Why Star Wars Appeals the Americans Today?

Andre Gaudiosi

Mrs. Durant

Film as Literature

8 December 2016

Why Star Wars Appeals the Americans Today

         Star Wars is a 1977 Sci-Fi film that grossed over 775.4 million dollars and entertained audiences all across America. Star Wars set the bar for film merchandizing making over 32 billion dollars. George Lucas also pioneered CGI effects for films; he was the first one to introduce CGI to Hollywood films. Star Wars also has the most iconic theme music. People who have never seen Star Wars can recognize its theme music because of how different it was. Star Wars deserves its elevated status in American culture because of its revolutionary merchandizing, ground breaking CGI effects, and its iconic theme music.

One of the reasons Star Wars is still relevant in American culture today is because of their merchandise. Before Star Wars the only money a movie would make was all from box office sales. Star Wars revolutionized film merchandise and forever changed the way movies make their money today. From 1978 - 2011 the Star Wars franchise has sold over 12,242,000,000 units of movie related toys and that’s not even counting the almost 6 years after 2011. All together the Star Wars franchise has made over $32 billion dollars in merchandise sales making it one of the most profitable movie franchises of all time. “Some $32 billion of that staggering revenue was derived from physical stuff rather than an audio-visual experience. Like Davy Crockett, the Star Wars universe made its biggest economic impact in the realm of merchandise (Taylor 1)”. People are still purchasing Star Wars merchandise and will continue to do so for a very long time this is one of the reasons Star Wars deserves its elevated status in American culture.

        Another reason Star Wars is relevant in American culture today is because of their groundbreaking CGI effects. CGI is computer-generated imagery this is what makes the lightsaber effects and bursts from the blasters possible. At the time these effects were unlike anything anyone has ever seen in a Hollywood film before, Star Wars basically pioneered CGI effects. “ Star Wars is generally considered to have been the first movie ever to use what is now called CGI (The New American 29)”.  This made people more interested in the film and made them want to watch it and this is one of the reasons people still watch it even today. Star Wars paved the way for movies to use these effects in future films and this is another reason this film deserves it’s elevated status in American culture

        The final reason Star Wars is still talked about in American culture today is because of their iconic music. The Star Wars theme song is one of the most recognizable and famous songs ever. And a reason for that is because of how different the music is compared to film music today. Most movies today don’t have an iconic theme song and even if they did it wouldn’t come close to the impact the Star Wars theme song had. Even people that have never seen the movie can recognize its unique sound. “It’s the highlight of every trailer or teaser for Star Wars … that unmistakable theme is so famous by now that composer John Williams only has to play a few notes of it to make us go wild (Weinman 1)”. If there is anything that makes Star Wars memorable it is definitely the music. This as well as many other reasons is why Star Wars deserves its elevated status in American culture.