Transcript Star wars IV: A New Hope

By Bradley Wedlake
Synopsis
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Star Wars: A New Hope opens with a Rebel
ship being boarded by the tyrannical Darth
Vader. The plot then follows the life of a simple
farm boy, Luke Skywalker, as he and his newly
met allies (Han Solo, Chewbacca, Obi-Wan
Kenobi, C-3PO, R2-D2) attempt to rescue a
Rebel leader, Princess Leia, from the clutches
of the Empire. The conclusion is culminated as
the Rebels, including Skywalker and flying ace
Wedge Antilles make an attack on the
Empire's most powerful and ominous weapon,
the Death Star.
Genre
The Science Fiction genre is incredibly
present to the point of cliché: Set primarily
in space, futuristic technology (despite
being set in the past?), as well as frequent
appearances aliens and robots. There is
also elements of action: young hero
accompanied by dashing rogue saves
princess from villain then leads fight
against the bad guys.
Narrative
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Luke Skywalker, an innocent farm boy who just wants to see the stars,
is an incredibly relatable character for the audience as he is mostly
unaware to the horrors of the universe and is living a day to day life. His
journey throughout the film is of self discovery as he is thrown headfirst
into the world of a Jedi, as well as aiding the rebellion. His character at
the end of the film is brave and courageous as he shoots the reactor
leading to the death star’s explosion after engaging in a large space
battle. This is not the same Luke who we see searching for his uncle’s
approval at the start of the film.
Han Solo, an arrogant bounty hunter who’s primary aim is to make
money. His brutish shoot-first attitude is in stark contrast to Luke who
hadn’t handled a weapon prior to meeting Obi-wan. Han travels with his
Wookie companion, Chewbaca which shows he is not completely
heartless as they have a mutual bond, and i’m sure Han would be
devastated if ‘Chewy’ died. Han’s action at the end of the film, to save
Luke from Vader, show’s his character has gone on a journey as well,
as he was previously seen leaving prior to the attack after claiming his
bounty. This shows that his time aiding the protagonist’s helped his
character become less selfish.
Representation
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Locations in the film are meant to reflect real life
places i.e. Tattoine is obviously a country in Africa
close to the Sahara desert, Alderaan has a possibly
European appeal with it’s (alleged) green pastures.
The Death Star is used to emphasise to the
audience the science fiction setting.
The film has a primarily white, male cast as the only
black character in the original saga is introduced in
Episode V, and Princess Leia is only one of two
women in the whole original saga. This lack of
appropriate representation has caused controversy
as there is a huge variety of alien characters but no
variety with the Humans.
Audience

The film had huge global appeal and it
launched the second highest grossing
franchise of all time. But the majority of
cinema-goers were male due to the release
of “Grease” around the same time, which
had a primarily female audience. The film
continued the emergence of big-budget
science fiction films e.g. Close Encounters
of the Third kind, and also became a basis
of influence itself.
Institution
Lifetime domestic gross: $460,998,
 Worldwide total gross: $775,398,007
 Release date: May 25th 1977
 Runtime: 2 hours and 1 minute
 Production Budget: $11 million
 Distributor: Fox
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