{"id":18790,"date":"2015-12-16T14:45:40","date_gmt":"2015-12-16T04:45:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=18790"},"modified":"2015-12-16T15:14:33","modified_gmt":"2015-12-16T05:14:33","slug":"star-wars-episode-iv-a-new-hope-1977","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/?p=18790","title":{"rendered":"Star Wars Episode IV – A New Hope [1977]"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Director: \u00a0<\/strong>George Lucas
\nWriter: \u00a0<\/strong>George Lucas
\nCast: \u00a0<\/strong>Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Alec Guiness<\/p>\nG<\/span>eorge Lucas is a visionary film maker who has made an indelible mark in pop culture history.\u00a0 He is responsible for one of the most popular and enduring film franchises ever created and along with Steven Spielberg, is basically the Godfather of the modern day blockbuster.<\/p>\n

Star Wars: A New Hope<\/em> \u2013 the original Star Wars<\/em> film \u2013 was released in 1978 and to this day it remains one of the finest instalments in the series and one the greatest films ever made in its own right. \u00a0It is unmatched in the cultural cache that it carries. \u00a0It has made screen legends out of Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford. \u00a0It is visually iconic – from the neon glow of the light saber to the simple sleek costume design that informed the looks of Darth Vader and the Storm Troopers. \u00a0To this day it has one of the most outlandishingly bombastic and scintilating musical scores ever recorded for film. \u00a0Star Wars<\/em>\u00a0really was a perfect storm in which everything came together just so.<\/p>\n

The film begins in memorable fashion with the iconic yellow text scrolling into the vast expanse of space, throwing the audience head long into a story about heroes, villains,\u00a0aliens, robots, princesses and space ships.<\/p>\n

The opening shot of a gargantuan Super Star Destroyer swooping overhead as it chases Princess Leia\u2019s miniscule rebel ship is the perfect introduction to the Star Wars universe and one of the many reasons why a newcomer to the series should start with A New Hope<\/em> over The Phantom Menace<\/em>. \u00a0It stirs the imagination and instantly lets the viewer understand the size and scope of the film they’re about to witness.<\/p>\n

One of the greatest attributes of A New Hope<\/em>\u00a0– which may be harder to appreciate in a modern context – is what an incredible job it does in introducing the universe and its characters to an audience previously unfamiliar with Star Wars<\/em>.\u00a0 It unloads a ton of exposition in deft fashion, telling\u00a0us just enough about Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Darth Vader in the opening act to make us invested in their fate.\u00a0 Arguably the biggest failing with the second trilogy conceptually is that it strips away a lot of the mystique of Star Wars<\/em>, telling us more about the Force and Darth Vader than we probably needed to know.<\/p>\n

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The story begins in earnest when a young Luke Skywalker and his uncle purchase two droids \u2013 R2D2 and C3PO – who were formerly the property of Princess Leia.\u00a0 Luke uncovers a secret holographic message inside R2D2 in which Leia begs the assistance of the mysterious Obi Wan Kenobi.\u00a0 Luke becomes enamoured with this vision of a beautiful princess and decides he will track down Obi Wan and Leia.<\/p>\n

At its heart, A New Hope<\/em>\u00a0is a simple and well worn story. \u00a0The Heroes Journey in which a Chosen One embarks on a quest to save a beautiful princess was inspired by the pulp sci-fi serials of Lucas\u2019 youth such as Flash Gordon<\/em>. \u00a0The rest of the film is a melting pot of ideas and tropes that Lucas has cribbed from countless sources. \u00a0It’s fantasy, sci-fi\u00a0, fairy tales and cheap dime store pulp fiction all rolled into one. \u00a0It comes together as far greater than the sum of its parts.<\/p>\n

Part of what makes Lucas\u2019 films so unique is that for all his ambition and creative flair, he also had some baffling and off-kilter ideas that could confuse and confound audiences.\u00a0 Friends, mentors and collaborators have been trying to help hone Lucas\u2019 vision ever since he dreamed up the idea of a plucky young Jedi Knight battling a galactic empire and decided to call it\u00a0Adventures of Starkiller Episode 1: The Star Wars<\/em> starring Luke Starkiller. \u00a0I can’t imagine some of the stranger narrative twists in the tale – such as Luke Skywalker unwittingly becoming attracted to his twin sister – would ever have made it out of pre-production in this day and age. \u00a0In 1977, a guiding hand seemed to do just enough to let Lucas’ imagination shine whilst cutting out any characters or narrative arcs that wouldn’t work. \u00a0Given freer reign and left to his own devices with the new trilogy starting in 1999, Lucas would struggle to find that balance.<\/p>\n

Perhaps uncertain of whether he would be able to make more films in the series, George Lucas goes for broke in cramming in as much story as possible in A New Hope. \u00a0<\/em>Revisting\u00a0<\/em>the film this year in anticipation of\u00a0A Force Awakens<\/em>, I was reminded of what a breathless pace the film clips along at. \u00a0We are introduced to all the key characters, learn about the ways of the Force, witness the firepower of the Death Star and are jet setting in the Millenium Falcon to rescue Leia, all within the first hour of the film.<\/p>\n

Where A New Hope<\/em>\u00a0is successful in filling in the blanks \u2013 the transition from Luke Skywalker meeting Obi Wan Kenobi to becoming a full blown Jedi apprentice happens in a matter of minutes \u2013 is thanks in large part to the razor sharp script that paints the characters in very broad strokes and then colours in the details with smart little idiosyncrasies, well observed mannerisms and punchy one liners.<\/p>\n

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The film is spoiled with riches. \u00a0Science fiction has never seen a hero with as much swagger as Han Solo before\u00a0Star Wars<\/em> or ever since. \u00a0In a series light on female roles, Carrie Fisher doesn’t settle for being a diminutive princess and when her attempted rescue goes pear-shaped, she memorably loses patience with Han and Luke, grabs a blaster and shoots her own way out. \u00a0Her banter and chemistry with Harrison Ford is a highlight\u00a0throughout the series.<\/p>\n

The universe Lucas creates feels brilliantly authentic. \u00a0There was a time when practically every science fiction sound stage was sterile, sparse and minimalist in design. \u00a0Lucas’ vision of the galaxy far, far away is one that is dusty, rusty, held together with duct tape and has a genuine ‘lived in’ quality. \u00a0The alien creatures – from the mighty Chewbacca to the misfits in the Mos Eisley Cantina – all feel like recognizable metaphors for human personalities.<\/p>\n

For my money, A New Hope<\/em> is one of the best films in the series.\u00a0 It isn\u2019t saddled by the immense baggage that the franchise would eventually come to carry. \u00a0Instead, it is handsomely constructed as a sharp, lean spectacle that is dripping with charisma and outstanding melodrama from woe to go. \u00a0Nearly forty years on, the film is as good and as popular as it ever was.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Luke Skywalker joins forces with a Jedi Knight, a cocky pilot, a wookiee and two droids to save the universe from the Empire’s world-destroying battle-station, while also attempting to rescue Princess Leia from the evil Darth Vader.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18792,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1800,5],"tags":[2354,1036,2355,2356,779],"class_list":["post-18790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-classics","category-films","tag-a-new-hope","tag-george-lucas","tag-harrison-ford","tag-mark-hamill","tag-star-wars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18790"}],"version-history":[{"count":23,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18795,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18790\/revisions\/18795"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/18792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.thefatwebsite.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}