In Alex' lessons we are bringing together research about a media product, spesifically focusing on how it is marketed to audiences. I decdided to base mine around Star Wars, and how it has become one of the biggest franchises in the world.
So why is Star Wars so popular? It started as a trilogy of films begining with "A New Hope" in 1977 and it quickly soared to international attention giving people an escape from reality in this sci-fi galaxy. Behind the spaceships and lightsabres however, it is a simple story that follows the steps laid out by Joseph Campbell in his book - The Hero with a Thousand Faces, which is a basis for which nearly all stories have been written around since stories were first told, and so the sci-fi saga is still relatable to audiences.
At it's simplest Star Wars is a story of good versus evil, the rebels led by the noble almost holy Jedi fighting against the Imperials and their dark masters the Sith. This is a formula that has worked well in the past, everyone enjoys an underdog story and this is no different.A notable decision by Lucas, and over time turned out to be his most profitable, was to introduce toys, predominately small action figures of characters from the movies, these appealed to fans of all ages, young boys wanted to buy them all and play out their fantasies with them, while the more mature older fans just wanted to buy them to have the collection, to this day toys are still churned out in line with new movies released.
After the third installment of the films, and nearly a 20 year break Lucas finally came back to the story, offering fans a new trilogy that told of the events before the originals, fans had been watching the story unfold years before and felt connected themselves with the films wanting to see how it ends, this worked out in another way however, in a way reviving the franchise as it showed Star Wars for the first time to a new generation (my generation) and got us hooked. People who hadn't seen the originals bought them on VHS to see what they had missed and it all went back to Lucas.
Another point worth mentioning is that their are so many untold stories in the Star Wars universe, loose ends in the movies as well as lore being added by George Lucas himself, this has given rise to many books detailing characters adventures that weren't explored in the films in books, televisions series and video games.
Finally I think it's worth mentioning that George Lucas bargained with his investors for total control over the movies whilst filming, this allowed him to nurture his "creation" from inception to release how he envisioned it and it was his love and hardwork as to how he believed the movies should be portrayed that gave it the soul that has let it last for so long, since it had that care from the person who created it instead of becoming a corporate entity which no one can relate to.
