ScripTips 14: Star Wars and the All Important Box

Everything always goes back to Star Wars, doesn't it?

Now that we’ve learned about the four most important words in plotting, let’s hammer that insight home by looking at an example of how they are used.

And, like so many other techniques, the 1977 film Star Wars: A New Hope is a wonderful model to showcase the four most important words.

Of course, in 1977, it wasn’t called A New Hope; it was just called Star Wars.

And it changed everything.

George Lucas’ fantasy narrative about a farm boy sent by a wizard to rescue a princess from the clutches of a black knight and save the rebellion from the dark magic of an evil empire…

You see what I’m doing there? But surely Star Wars is science fiction, right?

Well, no, it’s actually a fantasy, taking all the tropes of fantasy narrative and transposing them against a science fiction backdrop. But it’s a narrative about mystic orders and magic powers, knights and wizards, princesses and rogues. It just takes place in outer space (an outers space with sound, gravity, and no connection to actual physics!)

These aren’t criticism. Just examples about how one thing can become a completely different thing and reinvent everything. And I’m just having a bit of fun.

But back to the four most important words, and a galaxy far, far away.