Star Wars is a remix

Star Wars is a brilliant and original creation however, it still used many elements and scenes from other different movies and television shows at the time. This is shown and described wonderfully in episode two of Everything is a Remix when the video shows specific examples of scenes in Star Wars that draw heavily from other films.

The beginning of the proof that Star Wars is a remix comes from common archetype that it follows. This archetypal pattern is of a hero who goes on a quest and completes specific tasks along the hero’s journey. There is an abundance of films that follow this pattern and are in this archetype. Whether the creators planned for it or not many of the same overall plot points or details that are explained in the book The Hero with a Thousand Faces written by Joseph Campbell can be seen in so many different stories.

Secondly as the video points out there are many different scenes that can be traced back to previous creations made by other people. Including the iconic opening sequence of Star Wars that is remarkably like the opening sequence in the Flash Gordan television series that was created years before Star Wars was first shown. There are also many more parts of Star Wars that originated in different movies including the scenes where Luke discovers his family has been murdered and the combat on the death star resembling scenes from The Searchers and The Dambusters.

The reason why I think Star Wars is an original piece and not a copy or rip-off of the films that I mentioned previously is that the few scenes that can be linked to other movies are only short and small parts of an overall original and brilliant creation. In contrast is the use of the bass line from Under Pressure by Queen in Ice Ice baby by Vanilla Ice. In these two songs the bass line is the same and is used throughout the whole song and in very similar styles. Star Wars on the other hand only uses small parts of other films and transforms them in to something unique and specific to Star Wars rather than using the entire plot from these movies Star Wars made massive changes and was indirectly taking the scenes from these films rather than the direct copy that was done in Ice Ice Baby.

In conclusion I believe that creators of any type of media from film to song should always research or ask if certain things can or should be copied from other creators. This will save that creator from seeming like a copy or a cheat to their fans and critics and more importantly it will avoid any copywrite infringement or breaking of the law. I also think that in general creators should be more honest and clear about where their inspirations come from rather than denying the use of other peoples work they should not hide where their inspirations come and admit that they, like everyone else in the world are influenced by the work of the people who came before them.