Star Wars sources and analogues
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Star Wars, the popular science fantasy movie, as well as its prequels and sequels, are acknowledged to have been inspired by many sources. These may include Qigong, Greek Philosophy, Greek, Roman History and Roman Mythology, parts of the Bible, Confucianism, Shintoism and Taoism.
Many speculate that chivalry, knighthood, paladinism and such things in feudal societies inspiried some concepts in the Star Wars movies, most notably the Jedi Knights. The work of the mythologist Joseph Campbell, most notably his book The Hero with a Thousand Faces were also an influence on George Lucas, and are what drove him to create the 'modern myth' of Star Wars. The supernatural flow of energy known as The Force is believed to have originated from the concept of prana, or chi, "the all-pervading vital energy of the universe".
However, more sinister claims of plagiarism have been levelled at Lucas. The science fiction writer Isaac Asimov stated on several occasions that George Lucas's galaxy-wide Empire bore a close resemblance to the Galaxy depicted in Asimov's Foundation Series. The greatest differences are that Asimov's Galaxy contains no robots or non-human aliens; Asimov addressed both issues directly in the saga's later volumes, most notably Foundation's Edge and Foundation and Earth. Since Asimov's death in 1992, the Star Wars cinematic universe has gained new Asimov-esque elements: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace introduced the planet Coruscant, which bears a close resemblance to Asimov's Trantor (Coruscant technically originated in a book from the Star Wars Expanded Universe released in 1991).
Other influences may include Frank Herbert's Dune for the desert planet Tatooine and the spice mines of Kessel. Star Wars is known to be heavily inspired by Kurosawa's films The Hidden Fortress and Yojimbo.
External links
- Official Star Wars website (http://www.starwars.com)
- Star Wars Origins (http://www.jitterbug.com/origins/index.html)