I agree in some respects dat, but i do see it a bit differently in others.
In order to understand star wars you have to look to the mythos of japan itself. Even the hero's name "Jedi" is a deriviative the historical "samurai". Their religion is a simple adapatation of zen. Also, not to be overlooked in uderstanding the first three movies is that Lucas doubted there were be sequals. He had to make star wars a new hope as a stand alone movie. It was only the phenominal success of the original that spawned the still in vouge trend of making trilogies.
With that as a back drop in the original movie, a new hope, the time period was meant to mirrior the "menji" period in japan. Menji is considered the time when Japan was brought into the modern age after centeries of cultural isolation and rule by the shoguns. One of the most signifigant cultural changes Menji brought to the people was the fall of the samurai as the ruling class, marked by the outlaw of carrying a sword in public. The sword known to westerners as the katanna had for hundreds of years been the symbol of a samuri. It was also the era when guns were introduced to Japan and their importance and ease of use greatly altered the culture of japan. No longer was power centered in the hands of one class. While the samurai trained in the martial arts from their youth (hand to hand *karate*, swordsmenship,archery and philosphy) to be deadly, a gun even the odds with a simple pull of the trigger.
That spawned a new mythos in Japan of the samurai who was so skilled he didnt fear guns, rather honored the traditions of the samurai and use the time honored weapons and teachings to overcome the so called advanages of guns and technology.
Consider the scene where are introduced to the charachter "ben" kenobi in the dune sea. He lives as hermit (a popular theme of samurai legend, the lone warrior resistant to the change of Menji who exsiles himself). He explains to luke that "the jedi were gardians of peace for a thousand generations before the dark time, before the empire". This a clear referance to role of the samurai in Japanees culture, gardians of peace, and the era of menji, when the infulance of european empiralisium brought the samurai to their end. Consider as well in that same scene when he intoduces Luke to the light saber and calls it " the weapon of a jedi" and refers to it as "more civilized than a blaster [or gun]". Clearly a cultural and historical nod to the role of a katanna in the life and philosphy of a samurai.
That scene also plays out another traditional mythos of the samurai: the teaching of a son the ways of the samurai. In that scene the whole arc of the star wars universe is set and tied to the traditions of the samurai. We are introduced to the theme of star wars and recurant in Japanees mythos of a master teaching a student who becomes powerful and goes wayward. The teacher is discraced and banishes himself, only to be relucantly drawn into teaching a new student at the end of his life to redeem himself and bring the wayward tyrant he created to justice. Star wars further emphisises the mythos by making the student the son of the wayward tyrant. This is signifigant in Japaneese culture because the samurai were born of a class system where one could only be a saurai by birth or caste. Lukes herriate was hidden from him and revealed when the time was right to train him, thus emphising a 'birth right' to be a jedi.
Work becons but more to follow....
