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30 years later …
STAR WARS:
WHY IT ENDURES, WHY WE NEED IT ... AND WHY IT’S STILL SUCH FUN
Newt Gingrich, Nancy Pelosi, Dan
Rather, Peter Jackson,
Camille Paglia and Other Thought Leaders Discuss the Charm, Enduring
Impact and Mythic Underpinnings in Two-Hour Special
STAR WARS™:
THE LEGACY REVEALED
On The
History Channel®
World
Premiere Monday, May 28, at 9pm ET/PT
Thirty years ago, an unheralded
film known as Star Wars opened in theaters and took audiences on
a groundbreaking journey to a galaxy far, far away. It instantly seized
the public’s imagination, and three decades later still claims that
grasp.
Now, a new special
from The History Channel seeks to understand why the emotional impact of
the Star Wars Saga remains as relevant as ever. The two-hour
special, STAR WARS: THE LEGACY REVEALED, is a World Premiere
on The History Channel on Monday, May 28 at 9pm ET/PT.
Through interviews with politicians,
academics, journalists and critics – all of whom weigh in on the
enduring appeal of George Lucas’s creations – the special demonstrates
that Star Wars isn’t just a high-action adventure in space. It’s
a remarkably complex and sophisticated story about power, politics, sin,
spirituality and redemption—almost Shakespearean in its power, humor,
presentation and influence.
Click here
to win a STAR WARS: THE LEGACY REVEALED prize pack!
The special makes
the argument that Star Wars’ intensely compelling
stories—borrowed from diverse traditions, from Greek mythology and
American westerns to the Bible and even Vaudeville—compel us to explore
some of the biggest questions of our time. STAR WARS: THE LEGACY
REVEALED explores that view through interviews with politicians,
academics, journalists and critics, who all weigh in on the creations of
George Lucas. The special shows how seldom a movie can make us laugh
and think about our role in the universe—which may be why it has
stood the test of time.
 “The enduring appeal
of Star Wars,” says Tom Brokaw, “is that it’s this vastly
entertaining piece of cinema that also leaves you … with the idea that
there are some real issues out there that we ought to be thinking
about—good and evil, and right and wrong, and heroism. Generations of
people a long time from now will be enthralled by it, just as we are
enthralled by the story of Robin Hood or King Arthur’s Court or any of
the Shakespearean tales.”
The special unites a diverse group of
high-profile Star Wars fans, from filmmakers to politicians to
journalists. Their comments punctuate the still jaw-dropping footage
from all six episodes of the Star Wars Saga.
“The idea of the
underdog who’s on the right side defeating the overdog who’s on the
wrong side is a deeply American mythology,” says former Republican House
Speaker Newt Gingrich, who climbed a high political fence to agree with
current Democrat House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on the movies’ impact.
Says Pelosi: “The legacy of
George Lucas fits very comfortably among
the classics of all time, whether ancient or modern. “
Adds Lord of the Rings director
Peter Jackson: “You don’t even have to ask, ‘Will it stand the test of
time?’ It has and it will.”
 This
action-adventure film with lighthearted moments and touching purity,
demands that we focus on current fundamental themes, including
environmentalism, racism and the temptations of power and greed. As
author Carl Silvio notes, at times the movies seem prophetic: “In
Revenge of the Sith, when we hear Anakin say, ‘You’re either with me
or against me,’ it’s almost impossible not to hear that quote and think
of another very famous quote,” a point the special underscores with a
clip of President George W. Bush’s November 2001 news-conference quote:
“You are either with us or you are against us in the fight against
terror.”
The dichotomies of
good vs. evil and mechanism vs. humanity is apparent throughout the
movies, which carry themes of politics and power. In the Star Wars
universe, dictators are ruthless yet charismatic, and while some
politicians are well-meaning, as Princess Leia Organa demonstrates,
leaders are born from courage and conviction, not from gender.
With regard to other
kinds of power, C-3PO and R2-D2 demonstrate that machines can be
beneficial, while the feared Death Star shows us their danger. The Ewoks,
instrumental in the eventual defeat of the Empire, remind us that
natural, environmental solutions have as much as (or more) power than
man-made ones. That the movies are fun only gives their central
questions and observations more credence
How long will that
endure? “A hundred years from now,” says Joan Breton Connelly, an
associate professor of fine arts at New York University, “someone will
be sitting here discussing the impact of Star Wars and they will
be seeing different things in it than we are seeing today, just as today
we have classes in the university on Homer.”
Filmmaker Kevin
Smith: “It is bad guys versus good guys and everyone wants to see that
story. That story will never grow tired, never grow old.”
STAR WARS:
THE LEGACY REVEALED is
produced by Prometheus Entertainment in association with Lucasfilm Ltd.
Executive Producer is Emmy Award-winning filmmaker Kevin Burns (Empire
of Dreams, Look, Up in the Sky!). Executive Producer
for The History Channel is Beth Dietrich Segarra.
The History Channel®
is one of the leading cable television
networks featuring compelling original, non-fiction specials and series
that bring history to life in a powerful and entertaining manner across
multiple platforms. The network provides an inviting place where people
experience history in new and exciting ways enabling them to connect
their lives today to the great lives and events of the past that provide
a blueprint for the future. The History Channel has earned four Peabody
Awards, three Primetime Emmy® Awards, 10 News & Documentary Emmy® Awards
and received the prestigious Governor's Award from the Academy of
Television Arts & Sciences for the network's Save Our History® campaign
dedicated to historic preservation and history education. The History
Channel reaches more than 91 million Nielsen subscribers. The website is
located at www.History.com.
Some quotes from the show:
Journalist Dan Rather:
“Star Wars
resonates out of the best of our
classics: Beowulf…Homer… the Bible.”
Democrat House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi :
“The legacy of George Lucas
fits very comfortably among the classics of all time, whether ancient or
modern. ...the genius [who took] a story told over and over again in
history, in the Bible, in fairy tales, now in outer space.”
Former Republican House
Speaker Newt Gingrich:
“The idea of the underdog
who’s on the right side defeating the overdog who’s on the wrong side is
a deeply American mythology.”
Journalist Tm Brokaw:
“The enduring appeal of
Star Wars is ... it’s this vastly entertaining piece of cinema that
also leaves you … with the idea that there are some real issues out
there that we ought to be thinking about—good and evil, and right and
wrong, and heroism. Generations of people a long time from now will be
enthralled by it, just as we are enthralled by the story of Robin Hood
or King Arthur’s Court or any of the Shakespearian tales.”
Professor Joan Breton
Connelly:
“A hundred years from now
someone will be sitting here discussing the impact of Star Wars
and they will be seeing different things in it than we are seeing today,
just as today we have classes in the university on Homer.”
Filmmaker Kevin Smith:
“It is bad guys versus good
guys and everyone wants to see that story. That story will never grow
tired, never grow old.”
Lord of the Rings
director Peter Jackson:
“You don’t even have to ask,
‘Will it stand the test of time?’ It has and it will.”
Feminist critic Camille
Paglia:
“Lucas shows politics as
filled with potentially negative energies, but the individual can take
action.”
College professor John C. Lyden:
“It’s a timeless moral that
power may corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. And we have to
watch that. We have to safeguard democracy.”
Author Kevin J. Wetmore,
Jr.:
“Lucas is tapping into that
paranoia about business, about corporations. The Trade Federation is not
so far away from Enron.” |
Thirty
years ago, an unheralded film known as Star Wars opened in theaters and
took audiences on a groundbreaking journey to a galaxy far, far away. It
instantly seized the public’s imagination, and three decades later still
claims that grasp.
Star
Wars Picture Gallery