It’s easy to watch Disney films and see the similarities between so many of the motifs of classic storytelling and the hero’s journey that is ever present in the Star Wars films. It’s difficult to pin whether the films and cartoons of Walt Disney directly influenced the creation of Star Wars (with a few notable exceptions), but the style of story and method of storytelling on display is so similar it’s hard not to feel they came from the same school.
Take The Sword in the Stone, for instance. It looks at young Arthur’s journey toward becoming king — with the help of an eccentric wizard that everyone thinks is just a crazy old man. Sound a lot like A New Hope? The entire movie plays like an extended, comedic training sequence of Master and Padawan, right down to the mysticism and hard life lessons. Parallels to Luke’s time on Dagobah in the cave could very easily be drawn to Arthur’s time spent as a squirrel or a fish. He learns hard lessons in a situation he doesn’t completely understand and has to face difficult truths about himself and his life.
Could anyone argue with the parallel between Snow White finding herself pursued by a huntsman in the woods and given refuge by kindly dwarfs, and Princess Leia on Endor, pursued by the Empire’s sinister agents and given refuge by kindly Ewoks?
You would easily be forgiven if you mistook Yoda for a little green man dispensing advice and telling you to trust your feelings that Disney created. His name was Jiminy Cricket.
There are more substantive similarities as well. As the middle act of a mythological story, The Empire Strikes Back has the distinction of being darker in tone, sending our heroes into the dark of the unknown, plunging them into the deepest pits of despair. Who could forget the Millennium Falcon bursting from the jaws of the Space Slug with all the aplomb and cinematic majesty of Geppetto freeing himself of Monstro the whale, one of Disney’s darkest early cartoons?
These parallels are no surprise, though, since the Star Wars films draw so heavily from the classic themes of the mythologies and fables that have permeated the world for as long as we have a history for it.
One of the most striking influences though, and one that I think is a direct and obvious influence, comes from the swashbuckling adventure films that Disney produced in the 1960s. The most prevalent is none other than Swiss Family Robinson, which was directed by a fellow named Ken Annakin.
Yes. You read that right: Annakin.
In any case, Annakin included in this classic film a scene that plays very much like one in A New Hope. Two of the young heroes and a girl in disguise are trudging chest deep in murky water, only to be attacked by a massive snake. Fritz struggles with the beast, dragged under the water repeatedly, shouting for help as his younger brother and the girl look on, shocked. Soon, the other boy (played by Tommy Kirk, a dead ringer for Star Trek’s Wil Wheaton) is embroiled in the battle until the snake just disappears in the water. Many of the shots and even some of the reactions are repeated almost verbatim in the trash compactor sequence on the Death Star.
The Star Wars movies follow the same patterns as all the best Disney films of this type and took so much more from them, even through subconscious inspiration. And the influence flows the other way, too. I could cite many examples of Star Wars, in turn, influencing the cinema of Disney. With Disney and Lucasfilm coming together to give us more Star Wars films, is there a doubt in anyone’s mind that they won’t carry on the same quality of mythological storytelling for years to come? They certainly have a good track record for it.
Bryan Young is an author, a filmmaker, journalist, and the editor in chief of BigShinyRobot.com!
Tags: cinema behind star wars
Those are some good examples of similarities that I never would have thought of on my own. Disney is good at making films that all ages can appreciate. I just happened to watch Toy Story 3 for the first time, which was written by the same person who has been chosen to write the new trilogy, and it was very well written and it gives me the confidence that he will do justice for continuing the saga. No bad feelings or it’s-a-traps. As far as comedy, I just hope there is a little more of Han’s wry sarcasm and a bit less of Jar Jar’s clumsy slapstick (though I don’t really dislike his character, just could be toned down a bit).
I should have said ’screen written by’ not ‘written by’. Michael Arndt is a screenwriter. As a side note, Lotso in TS3, seemed like he was inspired by Star Wars as some sort of a Vader/Palpatine hybrid. It was pretty clear reference when a underling of Lotso picks him up by the neck and is tossed into the trash can just like when Vader did the same to the Emperor by tossing him into the power core shaft.
Luke and Ben in Star Wars is reminiscent of Disney’s The Sword in the Stone? I think you guys are trying a little too hard to sell this. I’m fine with the merger, guys. There’s no need to tell me how all of the Hoth scenes were inspired by Goofy’s The Art of Skiing. Just keep the brands separate.
Im getting excited about the new starwars story (the saga continues) it brings a tear to my eye though because im gonna miss George Lucas,But i wonder what he’s gonna do with his money? Anyway i hope it’s still good with different creators.
I just want the new movies to be good, not to have Disney ruin the Saga
For me the strongest similarity between a Disney film and a Star Wars film are Peter Pan and Empire Strikes Back. More specifically the Bespin duel between Luke and Vader, and the duel between Pan and Hook on his ship at the end of Peter Pan. I watched Peter Pan a year or two ago with my kids and while watching that scene I couldn’t help but notice how similar they were. Pan come out before Empire, so could it be that Pan influenced Empire?
I’m excited to see Episode 7, however there are things that I, as a fan of the Expanded Universe, am expecting to see addressed. Because Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher and Harrison Ford are all much older, I think it would be wise to continue Episode 7 to take place AFTER the Fate of the Jedi book series. I mention this because it’s where the actors are at, in their age in relation to the characters, AND it gives Disney room to elaborate on the development of a new protagonist–Ben Skywalker.
All of the Star Wars movies make references to things that happened that we never got to see.
SWep1 “The Sith have been extinct for a millenium.”
SWep2 “I haven’t felt you this tense since we fell into that nest of gundarks.”
SWep3 “NINTH time. That business of Kato Nemoidia doesn’t…doesn’t count.”
SWep4 “You fought in the Clone Wars?”
SWep5 “Well the bounty hunter we ran into on Ord Mantell changed my mind.
SWep6 “Somebody must have told them about my little maneuver at the Battle of Tnaab.”
So after 30+ years, the Jedi Order is rebuilt, the Vong War has waged, Chewbacca, Jacen & Anakin Solo, and Mara Jade have all died…and Episode 7 can briefly acknowledge all of that in a simple, (”A lot has happened since the Emperor fell”) comment.
I want Episode 7 to give homage to everything that happened in the fiction after Return of the Jedi, but I also want it to continue on with it’s own story and plot to further develop the Star Wars Universe, all the way up to the Legacy comics.
*And as a side note, my friends and I have always wondered just how Luke Skywalker was going to be killed off…and now we know that it will be because of Disney.
+++PLUS+++
If they make Episodes 7-100 to take place after the ‘Fate of the Jedi’ book series, then that opens up ALL of the Expanded Universe to being animated TV series’ like The Clone Wars.
Imagine a Disney produced CW-style animated New Jedi Order series! Or a CW-style Rebellion series that takes place between EP 4 & 5 which can include Splinter of the Mind’s Eye, or an animated Thrawn miniseries (Which I agree would be cool to see as movies, but the actors have aged beyond the characters now) …animate Shadows of the Empire, Tales of the Jedi/Old Republic, Bane…
I would actually prefer it if they animated the books and comics, rather than take artistic license over them and turn them into movies. As movies, ANY of these would lose their quality, but as animated TV shows, they could keep the integrity of the stories intact.
Just my thoughts.