Revealing the Truth behind Star Wars

In 2011, for website Man, I Love Films, I wrote a short essay on each Star Wars film. Connecting the dots between the contemporary influences that impacted on the prequels and noting the influence of Tintin in the original trilogy, small nuggets of information that, prior to writing, I was unaware of was brought to the forefront of my mind. Not only did I appreciate the prequels more, but the original trilogy held a deeper, and more profound meaning. I have brought all the articles together, with sample quotes, and if you wanted to explore a little more of the writing -as I thoroughly enjoyed writing them - you can easily click on the appropriate links.

"On the opposite side of the spectrum, we have Qui-Gon Jin. The Japanese influences stem right back to A New Hope as C3PO and R2D2 clearly represent the two characters than feature in Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. But this is established further as Qui-Gon Jin maintains a buddhist-belief system."

Read the full review here: http://screeninsight.blogspot.co.uk/2011/09/star-wars-episode-1-phantom-menace.html

"Attack of the Clones features a stunning sequence through Coruscant - the Blade Runner urban-planet - that, through the yellow-spaceship and chase-sequence, seems to vividly recall Besson's The Fifth Element."

Read the full article here: http://screeninsight.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/star-wars-episode-2-attack-of-clones.html

"In The Phantom Menace we discussed the 'duality' of life, whilst in Attack of the Clones we are presented with confusion and corruption.Revenge of the Sithcategorically fights the definition of good and bad. Despite all the corruption in the senate, the ignorance of a the majority is what gives Palpatine strength. As Padme stated: "So this is how liberty dies - to thunderous applause""

Read the full article here: http://screeninsight.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/star-wars-episode-iii-revenge-of-sith.html

"Lucas feeds into this world droids which hark back toMetropolis - which, as a silent film of 1927, it managed to communicate it's message to the world: language was no barrier. C3P0 is a droid who is "fluent in over six million forms of communication"... much like the film itself was. Luke, Obi-wan, C3P0 and R2D2 set forth to fight the Empire on the basis that Luke's family are murdered - much like in The Searchers, whereby the film opens with the murder of the entire household of Ethan's (John Wayne) brother Aaron - this set Ethan, amongst others, to search for the two missing children."

Read the full article here: http://screeninsight.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/star-wars-episode-iv-new-hope-george.html

"But the galaxies themselves remain intact and ensure that the established worlds all represent different meanings. The release of The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn in Europe coincides nicely with this analysis as I believe the story Tintin in Tibet, may have influenced The Empire Strikes Back."

Read the full article here: http://screeninsight.blogspot.co.uk/2011/10/star-wars-episode-v-empire-strikes-back.html

"To close these essays, it is worth highlighting how the final film reveals a recurring theme of incompletion. The Death Star itself is incomplete, both Vader and Luke are physically incomplete as they both have missing hands whilst Luke is expected to only "complete" his training as a Jedi by defeating Darth Vader.This could relate to a number of interpretations - the idea that everyone has a spiritual and emotional need that requires 'filling'."

Read the full article here: http://screeninsight.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/star-wars-episode-vi-return-of-jedi.html

Suspiria (Dario Argento, 1977)

Introduction

This was a part of a double-bill session Gudgeon and I had one Sunday. Can't remember the other film, but this one was incredibly strange. Interesting fact: Dario Argento, Bertolucci and Sergio Leone wrote the script for 'Once Upon a Time in the West' - what a partnership that was!

Quick Synopsis

In the rain, Susie Bannon (Jessica Harper) decides to go to a very spooky-looking dance academy in Germany to study. Following many spectacular deaths - including roof-falls and dog-attacks - it turns out it is run by a witches coven and they'll kill anybody who threatens them. Susie successfully kills the witch and escapes, just, because - as they say - those who kill a witch inherits her powers... has Susie?

What I reckon...

This was released the same year as Star Wars, so its funny to think that the same year that the Skywalker battled Stormtroopers, this obscure badly-dubbed (Italian and American actors cast when many Italian actors couldn't speak English, they dubbed them into English) horror film is released also and, subsequently gained some type of cult following.

Now I don't know many B-movie's and so I don't think I can be too harsh about this movie as I have no comparison to really discuss with it. I watched 'The Craft' when I was younger though. Then again, I have watched 'The Cabinet of Caligari' - the 'original' German Expressionist horror movie and the camera angles and expressively-painted sets (Cinematographer was Luciano Tovoli - who was cinematographer on Sandra Bullock-led Hollywood movie 'Murder by Numbers' funnily enough) evoke the same atmosphere - even the story about the sinister figure of authority controlling a person (the 'somnambulist' in Caligari, the dancers in 'Suspiria') are similar themes -so with his in mind, there is some reason to compare. If I were to be so brash - is it inspired by the Hammer horror series? I have not watched a single 'Hammer' horror film so i must be careful, but it feels like they have a similar tone and - obviously with regard to budget - I assume they are both cheaply made. If anyone knows more, message me back about whether I am on the money or simply out of my depth.

Some of the characters too are simply messed-up. The school handyman Pavlo who is ugly as sin - in a school of dancers (as Napoleon would say: 'Lucky') and the blind pianist with his dog. There is even this random young school boy, akin to Damien in 'The Omen', whereby I feel these very quirky additions, simply add to the unease of the dance school. not to mention the ridiculous deaths - especially the dog-attack. I swear this dog attack was awful - this poor blind man trying to calm his restless dog and then boom, it attacks his neck.

I'm going to finish now because this might be one of those movies to come back to - its a very strange film with a very cheap budget but ti truly has its highlights. The main focus being the freedom to create this world that is rooted in traditional horror - at one point we venture into the city as Susie meets a friend and you feel like somethings gone completely wrong! You have been in the dance school with its archaic decor and strange painted walls, but its the setting and it adds to the uneasiness of the film. The dubbing can be frustrating, but once you get over that, you begin to appreciate the ambition of the director - I don't want to hark on about 'Caligari' - but I guess its selling point is this: "A technicolour 'Caligari' with gore Robert Wiene would only dream of in 1920!"