Did ‘Star Wars’ ruin cinema?
Sometimes, a good thing has a bad knock-on effect, like eating too many sweet foods or having one too many drinks. If Star Wars is a decadent cocktail with all the works, like a flaming fruit shell floating on the top or dry ice bubbling from the surface, then special-effects-laden blockbusters and derivative franchises are the lousy hangover.
Let’s be clear – I’m not saying Star Wars is a bad film that should’ve never been made. Rather, the movie ushered in a new age for cinema that has had irreparable damage; now, there is an oversaturation of movies that are nothing more than unoriginal and escapist drivel, defined by obnoxious effects, franchises, flashy action sequences, and tiresome narrative structures that are never short of being predictable.
We’re inundated with Marvel films and boring bank-breaking blockbusters that serve a Hollywood agenda – either the American Dream is reaffirmed, a happy ending occurs, or a corny, tear-jerking finale serves to convey a greater message that attempts to appease as many viewers as possible. Thus, it’s not hard to see why Star Wars might have accidentally been responsible for causing a studio-dominated cinematic landscape, where indie directors struggle to find opportunities, or they’re quickly swept up into the fold of mainstream commercialised cinema and their creativity destroyed or sanitised, as evidenced by Chloé Zhao going from Nomadland to Eternals or Taika Waititi going from Boy to Thor: Ragnarok.
Think about it: the Golden era of Hollywood was studio-led, but by the 1960s, a new generation of filmmakers were itching for change, inspired by great foreign filmmakers who were exploring more taboo themes and experimenting with formal techniques. Cinema was changing, and as a result, mainstream American cinema also shifted, with filmmakers like Hal Ashby, Martin Scorsese, Mike Nichols, and Peter Bogdanovich making movies that blended the experimentalism (both thematically and formally) of indie and European cinema with a level of accessibility that would engage American audiences. As a result of this era, known as ‘New Hollywood’, we got some of the first proper blockbusters, like The Godfather and Jaws.
These movies are undeniably amazing, and they’ve endured as some of the finest examples of modern filmmaking. Around this time, George Lucas emerged as another key face in the ‘New Hollywood’ landscape, finding success with American Graffiti. A few years later, he made Star Wars, a sci-fi film that would change the course of cinema. Lucas even founded the company Industrial Light & Magic to create the kind of special effects he required that were unprecedented in film history.
We can’t deny the extreme precision and creativity that went into crafting the effects that allowed Star Wars to become one of the greatest sci-fi movies of all time – every movie from the genre that has emerged since owes itself to Lucas’ mighty creation. Yet, the insane success of Star Wars quickly spiralled out of control. A sequel was made a few years later, The Empire Strikes Back, followed by Return of the Jedi in 1983. The series became overwhelmingly popular with kids and adults alike, spawning plenty of merchandise and grossing $775.4million against an $11m budget, so naturally, it wasn’t long before other filmmakers were cranking out blockbusters or Star Wars rip-offs of their own.
As the 1980s rolled on, Lucas’ other creation, Indiana Jones, helped to continue the presence of big-budget franchise cinema in the mainstream, while further sci-fi movies featuring heavy special effects and action-focused plots emerged as a way for studios to rake in some quick cash. Producers realised that what people wanted to see were stories that were completely far-removed from reality – ones set in space with battles and evil antagonists and heroic protagonists. This fits the Hollywood mould perfectly: you’ve got the characters who save the day and those that cause evil — and while Star Wars is more nuanced than that, and it isn’t just ‘good versus evil’ — for many audiences, it’s enough to get lost in a storyline where one side is obviously ‘better’ than the other.
Many blockbusters and popular Hollywood movies have emerged as a result, with clear-cut heroes and American propaganda at their core, from Forrest Gump to Saving Private Ryan (basically anything with Tom Hanks in). Movies like Jurassic Park, Titanic, Avatar, King Kong, Gladiator, Transformers and countless superhero movies have all given us characters to side with, while these films either emotionally manipulate their audiences or prioritise heavy special effects. It can’t be helped thinking that Star Wars has something to answer for here.
But is this even a bad thing? Depending on who you ask, you’ll get a different answer, but if we’re looking at Hollywood before and after Star Wars, there are some noticeable and, in my opinion, less desirable changes to how cinema now operates.
More than ever before, movies are looking bland and less colourful, and it feels as though filmmakers are scared to do anything unconventional when it comes to filming and editing. Everything is glossy and clean – these blockbusters lack any sense of grittiness or intimacy in their approach to their themes and characters because, judging by the record-breaking success of Star Wars, that’s not what large audiences want to see.
Now, cinema feels less like an art form and more like a business – and strictly that. Creativity is squashed in favour of countless remakes, franchise instalments, and vapid, soulless blockbusters that serve no greater purpose other than presenting viewers with bright, flashy colours and repetitive action sequences. It feels as though producers assume that viewers need the same kind of visual stimulation as an iPad baby watching Cocomelon.
This brand of Hollywood blockbuster, best exemplified by Marvel, is an insult to the audience’s intelligence, and it’s a crying shame that so many people would rather watch a movie clearly made to sell merchandise and attract people to themed attractions rather than something you might actually consider art. It’s ironic, really, because Star Wars was born from Lucas’ greatly creative mind, and the ideas he brought to life are truly magnificent.
Unfortunately, the way this altered the landscape, taking us away from the real and profound films of the ‘New Hollywood’ era – like The Graduate, Easy Rider, Taxi Driver, Bonnie and Clyde, Harold and Maude, and Paper Moon – and towards a landscape filled with predictable franchises like Marvel, Avatar, Fast and Furious, and Jurassic Park, seems irreversible.
