I can't recall my first viewing of A New Hope because I saw it when I was very young. However, I do have one vague memory of it (one of my earliest memories ever). During the trench runs on the Death Star, I was so worried that all of the Rebels were going to get killed by Darth Vader (David Prowse) because he was shooting them down from behind. Then, when Han Solo (Harrison Ford) showed up and attacked Darth Vader from behind, I was so relieved. That, I believe, is my first memory of Star Wars.

Writer-director George Lucas was inspired to make Star Wars by the old science fiction serials from the 1930s-1950s. To streamline his story, Lucas drew heavily upon the archetypal "hero's journey" described in Joseph Campbell's book A Hero with a Thousand Faces. Of all the Star Wars movies, A New Hope is the film that's most connected to these origins. That is why this movie is the one that feels the most "classic" of them all. It is also the only episode of the series that can stand alone. Since it was the first Star Wars film that was made, Lucas didn't know whether or not the movie would be successful enough to guarantee the subsequent films. The only thread left hanging at the end is the survival of Darth Vader. However, the villains in those sci-fi serials usually escaped to fight our heroes another day, so Vader's survival could have been left opened and it would have made thematic sense.

Lucas also found inspiration in the cinematic works of Akira Kurosawa and John Ford. Specifically, the bickering droids R2-D2 (Kenny Baker) and C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) are variations of the two bickering peasants in Kurosawa's Hidden Fortress. There's even a princess who needs help in that movie, just like Princess Leia (Carrie Fisher). In the prequel trilogy, the Jedi were like medieval knights. In the original trilogy, however, they more closely resemble the master-less samurai that are common in Kurosawa's filmography. If you think about it, the name Obi-Wan Kenobi sounds kind of Japanese. The word "Jedi" also loosely resembles the word "samurai."

The scenes on Tatooine are very similar to westerns, a genre mastered by John Ford. There's the barren desert landscape, the "wild savages" (the Sand People), the rowdy bar populated by rough lowlifes (the Mos Eisley cantina), etc. There's also a shoot-out between Han Solo, the "tough cowboy," and the bounty hunter Greedo in the cantina. Han Solo even utters the famous cowboy cliché "Yahoo!" when he comes to the rescue at the Death Star (in Return of the Jedi, Han's old friend Lando shouts the similar cowboy exclamation "Yee-ha!" when he escapes the second Death Star). In addition, the scene in which Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) finds his home and family burned to the ground is lifted from John Ford's classic western The Searchers.

Having said all that, it would seem like A New Hope is just a derivative mess. Quite the contrary, it's actually one of the most creative and imaginative films of all time. This is because George Lucas took these familiar elements and practically re-invented them for his outer space fantasy. Despite its science fiction qualities, Star Wars is essentially a fantasy, in my opinion. The opening title card of each of the movies, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." is simply a sci-fi variation of "Once upon a time..." It's set in space because that's the last unexplored frontier, full of mystery and wonder. The films don't closely examine any real scientific issues, but merely touch upon them infrequently.

CONTINUED IN PART 2...