The two Star Wars trilogies constitute one
single work of art which should be, whenever possible, considered as a whole.
Star Wars
do not belong to the science fiction genre.
Star Wars
are not popular entertainment. George Lucas has always seen himself as an auteur. His art is
experimental, conceptual and elitist.
Artists are the mythmakers of our time, according to
Joseph Campbell.
He postulates
the necessity of creating a new myth appropriate to our age and acceptable anywhere in the world. Star Wars are a
deliberate attempt at creating such a myth.
Campbell’s book ‘The Hero with a Thousand Faces’ inspired Lucas and provided him with the framework of
Monomyth.
Myths are
edifices of intent, scaffolded by abstract structures of unimaginable antiquity. Once intended, they exist independently of man and influence even their original creators. Campbell indicated how this process might work by proposing a
natural history of gods.
George Lucas succeeded in setting up such an edifice of intent. Consequently,
Star Wars have become an independent entity which can serve as reference for reality.
That is a very daring statement! It requires that
sorcery be taken as an existential option.
The creation of Star Wars was informed by a number of
ancient magic traditions. At least one of them (the teaching of
Carlos Castaneda) if not all of them does indeed take sorcery as such an option.
