Editing Star Wars (film) (section)

== Cinematic and literary allusions ==
{{See also|Star Wars sources and analogues}}Before creating ''Star Wars'', Lucas had hoped to make a ''Flash Gordon'' film, but was unable to obtain the rights. ''Star Wars'' features many elements ostensibly derived from ''Flash Gordon'', such as the conflict between rebels and imperial forces; the fusion of mythology and futuristic technology; the [[wipe (transition)|wipe transitions]] between scenes; and the text crawl at the beginning of the film.<ref name="InspirationsLucas">{{cite news |last=Robey |first=Tim |date=May 8, 2014 |title=10 films that influenced Star Wars |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/star-wars/10817059/10-films-that-influenced-Star-Wars.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140510060624/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/star-wars/10817059/10-films-that-influenced-Star-Wars.html |archive-date=May 10, 2014 |access-date=May 10, 2014 |work=[[The Daily Telegraph]]}}</ref>{{Better source needed|reason=A newspaper source for cinematic and literary analysis is not ideal. It would be best to have multiple scholarly (academic) sources.|date=March 2024}} Lucas also reportedly drew from Joseph Campbell's book ''The Hero with a Thousand Faces'' and Akira Kurosawa's 1958 film ''The Hidden Fortress''.<ref name="FlashG" /><ref name="InspirationsLucas" /><ref name="Insp2">{{cite web |last=Campbell |first=Christopher |date=March 23, 2010 |title='Star Wars,' 'Speed' And Other Movies Inspired By Akira Kurosawa On His 100th Birthday |url=http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2010/03/23/star-wars-speed-and-other-movies-inspired-by-akira-kurosawa-on-his-100th-birthday/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141011002911/http://moviesblog.mtv.com/2010/03/23/star-wars-speed-and-other-movies-inspired-by-akira-kurosawa-on-his-100th-birthday/ |archive-date=October 11, 2014 |access-date=May 10, 2014 |publisher=MTV}}</ref> Robey has also suggested that the Mos Eisley cantina brawl was influenced by Kurosawa's ''[[Yojimbo (film)|Yojimbo]]'' (1961), and that the scene in which Luke and his friends hide in the floor of the ''Millenium Falcon'' was derived from that film's sequel, ''[[Sanjuro]]'' (1962).<ref name="InspirationsLucas" />

''Star Wars'' has been compared to [[Frank Herbert]]'s ''[[Dune (novel)|Dune]]'' book series in multiple ways.<ref name="FlashG" />{{sfn|Taylor|2014a|p=105}}{{Better source needed|reason=A website source for cinematic and literary analysis is not ideal. It would be best to have multiple scholarly (academic) sources.|date=March 2024}} Both have desert planets: ''Star Wars'' has Tatooine, while ''Dune'' has [[Arrakis]], which is the source of a [[Melange (fictional drug)|longevity spice]]. ''Star Wars'', meanwhile, makes references to spice mines and a spice freighter. [[Jedi mind trick]]s in ''Star Wars'' have been compared to "The Voice", a controlling ability used by the [[Bene Gesserit]] in Herbert's novels. Luke's Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru are moisture farmers; on Arrakis, dew collectors are used by [[Fremen]] to collect and recycle small amounts of water.{{Better source needed|reason=The current source is insufficiently reliable ([[WP:NOTRS]]).|date=March 2024}}<ref>{{cite web|work=D. A. Houdek|title=Star Wars is Dune|url=http://www.dahoudek.com/pages/starwarsdune.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061008120525/http://www.dahoudek.com/pages/starwarsdune.htm |archive-date=October 8, 2006 |url-status=live |access-date=October 1, 2006}}</ref> Herbert reported that [[David Lynch]], director of the 1984 film ''[[Dune (1984 film)|Dune]],'' "had trouble with the fact that ''Star Wars'' used up so much of ''Dune''." Herbert and Lynch found "sixteen points of identity" between the two universes, and argued that these similarities could not be a coincidence.<ref>[[Frank Herbert|Herbert, Frank]] (1985). ''Eye''. Byron Preiss Publications. p. 13</ref>

Writing for ''Starwars.com'' in 2013, [[Bryan Young (filmmaker)|Bryan Young]] noted many similarities between Lucas's space opera and the World War II film ''[[The Dam Busters (film)|The Dam Busters]]'' (1955). In ''Star Wars'', rebel ships assault the Death Star by diving into a trench and attempting to fire torpedoes into a small exhaust port; in ''Dam Busters'', British bombers fly along heavily defended reservoirs and aim [[bouncing bomb]]s at dams to cripple the heavy industry of Germany (also, ''Star Wars'' cinematographer Gilbert Taylor filmed the special effects sequences in ''Dam Busters'').<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.starwars.com/news/the-cinema-behind-star-wars-the-dam-busters|title=The Cinema Behind Star Wars: The Dam Busters|date=December 9, 2013|website=StarWars.com |access-date=January 19, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190120093604/https://www.starwars.com/news/the-cinema-behind-star-wars-the-dam-busters |archive-date=January 20, 2019 |url-status=live}}</ref> Lucas used clips from both ''Dam Busters'' and ''[[633 Squadron]]'' (1964), another war film with a climactic bomber run through narrow fjords, to illustrate his vision for dogfights in ''Star Wars''.<ref name="AF1977">Zito, Stephen (April 1977). "George Lucas Goes Far Out". ''American Film''.</ref>

It has also been noted that the film's final rebel ceremony bears a strong resemblance to [[Leni Riefenstahl|Leni Riefenstahl's]] 1935 propaganda film Triumph des Willens ([[Triumph of the Will]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://kitbashed.com/blog/triumph-des-willens|title=Triumph des Willens (1935)|date=April 13, 2013|website=Kitbashed}}</ref> 

Journalist and blogger Martin Belam has pointed out similarities between the Death Star's docking bay and the docking bay on the space station in ''2001''.<ref>{{cite web|first=Martin|last=Belam|title=How accurate was Kubrick's '2001: A Space Odyssey' about the future?|date=February 18, 2009 |access-date=December 10, 2011|url=http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2009/02/how-accurate-was-kubricks-2001.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111128113848/http://www.currybet.net/cbet_blog/2009/02/how-accurate-was-kubricks-2001.php |archive-date=November 28, 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> In 2014, Young observed a number of parallels between Lucas's space opera and [[Fritz Lang]]'s 1927 film ''[[Metropolis (1927 film)|Metropolis]]''.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Young|first1=Bryan|title=The Cinema Behind Star Wars: Metropolis|url=https://www.starwars.com/news/the-cinema-behind-star-wars-metropolis|website=StarWars.com|date=August 18, 2014|publisher=Lucasfilm |access-date=May 14, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170623142038/http://www.starwars.com/news/the-cinema-behind-star-wars-metropolis|archive-date=June 23, 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> ''Star Wars'' has also been compared to ''[[The Wizard of Oz (1939 film)|The Wizard of Oz]]'' (1939).<ref name=":0" />