Star Wars: A Landmark in Popular Cinema

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Yesterday I was watching Star Wars (subtitled "A New Hope", a subtitle nobody actually uses) with my nephew.  I have to say that the visual effects were almost as fresh today as they were in 1978 --except for a few sad moments, such as when Darth Vader's spaceship goes out of control when hit by a shot from Han Solo who joins the fight unexpectedly.  It was indicated by the hackneyed method of spinning the camera (sad, sad, sad).  The music was just as glorious as the music for any movie; John Williams had succeeded brilliantly in using a simplified version of the Leitmotiv idea introduced by Richard Wagner.  For those who are interested: there are several themes:

• The famous main theme of Star Wars);
• The Rebel Attack theme (I could only get a synthesized representation of this one);
• The Force theme;
• The Princess Leia theme;
• The Imperial March / Darth Vader theme.

Unlike Wagner, whose themes were far more terse, and as such, more conducive to actually weaving into the orchestral texture in subtle ways, John Williams makes sure that when he inserts one of his themes into the action, it is easily heard, and its point easily understood.  (My friend Gary was of the opinion that the themes were more skillfully used in The Empire Strikes Back.)

Unlike the visuals and the music, the dialog of Star Wars (Episode 4) was very simple; simple to the point of banality.  Lucas (and / or whoever wrote the final screenplay) was not aiming for literary excellence at all, but to connect with the vast teenage audience out there, which is never impressed by literary excellence.  Arguably, some of the seventies teen movies had more literary scripts than did Star Wars.  It seems that even dialog dripping with bad grammar, colloquialisms and inarticulate grunts can have different levels of literary merit; something that boggles the mind.  The Harry Potter movies, for instance, in which the adults, for the most part, speak careful English, while the kids (for the most part) do not, have a certain literary quality to them, whereas in Star Wars the dialog is minimal, and the only characters who seem to say anything worth listening to are Darth Vader, Obi Wan Kenobi, and Yoda.