New Hope Or Only Hope?

I was just watching the original Star Wars, or as it's called today, Star Wars: Episode IV -- A New Hope.  It's pretty well put together. You can see why it was such a big hit, big enough to change Hollywood. It's hard to watch it as if it were something new, though.  It's like Hamlet--there are so many lines and moments that are iconic that it's hard to get past that.

But when it was released in 1977, no one could know that, which is why it was called Star Wars and not Episode IV.  George Lucas had a tough enough time getting a studio to buy his project.  He also had a lot of story that he didn't use, cutting his script down to what he considered (correctly, I would say) the most entertaining stuff.

But Lucas, years later, would claim he knew what was coming, and that's simply wrong.  The big surprise is that Darth Vader is Luke's father and Leia is his sister.  This doesn't make sense based on the first film.  It just worked out that way once Lucas realized he was doing a sequel.

Let's look in particular at Leia.  Even ignoring all the creepy stuff--she and Luke kiss and generate a bit of heat, something Lucas wouldn't have considered if he thought they were siblings.  But even before they meet, you've got the hero's quest at the center of the film.

Luke starts out as farm boy working on a rock of a planet, wishing for something bigger.  He sees the projected image of a magical princess, and that sets his mind ablaze.  This is the hero's quest.  He's got to find her, and be with her.

Don't get me wrong, there are a number of reasons Luke must go on his quest.  His mentor Obi-Wan Kenobi* needs to train someone as a replacement.  His aunt and uncle, who look out for him, are killed (Star Wars, remembered as a kid's film, is surprisingly harsh in places) so he needs to move on.  And his friends are already fighting with the rebels, so he wants to join anyway.

But, beneath it all, is that lust--not just for excitement and power, but for a beautiful, mysterious woman who seems beyond his grasp.  He's not going to cross the galaxy just to say "Hi, sis."

*I'm not the first to point this out: based on retrofitting from the other films, Obi-Wan is hiding out on Tatooine to watch over Luke.  He's one of the last Jedi, and the Empire would hunt him down if they knew he was still around.  So he changes his name from Obi-Wan Kenobi to Ben Kenobi.  Yeah, that'll fool them--just being one name away in the phonebook is the perfect disguise.