Star Wars and Japan
By Bobby
This New Year people all over the
world will go to see the new Star Wars movie in the cinema.
You might remember the
three original movies in the cinema, on video or playing with the toys as a
child. But where did George Lucas (the creator and director of Star Wars) get
his ideas from?
You might be surprised that was influenced by Japanese culture.
While a student at film school
George Lucas was first introduced to Japan through the movies of
Akira
Kurosawa. He saw famous movies like; ‘The
Seven Samurai’, ‘Yojimbo’ and ‘Hidden
Fortress’. Many years later he copied
directly from Kurosawa’s movie Hidden
Fortress; and based
the two arguing men at the start of the movie as the
robots C3PO and R2D2 in Star Wars.
Lucas also wanted Toshiro Mifune
to play Obiwan Kenobi or Darth Vader.
But Mifune refused as he thought the
characters were from a child’s movie. Princess Leia was
influenced by the
princess from the Hidden Fortress where
the Samurai rescue a princess.
In Star Wars the heroes rescue a princess from
the Death Star.
Darth Vader’s helmet
and the white Stormtrooper’s armor were based on Samurai armor.
The name Jedi
was also based on Japanese drama ‘Jidai-Geki’.
The Jedi robes were also styled
after kimonos and the movies famous light saber dual was taken
from Kurosawa’s famous
Samurai sword fights.
In Star Wars episode I, II, and
III princess Amedala’s name was taken directly from Japanese ‘
Ameda’ Buddhism and the scene of the
army marching over the hill in Star Wars
episode one is a direct copy of
the bandits coming over the hill from Seven Samurai.
Japanese culture has influenced
George Lucas and without Japanese culture and the influences of
Akira Kurosawa
the Star Wars movies would look very different. You can feel pride that when
millions of people across the world watch Star Wars, they will experience some
of Japan’s culture
as well.
