[troutman]

Originally Posted by Knalus

Just read a fascinating scholarly article about film making, storytelling, and the Star Wars series. Honestly, the read took like 2 hours to get through, but it was absolutely fascinating - best read of the year so far, even better than the read on why Edmonton's LRT is the biggest waste of money and time ever.

Star Wars Ring Theory -
How George Lucas used an ancient technique called “ring composition” to reach a level of storytelling sophistication in his six-part saga that is unprecedented in cinema history.
http://www.starwarsringtheory.com/


Really great read. It actually gave me a greater appreciation as to how and why Lucas filmed what he filmed. Doesn't mean he did it well, but the way he was doing it has fascinating implications. Really, give it a read.

This is related and may interest you too:

http://www.moongadget.com/origins/myth.html

In 1949 Joseph Campbell (1904-1987) made a big splash in the field of mythology with his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces. This book built on the pioneering work of German anthropologist Adolph Bastian (1826-1905), who first proposed the idea that myths from all over the world seem to be built from the same "elementary ideas." Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung (1875-1961) named these elementary ideas "archetypes," which he believed to be the building blocks not only of the unconscious mind, but of a collective unconscious. In other words, Jung believed that everyone in the world is born with the same basic subconscious model of what a "hero" is, or a "mentor" or a "quest," and that's why people who don't even speak the same language can enjoy the same stories.

Lucas had already written two drafts of Star Wars when he rediscovered Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces in 1975 (having read it years before in college). This blueprint for "The Hero's Journey" gave Lucas the focus he needed to draw his sprawling imaginary universe into a single story.

Note that the Wachowski Brothers' wonderful film The Matrix is carefully built on the same blueprint.

http://www.starwars.com/news/mythic-discovery-within-the-inner-reaches-of-outer-space-joseph-campbell-meets-george-lucas-part-i

Joseph Campbell and Bill Moyers Break Down Star Wars as an Epic, Universal Myth
http://www.openculture.com/2012/11/joseph_campbell_and_bill_moyers_break_down_star_wa rs_as_myth.html