[A] film such as Star Wars proves anew that the descriptive capability of the camera can be effective, as words cannot, at a certain level of generalized and popular experience. (p. 1)

[Taken for what it is, Star Wars] functions as magic. With incredible audacity, it combines the stereotypes of modern pop literature and cinema with the Arthurian romance. Lucas deliberately and obviously steals from such movie antecedents as the original Wizard Of Oz, from the classic movie and pulp westerns based on the frontier tradition, from the old World War I and World War II flying battles. In fact, it is done so deliberately that a second considerations forces one to drop the word "steal" and substitute another verb; Lucas weaves together these elements of modern myth and ties them to earlier ones that have long since embedded themselves in our historical consciousness. The result is a new...