My Favorite Western: Star Wars

Star Wars is a Western film. There’s no doubt about it. Star Wars relies on many Western movie conventions, including plot and characters that lack complexity and rely more on action and special effects to take center stage. George Lucas purposefully kept these elements simple, for the effect of transporting us all to a galaxy in which an effeminate farm boy controlled the fate of all. While not all Western heroes were as whiny as Luke on the farm, many were just as green when they left with their dreams and a gun…or a Lightsaber.

A key similarity between Star Wars and the Western genre is that they each take place in hostile and unconquered lands. The first time viewers see Luke Skywalker, it almost looks as if he were living in 1878 Nevada. The classic desert landscape, the flat, expansive land and the big sky are all classic icons of the Western genre. You half-expect to see Shane enter the frame on his horse, slumped over in the saddle and on his way to the pearly gates of Tattooine.

And, then there’s Han. Han Solo is like most western heroes—masculine, quick on the draw, an overall man’s man. His introduction in the movie sets him up as if he were a cowboy. It takes place in a saloon-type environment. Chewbacca lacks some of Han’s charm, but makes up for it with brute strength, mechanical ingenuity, and a loyalty that makes him Sundance to Han’s hairy Butch (wow, that sounded dirty!). With his white shirt, black vest, he is the mix of white hat/black hat with a side of ass-kicking.

Since most Western films are boy’s clubs and the chicks are merely eye candy, Princess Leia is obviously the kindly hooker. By the end of the trilogy, she had made out with Luke, Han, Chewbacca, R2, and I’m pretty sure she did coke with Jabba. But, in the first one, she was just a nineteen-year-old, spunky girl with some nice jubblies, much like Jane Russell in The Outlaw. Princess Leia was Carrie Fisher’s second sexiest role, right after her role in Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back.

Beyond the characters, Star Wars takes place in a typical science-fiction galaxy, with many different races of intelligent life and a myriad of home planets. This could be similar to the old western settlements, which dotted the Western landscape, bustling with the continuous mixing of races, cultures, and languages. Stormtroopers could just be immigrant labor, realizing the Empire’s Manifest Destiny. Luke Skywalker and the Rebel Alliance are nothing more than the Indians in Lucas’ revisionist Western.

The similarities between the Western genre and Star Wars go far deeper than the few lame examples listed here. I just wanted to point out some ironies to one of the most important franchises in the history of film. The irony to Star Wars’ success is that it doomed us to more Punisher films, attempts at action trilogies starring Matthew McConaghey, and, of course, Jar-Jar Binks.