Star Wars: The Magic of Myth (Paperback)

by Mary Henderson (Author)
Key Phrases: hero partners, concept drawing, hero quest, Star Wars, Death Star, World War (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
The companion to the Star WarsR exhibition at the Smithsonian.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Scientific American
A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...."The fairy-tale opening of George Lucas's 1977 movie Star Wars set the stage for a blockbuster trilogy that has become the stuff of cinematic legend. And through October 1998 the eclectic enchantment of Star Wars is re-created at the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. In Star Wars: The Magic of Myth, the museum plays host to a cosmic menagerie of Jawas, Tusken raiders and Imperial storm troopers, not to mention the ludicrous droids R2-D2 and C-3PO. The exhibit and the companion volume by its curator offer insightful commentary on the luxuriant symbolism of Lucas's "alternative universe." The costumes and production models on display illustrate Lucas's cleverness in creating not just a futuristic world of gleaming metal and overfriendly machines but one that is also ancient and battered, filled with characters drawn more from the imagery of medieval romance than from science fiction. The strategy works. We recognize the wizened guards and the virginal princesses from stories we have heard. Leather bindings, wooden accoutrements and frayed sackcloth are more prominent than Lycra and precision robotics, and Lucas ensured that the spaceships in his tale were well rubbed with dirt before he let the cameras roll. Only Princess Leia remained unsullied. In the forms of the strange creatures that lurk behind every pillar, too, Lucas borrowed shapes and textures familiar from a trip to the zoo. Greedo's face is a cross between that of a tarsier and a hatchet fish; Chewbacca is a friendly orangutan. And surely Jabba the Hutt's amphibian squint and bulging belly are made all the more abhorrent by his taste for live toads. Naturalistic touches such as these remind us that what we are seeing is really not so implausible. Mythological interpretations of the elements in the hero's journey of Luke Skywalker are outlined at appropriate points in the exhibit and explored at greater length in the book. This decoding of the story, expanded (with due credit) from the late Joseph Campbell's The Power of Myth, shows that the fairy-tale quality of the saga is far from coincidental. Indeed, Lucas, in a taped interview that visitors can watch, explains how he spent two years studying mythology when he was writing the Star Wars scripts. No wonder we feel the hand of fate at work when a plea for help serves as Luke's call to adventure. It was ever thus with damsels in distress, as Perseus learned with Andromeda. And it should be no surprise when a fatherly magician gives Lucas's hero an Excaliburesque light saber. High technology, of course, appears in the Star Wars movies in the horrific, labyrinthine Death Star, a space battle station capable of exploding entire planets. In the exhibit, a few malevolent minions serve as tokens of the dehumanizing dark empire and the wheezing prince of evil incarnate, Darth Vader, whom Luke battles as a rebel fighter pilot. The fascist symbolism in the empire's force is blatant, as is the significance of our gunslinging rescuers' leather holsters. The mystical, invisible Force is not on display, but its message is nonetheless clear: we want technology on our human terms, not its own impersonal ones. Whatever is lacking in subtlety in Lucas's cinematic creations is more than compensated for by their exuberant inventiveness. Nostalgia is worth a visit.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 224 pages
• Publisher: Spectra (November 3, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0553378104
• ISBN-13: 978-0553378108
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.5 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #601,773 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great resource, fun read for SW enthusiasts., April 4, 2001

By A Customer

If you've been lucky enough to see "The Magic of Myth" in one of its many permutations, this book is a great supplement to and a wonderful reminder of just how cool that exhibit was. If you haven't seen the exhibit, this book is still great to have for it's back-story on the origins of the trilogy.

I'm not the most well-read person around so it was a lot of fun to learn how Lucas' characters and story were shaped by (or copied from) myths and legends of other times and cultures. Reading this book has led me to explore some of the material that Lucas borrowed from in creating Star Wars. I'm a big SW nut, but it's nice to get my head out of the SW universe and out into other forms of art and literature.

If you don't feel like reading, this book is also full of GREAT photos from the trilogy.

I keep this one on the shelf next to Joseph Campbell's "Power of Myth." It is a nice complement to Campbell's book.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A wonderful book..., July 31, 2006

By	Scott Vela (Northwest, Indiana) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Within this book I would say this incredible look into the mix of Mythology, History and Star Wars that I have ever seen. A great companion Book to the "Magic of Myth" exhibit.. and it would make a great companion book to the Joesph Campbell books "The Hero with a Thousand faces and "The Power of Myth."

Basically giving the impression of the origin of the Star Wars Films. How Lucas was influenced with all these ideas and made the films what they are today. How timeless the story really has been. Also available is some of the pre production artwork from the Classic Trilogy.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great look at the magic behind George Lucas' masterpiece!, March 12, 1998

By A Customer

The Star Wars Trilogy is one of the most profound series of our time. This book shows how George Lucas put together many ingredients from history, mythical and factual, to create one of the best stories of good vs evil ever told. And the pictures and illustrations are beautiful. A "must have" for any Star Wars fan.