Status Updates From The World According to Star...

Relates Jedi mind tricks to psych: how info is presented influences how it’s received; magicians use misdirection & our innate limited attention to deceive; also the “invisible gorilla” experiment— it was there but subjects were primed to not even see it

Must understand Lucas never looked b/y first movie— destined to be flop it seemed— but had lots of material

Joseph Campbell was Lucas’ Yoda
L interested in religion, studied anthropology(?)— drew from many sources/traditions— mono-myth; he self-consciously set out to capture mythical motifs in New Hope

Much talk of Destiny throughout all movies but insists on freedom of choice

Echo chambers lead to more extreme views, can lead to an Empire or a Rebellion too

The cascade effect is powerful in politics, rebellions & cultural impact like Star Wars — key is to spark favorable cascades

Author makes a point about all the movies & law: both begin with a foundational text (New Hope & constitution) & what follows must relate back to it (sequels & case law)

Lucas was making a point about freedom of personal choice in New Hope, but destiny & prophecy comes up often too

The force heavily influenced by Buddhism

In prequels Lucas explored how democracy turns to autocracy

What is the threshold for rebellion— need to reach social cascade where idea is exponentially accepted (like pop of Star Wars turned into mega phenomenon)

Author leans toward luck but there has to be some level of quality

Initial reviews of New Hope were positive; Spielberg said it was the greatest movie ever made

Won 7 Oscars out of 10 nominations

Harrison Ford: “There was a giant guy walking around in a dog suit—it was ridiculous.”

A New Hope was expected by studio to be a huge flop, actors agreed— no one predicted its commercial & critical success

There was some kind of cultural resonance that led to its success, but such success for a film is hard to predict: could be luck, or timing, social resonance

Lawrence Kasdan wanted to kill off Luke in Return but Lucas said no

Phantom Menace is better than you think, says author— no, no it’s not.

20th C Fox stock went from $6/share to $27 after Star Wars