins the Alliance against the Empire.

Sensing danger, the Emperor and Darth Vader try to break the young Jedi Knight in the hope that he will be possessed by the dark side of the Force. In the battle that Sidious provoked, the son and father each lose an arm. When Palpatine realized that he could not call Luke to kill, he tortured him using his Force. Therefore, only one obsessive phrase sounds in the head of the tormented Adept of the Light Side: “Choose the Dark Side of the Force”! Unable to bear the bullying of his own son, Darth Vader throws Darth Sidious into the abyss of the Death Star. At the end of the film, three smiling ghosts appear in front of Luke. They were: young Anakin Skywalker, Master Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi.

After 30 years

The dominant idea in the new VII film is the same as before. Some go to the dark side, while others go to the light side. What are the new villains and the Dark Side of the Force now? However, not everything is so categorical! Even such a world-famous character as Darth Vader, at one time switched to the Side of Evil, not because he was an absolute villain. However, unlike the main villain Kylo Ren (Ben Solo), he at least had no doubts.

His parents knew that the child was dominated by the Dark Side, so they sent their son to study with his uncle Luke Skywalker. Later, Ben began to consider himself the incarnation of Darth Vader. Sometimes the young man even seemed to hear his calls: "Come to the Dark Side of the Force"! As a result, Kylo Ren promises to finish what his predecessor started, so Ben makes his own. Such weapons were used by the Jedi only in antiquity.

Next comes General Hooks, who runs the Imperial base. The Star Assassin is something similar to the previous Death Star. He is also a member of the First Order, led by Supreme Leader Snoke. As for the latter, this is the Dark Adept and teacher of Kylo Ren and an analogue of Darth Sidious.

Even in the previous series there were strong women, such as Princess Leia and However, now the Force is transferred not only to boys, and Phasma, the captain of the stormtroopers, enters the stage of Evil, who will rebuff any villain. How else to explain her merciless reprisals against the previous boss?

The events that develop in the film take place 30 years after the massacre of the Emperor and Darth Vader. Now there is a New Order in the state, and the Galaxy is in trouble again! Fate brings young Rey together with the former stormtrooper of the new association, Finn. They are joined by Chewbacca, General Leia, and Han Solo. By joining forces, they must fight the New Order. Unfortunately, they realize that only the Jedi can stand up to Kylo Ren and Snoke. In the end, only one will survive...

A PHOTO Getty Images

"Trust your feelings!"

“It would seem that the genre of fantasy mixed with an action movie should not imply a deep disclosure of the most intractable existential doubts of mankind,” says psychotherapist Larisa Shtark. “However, Hollywood goes to the aid of the viewer, responding to the need to find simple answers to complex questions. In Star Wars, like a mantra, the same short phrases are repeated, and everyone can discover in them their own - varying degrees of depth - meaning. The most frequent phrase that the viewer hears over the course of six episodes is: “Trust your feelings! Let the force be with you!"

For example, as a psychotherapist, it seems to me that the “gestalt” is broadcasting from the big screen when I hear: “Concentrate on what is happening here and now. It is impossible to pay attention to the future to the detriment of the present - the main current of the life force. And I think: in fact, the rejection of reality leads to protection from it, to the development of surrogate forms of coping: overeating as a cure for boredom; alcoholism as a treatment for anxiety; promiscuity (frequent change of sexual partners) as an escape from emotional intimacy. This is illusory and briefly improves the situation, and further aggravates it ... And so everyone finds meaning for himself in these simple and capacious thoughts, repeatedly sounding from the lips of the heroes.

All of us, whether we like it or not, begin to identify ourselves with one of the heroes. Who wants to be like a villain? In Star Wars, there are so many goodies, both male and female, of different ages, that everyone will pick up an object of identification for themselves. There is a talented boy here who collects sports cars, who takes first prize in a race with adults. Teenagers who are ahead of the sensei in their abilities. Adult mature men, wise with experience, and the oldest Master Yoda delight with their willingness to help the younger ones and show such a class of martial art, throwing aside the stick and straightening their hunched back, that it seems that everything is possible in this world and we ourselves can do everything too. The beauty of the heroines, the number of outfits that they change in one episode, the number of their fans, as well as the ability of women to think strategically on an equal footing with men and shoot a blaster attract a female audience to movie screens.

A special place in Star Wars is given to feelings: fear, including the fear of death, anger, anger and ways to cope with them. “Anger, fear, aggression - the dark side of all this ... The dark side is faster, simpler, more attractive. You can distinguish bad from good when you are calm, peaceful, passive, ”Yoda inspires Luke. The essence of his statements boils down to the fact that strength lies in the ability to accept and cope with emotions, and not to subordinate one's behavior to them. An interesting fact is that Natalie Portman, during the filming of Star Wars, studied at Harvard at the Faculty of Psychology, refusing to participate in other film projects. Apparently, they had something to talk about with George Lucas, and as a result of the product of their joint activity, the viewer received a short and inexpensive course of rational-emotive psychotherapy.

One of the most indisputable "hooks" of the film epic is the old and not forgotten good that triumphs over evil. As it is beaten, but we want a happy ending. There are many deaths in the film, but mostly unfamiliar, minor persons die. There is even a resurrection of the beloved hero - Qui-Gon Jinn, which reminds everyone of the well-known biblical story. The life of one or the other hero hangs by a thread many times every episode, which maintains the intensity of passions. Moreover, the number of storylines, dialogues, flirting, fights and unearthly creatures is such per square centimeter of the screen that it has a trance (hypnotic) effect - pulling into the world on the other side of the screen. And at the same time, there is a clear understanding that the person sitting in the chair in the auditorium is safe, nothing threatens him, just like his favorite characters. Perhaps this is the biggest success of Star Wars - a bet on the desire of people to experience many passions and not pay for it with their fate.

"The New Myth of the Hero's Journey"

“Lucas' films reflect the existential quest of a young man - the desire for freedom, for defining one's values, for finding one's own place, for finding love,” says Evgeny Tumilo, a gestalt consultant. - If you look into history, then the first film by George Lucas, the space dystopia "Galaxy THX-1138" (1971), already had all these components, although it did not achieve significant success. The second picture, "American Graffiti" (1973), also filmed for and about youth, was devoted to the rituals of growing up and perfectly guessed the need of an entire generation for its own image on the movie screen. “I decided to document how my generation hit girls,” Lucas himself recalls. The picture was a huge success and went with a bang not only in America but also in Europe, collecting a number of the most prestigious awards and nominations, including the Oscar.

Commercial success allowed Lucas to become an independent director and return to the space theme - more versatile and more spectacular, and therefore more interesting to a wide audience. At the same time, familiarity with the epics of different parts of the world and the ideas of the mythologist Joseph Campbell (“Mythology is psychology”) made it possible to clothe in a metaphorical form everything that Lucas knew about the life and needs of the younger generation. Thus, the idea of Star Wars took shape - a spectacular, exciting movie for young people, talking to them about current issues in a universal language of metaphors that are understood all over the world. Thus was born the new myth of the Hero's Journey.

The first trilogy (episodes 4-6) is dedicated to the formation of the Hero and the psychology of goodness, where quite clear metaphorical messages based on humanistic values are read behind a fascinating plot and mind-blowing special effects: “Listen to yourself”, “Rely on relationships with people”, “Boldly look into eyes to your fears. Unlike most films about superheroes and the fight between Good and Evil, Lucas does not divide people into bad and good, but shows that everyone has a particle of both. This is an important point, because it illustrates the fundamental findings of social psychology of the 60s and 70s - the concept of "banal evil" by Hannah Arendt and the "Stanford Prison Experiment" by Philip Zimbardo. Lucas also shows that the future is not predetermined, and parental scripts, especially negative ones, can be changed. That "bad parents" can not be killed, literally or figuratively, but forgiven. That the basis of one's own harmony is in accepting oneself and one's past. The strength is to listen to yourself and trust yourself. But this is also a great danger, if suddenly the place of love is occupied by pain and fear.

The second trilogy (1-3 episodes) just reveals the theme of the fall of the Hero, exploring the psychology of Evil. Evil tries to be anonymous, acting from behind the scenes or wearing a mask. Evil erases human features, producing faceless clones. Evil is cruel and selfish. But the main thing that pushes a person to the Dark Side is “not cruelty and backwardness, but his isolation and lack of normal social relationships” (Hannah Arendt).

Comparing both trilogies, one can notice a strange, at first glance, paradox. With the most similar starting conditions, the fates of the two heroes, Luke and Anakin, end in fundamentally different ways. Luke, sacrificing himself, preserves and finds himself new. Anakin, on the contrary, trying with all his might to maintain the elusive, as it seems to him, happiness, completely loses himself as a person. Luke accepts his fate, Anakin breaks it. Joseph Campbell famously said, "Yesterday's hero will become tomorrow's tyrant if he does not sacrifice himself today." And this wisdom can be applied to various aspects of human life, not only to politics. The mother who gave birth and raised her son is an undeniably heroic figure. But as soon as she tries to leave the child, as they say, "for herself", and the transformation into a tyrant will immediately follow. Therefore, without sacrifice, not a single transformation, not a single journey is possible. Trying not to pay can result in much greater losses.

Importantly, Lucas repeatedly shows that the fight against Evil itself does not put the hero on the Light side. Heroism, as a counterbalance to the “banality of evil”, consists in two fundamental things: “one must act when the rest are passive; one must act for the common good, not one's own" (Philippe Zimbardo).

Thus, the full cycle of Star Wars is a story of the formation of a personality or a heroic epic that inspires you to find yourself and, at the same time, warns against false values and dangerous temptations. In "Star Wars" the truths accumulated and tested by many generations, necessary for the existence of man and mankind, are figuratively transmitted. Truths are sometimes very difficult and painful. The mythological form allows you to read them as safely as possible, comprehending level after level according to your own capabilities. It is because of this existential depth of its own, and not just special effects, that George Lucas' space saga will for a long time to come be perhaps the best instruction for all of us."

Please note: This essay, written for the Catolic World Report, is based in part on reviews and essays previously published on the Decent Films website and in the National Catholic Register.
(Stephen D. Greydanus)

The circle is closed.

The saga that began in the middle more than a quarter of a century ago with Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi (also known to fans as Episodes IV, V, and VI, respectively) has finally come to its end. finale with the release this May of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, the third (and final) part of the new prequel trilogy, revealing to us the backstory of the original trilogy.

While the new prequels have almost universally received more lukewarm reception than the classic trilogy, the Star Wars universe is still a cultural stratum - and a vast stratum at that. The impact Star Wars has had on Hollywood is truly incalculable. Impossible to imagine Indiana Jones movies, E.T. ("Alien"), "The Matrix" or "Lord of the Rings" without "Star Wars". It's no secret that Lucas' most bitter critics accuse Star Wars of nothing less than the "destruction" of Hollywood, as it turned audiences away from the sophisticated sophistry of films like The Godfather, Taxi Driver or Ann Hall" instead seducing them with teenage fantasies, showmanship and romance.

Here is a typical quote from Peter Biskind's diatribe manifesto "Easy Riders, Raging Bulls: How the Sex-Drugs-and-Rock'n' Roll Generation Saved Hollywood" fed on a sophisticated diet of European cinema and New Wave Hollywood, back to the naïve simplicity of the pre-sixties era, to the golden age of cinema... They went back through the mirror.”

True, you can look at this situation from a different point of view and present everything in a completely different light: it was Lucas and Spielberg who "saved Hollywood" from decline in the era of "sex, drugs and rock and roll" and returned the good old story to cinemas " good versus evil."

But this does not mean that there are no grounds for criticism of Lucas. From an artistic standpoint, the shortcomings and limitations of the Star Wars films—and many of their lesser successors, from Independence Day to Tomb Raider—are quite obvious. They are unsophisticated, do not shine with acting, sometimes poorly thought out and often get bogged down in their own internal contradictions.

The further the Lucas saga developed, the more obvious all its shortcomings became. When the astute Lucas gave his first Star Wars movie the puzzling subtitle "Episode IV - A New Hope," he probably didn't have a clear vision for the entire six (or nine) movie series yet. Rather, he was simply paying homage to the daytime adventure series of his childhood; he wanted to experience the feeling of an artist standing in front of a large blank canvas, but, in fact, he had only vague ideas about possible sequels in his head and even vague ideas about a backstory that was completely hypothetical at that time.

As a result, the more Lucas tried to extrapolate events that could happen before or after A New Hope, the more problems arose. The Empire Strikes Back is widely regarded as the most complex and entertaining film in the classic trilogy, but Return of the Jedi was already showing seams. The prequel brought with it a bunch of new problems, throwing firewood on the fire of criticism.

And yet, despite these pitfalls, the Lucas universe has had a significant impact on a generation of moviegoers - thanks to its valuable qualities as spectacle and moving story. The Force, the Jedi Knights, Darth Vader, Obi-Wan, Princess Leia, Yoda, lightsabers, and the Death Star occupy such a strong place in the public consciousness of countless Americans that they may well be called mythology.

In my article on A New Hope, I called Star Wars "the quintessence of American mythology": taking a little bit of King Arthur, Tolkien and samurai legends, giving it all the trappings of a space opera in the vein of Buck Rogers and Flash Gordon, and embellishing it with nostalgic clichés from the golden age of Hollywood - brave travelers, dogfights from films about the Second World War, cinematic Nazi villains and gunfights in the saloon.

Shootouts in the saloons, of course, belong to another great American mythology - Westerns. (Thanks to which Han Solo is endowed with a completely cowboy look and cowboy habits). By the 1970s, however, Westerns were no longer as popular as they used to be (although their influence continued to be felt in a variety of films, from Star Wars to Die Hard to Armageddon).

In any case, these cowboy and Indian stories have always been tied to real chronology and geography - although this has nothing to do with the plausibility of the stories themselves - in this sense they are more like a legend than a myth. A legend is precisely the literary genre in which expressions like "a long time ago" or "far, far away" are commonly used. (Some westerns do, in fact, occasionally have elements of the paranormal as well, but not to the point of classifying the western as a mythical genre, like, say, ghost stories.)

However, there is one aspect in which Westerns are more like traditional mythology than Star Wars: culture formation. Like the tales of King Arthur or the classic Greco-Roman legends of gods and heroes, the legends of the Wild West are a collection of innumerable stories told and retold many times over, in a thousand different ways, by a great many storytellers.

In this respect, Star Wars is more like Tolkien's "tabloid" version of The Lord of the Rings than Malory's Le Morte D'Arthur, an unrivaled work of epic myth-making that draws on multiple sources but is told from the perspective of a single narrator.

Of course, it goes without saying that as a "mythopee" (i.e., "mythic epic"), Star Wars cannot compete with The Lord of the Rings. This stems from several reasons; but the main reason is, no doubt, the obvious disparity between the artistic, figurative, spiritual and intellectual means of these two creators, as well as the discrepancy between their ambitions. (It is fair to say that Lucas created the film while Tolkien worked on the text. Tolkien had the luxury of editing and refining his story until he got the result he wanted, something that Lucas never managed to accomplish despite his heroic efforts. on creating "special editions" and final DVD versions.)

Tolkien was an Oxford scholar, professor of linguistics and literature, a man well acquainted with Norse and Anglo-Saxon myths (he read them in their original language); he was the one who wanted to create a mythology for England and the English (Tolkien did not perceive Arthurian as a true mythology because of its historical - and especially religious - contradictions with the real world). In addition, he was a devout Catholic.

In contrast, Lucas is a filmmaker of modest talents whose knowledge of myth-making is limited to a casual familiarity with the mythological archetypes he learned about from the books of Joseph Campbell. He has no explicit religious beliefs and has always thought of his Star Wars as "popcorn movies" for kids. Meanwhile, these films, like The Wizard of Oz, make a lasting impression on young viewers, and this impression remains with them even when they enter adulthood. These films, for all their shortcomings, have an amazing ability to bring out the child in us.

Paradoxically, the critical scorn of Star Wars is often based not only on the films' undeniable flaws, but also on the same myth-epic qualities that other works are touted for. These critics, armed with an ideological axe, want to smash all mytho-epic as such to smithereens. In fact, the criticism directed at Star Wars is no different from the criticism addressed to The Lord of the Rings - all these claims can be equally brought against any other mythological work, from The Odyssey to Le Morte D' Arthur".

What mythological qualities are the most ridiculed? Critics reproach Star Wars (and Tolkien) for literary borrowings, stereotypical characters and situations, a lack of psychological depth, and a moralistic approach to seeing the problem of good and evil, devoid of any shades. ("Star Wars," among other things, is accused of primitivism - in particular, that the dialogue in the film does not stand up to scrutiny.)

What all these critics don't seem to understand is how the principles of mythology work. The characters of myths, the situations in which they find themselves, are rather archetypal rather than stereotypical; in the case of Star Wars, this is due to the mythic and archetypal imagery and structures that Lucas borrowed from Campbell's influential treatise The Hero With a Thousand Faces.

At first glance, stereotypes and archetypes look similar: both there and there use the most effective stimuli to attract attention - only the stimuli themselves are very different from each other. The purpose of stereotypes is to exploit common prejudices and misconceptions. For example, "Titanic" by James Cameron, the absolute champion of the American box office, in order to gain popularity among the audience used such stereotypical ideas as "the rich are snobs and arrogant cretins", "the poor are romantics, free in spirit", "passionate love is able to overcome moral prohibitions and social foundations” - etc.

In contrast, archetypes work on the principle of association with primary or basic categories. Archetypal figures and situations in Star Wars include the Hero (Luke Skywalker), the Wise Old Man (Ben Kenobi), the Call to Action with a Mandatory Refusal (Luke, at first, doesn't want to follow Ben and become a Jedi), the B -Belly-U-Whale ”(heroes are “swallowed” by the Death Star), and so on.

In these plots, well known to all, the confrontation between good and evil is described in a more acute, grotesque form than it would happen in real life; in a truly realistic drama, we would have to reflect halftones, moral torments, conflicts of interest, unforeseen contradictions - in a word, everything that is an integral part of real life, and not black and white conflicts from fairy tales and myths.

And again, we are back to what some critics accuse of "mythopaeus": do you want your children to imagine conflict situations in this light? Don't we want them to have a broader, more critical view of the world around them? How many wars in the real world turn out to be as black and white as the heroic struggle of Lucas's Rebel Alliance against the evil Empire?

At least one: a war between heaven and hell. This war breaks out from time to time - figuratively speaking, of course - manifesting itself in earthly conflicts of one sort or another. Of course, we want our children to learn to recognize the nuances, the shades of gray, and the legitimacy of moral choices. Of course, we want them to be able to think critically, hold their own leaders to account, treat opponents with due understanding, etc.

On the other hand, we also want them to realize that in this world there is both obvious good and obvious evil, and in order to accept this reality, there is nothing better than "mythopei". And in order to introduce children to the "mythopee", in our today's world there are several films like Star Wars. (No doubt, Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings is also an excellent mythopoeia, but this film is less suitable for children.)

True, the credentials that declare Star Wars to be "mythopean" are not undeniable. In his scathing essay written for Salon.com, Stephen Hart claimed that the real inspiration for Star Wars was cheap sci-fi novels, flat and primitive, and all claims of mythological allusions were nothing more than an attempt at self-promotion on the part of Lucas, in aided by gullible journalists like Bill Moyers.

Well, Hart is entitled to his opinion. Lucas is a rogue beast whose statements should be treated with a great deal of skepticism; and of course, the impact of cheap sci-fi series on Star Wars should not be underestimated - well, let's be blunt and admit that the Lucas saga is pulp fiction, and that's it. However, Hart's argument becomes highly controversial when he tries to expose the mythical basis on which the whole story rests.

As an example of "far-fetched" associations with myths, Hart cites the traditional motif "In the Belly of the Beast" - a motif that inquisitive Star Wars researchers have found manifestations everywhere: from the story of the Millennium Falcon hit in the throat of an asteroid monster ("Empire Strikes Back") before falling into a compactor in A New Hope.

Hart rightly points out that none of these events actually correspond to the classic mythical motif, since being "in the belly of a monster" symbolizes some important transition or transformation, "death and resurrection", similar to what Jonah experienced in the belly of a whale or Christ in tomb. In general, this is not quite the same as when the rescue from the garbage bin opened up new horizons of the Force for Luke, or when the relationship between Han and Leia changed after being in the throat of an asteroid monster.

However, if we consider as a “monster” not a garbage compactor, but directly the Death Star itself, then everything falls into place. A strikingly similar example of this kind, in fact, can be found in The Fellowship of the Ring, during a hike through the mines of Moria. Both here and aboard the Death Star, trembling heroes must penetrate the insides of an enemy-occupied citadel, fight for their salvation and escape from their pursuing enemies.

Most tellingly, in both cases, the characters make a successful escape only after—and immediately after—the master mentor archetype sacrifices itself during a sacred battle with evil incarnate and thus gives the others a chance for salvation. (Near the place where Obi-Wan fell at the hands of Vader, there is a shaft, very similar to the abyss into which Gandalf fell - this suggests that in this way Lucas, voluntarily or unwittingly, reflected the influence exerted on him by The Lord of the Rings The book had a veritable cult following in the late 1960s.)

The loss of a mentor is a key turning point in the Hero's Journey (King Arthur, according to some versions of the story, lost Merlin once in the same way); from now on, the hero, left alone, must change and from now on rely only on his own strength. In Star Wars, this transition is somewhat expanded and softened by the fact that Luke is immediately aware of Obi-Wan's out-of-body presence ("Run, Luke, run!"), which elevates Luke to a new level of understanding of the ways of the Force.

Ironically, although Lucas' master mentor proclaims that after death he will "become more powerful than can be imagined," only Tolkien's mentor becomes truly powerful after his death. Lucas never bothered to endow the ephemeral Kenobi with more power or more wisdom than he had in his previous life. The reasons for this disparity stem directly from the religious worldviews of these two men, Lucas and Tolkien. Tolkien's story reflects his belief in posthumous resurrection, especially the resurrection of Christ, while Lucas's story, in fact, includes only some vague theses about the salvation of the soul.

Another important metamorphosis that happened to Luke after staying on the Death Star is the fact that there he takes the first step towards his "Journey of the Hero" (definition from Campbell's book. - Riila), namely, saving the maiden. At the same time, here - as elsewhere in the story - Star Wars takes the classic archetypes quite loosely: the dynamic of the rescue scene is enhanced by the fact that the maiden here is not a helpless damsel in distress, but blaster-wielding, self-assured Rebel leader.

Other examples of the same kind - that is, when capture and subsequent daring escape from hostile territory are accompanied by a symbolic transition of a character to a qualitatively new level - in Star Wars include the following moments:

Wumpa Snow Beast Cave in The Empire Strikes Back when Luke's Force powers skyrocket;
The Tree of Evil on Dagobah in The Empire Strikes Back when Luke battles his own fear and discovers some dark secret connected to Darth Vader;
Luke's rescue mission in Jabba the Hutt's palace in Return of the Jedi, especially when he is caged with a rancor and when he escapes death at the last minute in the mouth of a sarlacc, these examples clearly show that Luke has changed from an impatient upstart into a warrior hero;
Luke's infiltration on the second Death Star in Return of the Jedi, where he takes on the biggest challenge of his life, passes the test with flying colors, and is finally promoted to Jedi Knight;
The entrance to the huge stadium on Geonosis in Attack of the Clones, when fear of imminent death tells Amidala to confess her love for Anakin;
The space battle scene in Revenge of the Sith as Anakin "wields fire and sword" blasts his way onto an enemy ship and unleashes his rage, taking a fatal step on his journey to the Dark Side.

There are many elements to the Star Wars mythology: Jedi Knights with their supernatural powers, evoking Chinese action films about the invincible masters of Shao-Lin; in contrast, the films feature evil Sith lords or "Darts" who are "always two"; repetitive motifs like intense duels near a bottomless pit where a defeated opponent usually falls. But of all these elements, none is more common and ubiquitous than the notorious "Force", the focus of mystery and source of knowledge in the Jedi universe.

Here, too, Campbell's influence may be at work. Campbell himself appears to be a kind of pantheist or monist, believing that the "highest mystery" is an abstract energy rather than a person called God.

In Lucas's interpretation, the "Power" is not as unambiguous as Campbell's idea of abstract energy as the "highest mystery". In A New Hope, the Force is described as an "energy field" generated by all living beings and connecting the entire galaxy together; this field kind of "governs your actions" but also "obeys your commands". In Episode I: The Phantom Menace, by contrast, the Force seems to have a lot of personal characteristics: Jedi Knight Qui-Gon repeatedly refers to it as the "living Force" and even speaks of "the command of the Force" - an attitude bordering on theism.

That the Force has a "good side" and a "dark side" is known to all; at the same time, when we are told in "Empire" that "the dark side is not stronger", it is not clear whether the light side is also "not stronger", given the balance of good and evil in the "yin and yang" type ".

In addition, many factors indicate that in the end, good and evil did not come to a state of equilibrium. In particular, one general idea permeates all films that the forces of good must certainly triumph over the forces of evil; this is especially evident in the finale of Return of the Jedi, where stormy victories follow one after another.

Another point: usually the characters use the word "Strength" without specifying its qualitative characteristics, that is, they do not specifically emphasize that it is about the Light Side. At the same time, if the conversation implies the Dark Side, then this is directly indicated. No one says, "Use the light side of the Force" or "May the Light side of the Force be with you"; it is taken for granted. In fact, the phrase "light side" itself is used very, very rarely, and the phrase "light side of the Force" seems to have never been used at all; at the same time, the expressions "dark side" and "dark side of the Force" are used all the time. The definition of "bright side", apparently, is not required, because the concept of "Strength" - in itself, without any clarifications, means the light side.

Interestingly, the prequels added further confusion to the notion of "balance" in the Force, declaring Luke's father, Anakin Skywalker, the messiah, the chosen one, who, according to the prophecy, would have to "restore the balance of the Force." But, as has become abundantly clear in Revenge of the Sith, this will not be done by establishing a balance between good and evil, but by destroying the evil Sith - as happens in Return of the Jedi. So "balance" in the Force is defined not as the coexistence of yin and yang, not as the interpenetration of good and evil, but as the triumph of good over evil. This suggests the primacy of good over evil and is consistent with Judeo-Christian doctrine.

(The English expression “leap of the faith” is rather difficult to translate into Russian; it means a situation where a person decides on a bold, even desperate act, firmly believing that the powers of heaven will help him. This is something like a jump into the unknown blindfolded, when you can only rely on your faith. - Nexu)

Like the later Matrix trilogy, Star Wars was influenced by both East and West with their Christian, Buddhist, Hindu and many other teachings, which in the film were very widely interpreted and analyzed in every possible aspect. As for the films about The Matrix, Zen philosophy and Christian themes were united by a postmodern plot, and thus lost the atmosphere of transcendence (the presence of higher powers) and spirituality. Star Wars, on the other hand, offers a more traditional ethic, when the world is dominated by higher powers, and good fights evil.

Unfortunately, the new prequels, especially Episodes I and II, have failed to live up to the standards of the original trilogy. Despite impressive advances in CGI and scenes filled with irrepressible bravado, these films lacked the feel of a classic trilogy. The humor and charisma that made Luke, Leia, and Han so attractive were all but absent from Qui-Gon, young Obi-Wan, Anakin Skywalker, and Amidala. And, the more Lucas delves into the history of Anakin Skywalker, the worse the pieces fit together in a well-known mosaic.

More specifically, those borrowed from mythology archetypes that made the classic trilogy so beloved and popular around the world are completely absent in Episodes I and II. The original trilogy was about good and evil, heroism and meanness, discipline and passion, temptation and atonement for sins. In contrast, Episodes I and II are largely fixated on political intrigue and debate, teenage stubbornness and boyish infatuation. The straight-forward adventure story of the classic trilogy has been replaced with obscure political shenanigans involving trade route taxation and Republican separatists.

(In one article I recently read something like this: “The separatists in the form of the Trade Federation decided to flex their muscles in front of the Coruscant senators and staged a demonstrative blockade of Naboo for this? Malaysian embargo.” - Nexu)

While the classic trilogy was based on Jungian archetypes, the plots of the prequel films seem completely Freudian, and even reminiscent of Oedipus plays in places; Anakin is a tragic figure whose destiny is to kill his adoptive father (Obi-Wan) and marry his (surrogate) mother, Amidala.

It cannot be said that Freudian symbols were not present at all in the classical trilogy. One can detect the hidden erotic subtext in the way the lightsaber blade is activated and deactivated, in the way the tiny X-Wings circle around the huge egg-like Death Star in an attempt to fertilize it; and, of course, the Freudian sense can be found in the conflict of fathers and children between Luke and Vader.

And at the same time, the Freudian theory in the classic trilogy was completely subverted. Return of the Jedi is based on the story of a son who refuses to fight and kill his father - in fact, he sacrifices himself and endures suffering to save his father. In addition, Luke has no mother (or anyone who could act as a mother), and no marriage partner (let's not take into account Leia's slight infatuation before he finds out that she is his sister).

In contrast, in the prequel, Freudian and Oedipal motifs are very clearly expressed. There is an obvious psychoanalytic subtext in how Anakin's mother is perceived. "Your mind goes back to your mother," says one member of the Jedi Council in The Phantom Menace (Ki-Adi-Mundi.-Nexu). This Jedi looks like a real alien Freud - with a white beard and an unusually elongated head that resembles both the head of a philosopher-sage and a phallic symbol. Of course, the intonational emphasis on the word "mother", and even with a pronounced stress on the first syllable, is not at all accidental.

It is also no coincidence that Amidala is noticeably older than Anakin, and that soon after meeting her he leaves his mother. And it is no coincidence that in Episode II: Attack of the Clones, Anakin repeatedly says that Obi-Wan is “like a father to me”, or that “I have no one closer to him”: subconsciously he blames his father (absent father) for all those hardships that fell to his lot in childhood.

In principle, the Oedipal play cycle is perhaps as valid a source for modern mythologizing as the eternal battle between good and evil. At the same time, the great attraction of the classic trilogy to viewers may be that Freud (here we use the apt phrase from The Phantom Menace) "analyzed too much."

However, now with Revenge of the Sith, Lucas is finally getting into the rhythm of the classic trilogy and writing a prologue to his myth - as he originally intended decades ago. If the original trilogy was a story about the birth of a hero, then "Revenge of the Sith" is a story about a tragic fall, about evil, which does not always oppose good head-on, but often chooses the path of deceit and temptation.

Revenge of the Sith begins with a lengthy battle scene that culminates with Anakin attempting to land a dilapidated starship as it swoops down toward the earth like Lucifer is cast out of the sky. At the end of the film, this disastrous fall of Anakin will be fully completed, and he will be destined to fight with his mentor, Obi-Wan Kenobi, on a volcanic planet, in the middle of boiling lava flows, where the faces of rivals will be illuminated by reflections of the infernal flames of hell.

The climactic scene, in which Anakin is almost completely burned in a fiery lava flow, is the last and most striking example of Lucas being influenced by Christian ideas and categories. Other examples include a distinctly satanic character, Darth Maul of The Phantom Menace, horned, red-skinned, dressed all in black; one can also recall that Anakin was born "with an immaculate conception" and was named the Chosen One, whose destiny was to destroy evil. The dreaded "Order 66" from Revenge of the Sith is a response to the "Number of the Beast" from the Book of Revelations; and let's not forget the redemptive suffering of the son (Luke Skywalker) in the climactic scene of Return of the Jedi.

Needless to say, Star Wars is a far cry from Christian allegories; if you do not recall the frank duality of yang-yin or pantheism, then we can say that the influence of Eastern religions manifested itself here to a much greater extent. In "Empire" Yoda shows the characteristic Gnostic contempt for everything physical, including his own body ("We are beings of light, and the flesh does not matter here"). In Revenge of the Sith, Yoda brings Anakin's attention to the essence of the Jedi philosophy of detachment; this philosophy extends beyond Christian liberties and approaches, rather, the dispassion that the followers of the Buddha cultivate in themselves. According to Yoda, our acceptance of death should be so absolute that we should not even mourn the dead.

And yet, all these Eastern elements are involved - no matter how they object - to humanistic and Christian tendencies. Yoda may neglect his body, but the films talk about the immortality of the individual, the preservation of his "I" after death, and not just about merging with the Force. Moreover, this confirms that eschatologically the fate of good and bad is not the same: if for a Sith death is just physical destruction, then for a Jedi it is, in a way, a door to a new life (even if Lucas was not able to realize that such a new life in the highest sense).

It is precisely because of its eschatological completeness that the ubiquitous theme of temptation and moral choice is so prominent in Star Wars that it has never been in Eastern religions. The Buddha may also have been tempted, as Lucas noted in his commentary on Campbell's book, but for the Buddha temptation could only serve as another stepping stone on the inevitable path to enlightenment. And vice versa - for Anakin and Luke, temptation serves as a bait and leads to a fall. And finally, the films themselves reject Yoda's Zen-like doctrine of complete renunciation of all mortality when they show us the moment of moral redemption of Darth Vader destroying the Sith, or when they show us Luke's filial love for his father and Vader's paternal affection for his son.

Of course, the Star Wars films are not a coherent philosophy of life, ethics, or spirituality. Rather, they offer us a gripping narrative filled with themes of moral struggle and reflection on higher powers. The characters in these films are not Christians, but they are not without their problems; the plot of these films is most reminiscent of the classical Greco-Roman myths, on which many generations of children grew up. Just like these myths, they give us an idea - however imperfect - of basic human values, and just like these myths, Star Wars has become part of our culture.

If the adventures of Hercules or Odysseus can be enjoyed by Christians and shared with their children, the same is true of Luke Skywalker or Obi-Wan Kenobi. Star Wars is popular mythology, a "sub-myth", as one critique recently wrote; but in our subculture, even a sub-myth is much more preferable than no myth at all, and certainly preferable to some less healthy mythologies (such as the one in the Matrix trilogy). And even for those who usually prefer a more traditional diet, there may well be a lot of attractiveness and usefulness in this, albeit slightly raw, but wonderfully served fantasy of good and evil.