As you can tell, I am primarily a writer. I've done a lot of writing workshops as a result and have been the critic for dozens of friends and all three of my siblings. As a result, I tend to look at things with a slightly skewed viewpoint. When I first saw Star Wars, I gaped and gawped (Thank you to JK Rowling for using those words together) and was thrilled. Over the years, having seen all 6 movies and still being thoroughly in love with the films and the expanded universe (despite some of the monthly comics and a good portion of the New Jedi Order), I am now an English major with a critical eye and a very philosophic viewpoint on the whole thing. I've read Campbell's stuff and I've written essays on why the Force is not God. I even have considered stormtroopers using medeival symbols of hypocrisy.

Like I said, I'm an English major. I can't help it any more. There's a line I love in The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan that describes a person as "born sneering." Do not mistake me. I'm not going to rip my favorite movies apart, but I'm going to consider them as I'd consider anything I have to encounter in my courses for my BA.

In considering A New Hope, I always liked referring to Episode IV as this instead of Star Wars because I think the title reveals so much. Like The Phantom Menace, you're left wondering what the title refers to. Is Luke the new hope? Is it a new hope because the Alliance has just won its first major victory and will come out on top in the end? More importantly, does the new hope have anything to do with Luke/Leia/Han team-up? When I first saw it, I got the feeling that Old Ben Kenobi was seriously pushing for Luke to be united with Leia and I figured that it had something to do with Jedi foresight.

Now, let's move on to characterization. There are some very archetypal figures here. It almost reminds one of Sword in the Stone, but it also is why I am starting to compare Star Wars to Harry Potter (though Luke gets the nifty scar in "Book 2" and it doesn't make him popular at all). But I'm going to try and keep it out of the realm of copying Joseph Campbell passages and look at it from the perspective of a 24-year-old nut.

First, let's look at the two people we're rooting for most--Luke and Leia--and consider them in a slightly collective sense. They're both equally heroes, but the contrast between the two is what intrigues me.

Luke is the quintessential idealist. He could fit very well into a Disney movie, wear liederhosen and sing a bittersweet song on top of a mountain with Barry Manilow modulations and hands clasped if they chose. But that's a bit of an extreme. The closest we come is his teenage-angst struggles with his oppressive uncle. When he gets beat up in the local bar, he takes it like a meek kid who would make his etiquette teacher proud.

On the other hand, we've got Leia, who like any politician, can fight very dirty. I was rooting for this girl from the moment that she shot that first stormtrooper because finally, it was a female lead who wouldn't swoon in a skimpy outfit while the men did the real work. When she started snarking back at Vader, I knew she would be the one to save the day in a more unconventional way.

So, we have two heroes to root for who approach problems in very different ways--one who, as Yoda would later say, is "always looking to the horizon, never his mind on where he was...what he was doing" and one who was probably a little too forthright in her way of dealing with the bad guys.

Some of the best moments in the movie are when these roles are reversed. I love Leia's vulnerability in the scene with Tarkin, where you see that she can have bluster without having courage. I love when Luke takes charge of the entire operation out of personal conviction. In the end they balance each other out very nicely.

Ben Kenobi is the driving force, but I like the fact that he is such in a very back-seat driver kind of way. He doesn't go charging off in every direction on a quest, but, like Gandalf, another crazy old wizard, he likes to put out a few issues and then stare at you and go "Well, what are you going to do about it?" He reminds me most of my crazy Hungarian violin teacher in that sense. When he says that Uncle Owen was afraid of Luke going off on a damn-fool idealistic crusade like his father, you know that he is fully aware that Luke is dying to do just that. As I said before, he does the same thing to get him and Leia to join forces. Personally, my gripe about him is that he cuts out of the storyline too early. Sure, he turns up to be doomandgloom for 2 more movies and usually does an excellent job of looking foreboding, but he had so much possibility.

Han will forever be one of my favorites because I think that he is my male counterpart--he is the cynical, opinionated one who tends to have that get him in trouble. I think he does a marvelous of drawing out Luke's less idealistic side.

Chewie, I think, is like one of those bouncers in a bar. You're not quite sure what their function is, but you like to look at them now and then to feel reassured.

Threepio and Artoo are wonderful comic relief, but in this first movie, really don't have much practical use. I found them irritating because R2 was around to insult 3PO and shut things off, but Threepio was just the one to remind us of why the most repeated line is "I have a bad feeling about this."

Vader is the reason I got hooked on Star Wars. I liked him being a dispassionate killer who could also have frustrations and yet argue with Tarkin. It didn't hurt that I love all guys in capes.

Now, plot is good. My main complaint about the movie in general is the fact that with all of the establishing shots and explanations about what jokes we're supposed to get, we barely have enough time to rescue the princess and save the day left over. Still, we're left feeling like we've shared in something important.

Favorite Lines:

"Who's the more foolish? The fool or the fool that follows him?"

"Don't call me a mindless philosopher, you overweight glob of grease!"

"I care."

"Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy!"

"I should have expected to find you holding Vader's leash. I recognized your foul stench when I was brought on board."

"Will someone get this big walking carpet out my way?"

"No reward is worth this!"

"You worry about those fighters. I'll worry about the tower!"

Least favorite:

"But I was going to the Tosche Station to pick up some power converters!"

"It just isn't fair!"

"Why didn't you say so before?"/"I DID say so before!"