Undoubtedly a significant part of American culture, Star Wars: A New Hope is packed with references to American and international politics from the time of its creation.

Released in 1977, the film was primarily inspired by the Vietnam War and the Cold War. The film’s director and creator, George Lucas, was compelled by the idea of "how democracies get turned into dictatorships" as he was working on the movie. Lucas consistently claims that American history and international politics have a dynamic impact on the films of the Star Wars franchise.

Given that the film was inspired by real-life international conflicts, the audience is able to see the characters deliberate in a way that may be similar to how leaders and diplomats would in the global arena. In Episode IV, the audience is exposed to how both sides of the conflict strategize in the war. Most importantly, the audience can see how non-state actors—the Rebel Alliance—react to the Galactic Empire, an established quasi-state. In observing these interactions, the audience, too, can make the following parallels about international conflicts today.

Mid-century events and conflict between non-state actors and the state

Vietnam War

History writer Christopher Klein recalled in a piece for the History network that "the guerilla war waged by the Rebel Alliance against the Galactic Empire mirrored the battle between an insurgent force and a global superpower that was playing out in Vietnam as Lucas wrote Star Wars."

The filmmaker, who was originally set to direct to the Vietnam War film Apocalypse Now in the early 1970s before moving on to Star Wars, said in an audio commentary on the 2004 re-release of Return of the Jedi that the Viet Cong served as his inspiration for the furry forest-dwelling Ewoks, who were able to defeat a vastly superior opponent in spite of their primitive weapons. In Star Wars and History, William J. Astore noted that the Viet Cong and Ewoks were well-served by their "superior knowledge of the local terrain and an ability to blend into that terrain."

Cold War

Klein also noted how "the tense relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union, with the threat of nuclear annihilation lurking in the background, was hardly history when Star Wars first premiered in 1977. The threat to the planet posed by nuclear weapons was encapsulated on screen in the ultimate weapon of mass destruction—the Death Star—which destroyed Princess Leia’s home planet of Alderaan, a blue orb that closely resembled Earth. Star Wars itself entered the realm of Cold War history after it was adopted by the media in the 1980s as a nickname for President Ronald Reagan’s proposed Strategic Defense Initiative, which would have used lasers to defend the United States against incoming nuclear missiles."

Attack on Alderaan reflects "just war" principles

The scene when Grand Moff Tarkin deliberates his defensive strategy reflects principles of an international philosophy on war called "just war" principles. These sets of principles dictate the norms to which the use of force is justified.

In a Washington Post commentary, executive editor and film critic of the Washington Free Beacon Sonny Bunch wrote that the attack on the planet Alderaan was said to be "the sort of catastrophe that Grand Moff Tarkin was trying to avoid when he devised his Death Star-centered defensive strategy. The Tarkin Doctrine is one based on deterrence and the threat of force rather than the use of force. Granted, you have to use force once for the threat to be useful, but it’s easy to see the appeal of such a tactic, which is designed to save lives in the long run. Imagine the human toll—not to mention the enormous fiscal cost—of launching invasion after invasion of breakaway systems. The utilitarian calculation is complicated, but it’s not hard to imagine a scenario in which fewer people died as a result of the destruction of Alderaan than would have died in a series of costly invasions."

George Lucas' commentary on the fragility of democracies

During a 2005 Chicago Tribune interview, Lucas claimed that the film "was really about the Vietnam War, and that was the period where Nixon was trying to run for a [second] term, which got me thinking historically about how do democracies get turned into dictatorships? Because the democracies aren’t overthrown; they’re given away."

Though Star Wars presents a fictional world filled with incredibly advanced technology and extraterrestrial creatures, there is no doubt that the film franchise exhibits a dynamic of power and politics very much akin to real life. The genesis of the film itself makes extracting political themes from the films in the franchise unavoidable.

In his writing and directing, Lucas wanted audiences to think about how decisions are made by different sides in international—or rather, interplanetary—conflicts. In drawing from real international conflicts, he wanted to show how those political deliberations affected society and individuals.

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Shannen Dilag is a Summer 2018 Junior Fellow in the Pacific Council’s Programs Department.

The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Pacific Council.