Wednesday, May 4, 2022

May the 4th be with you: Star Wars (video)

Theo Farrant, Euronews.com, 5/4/22; Sheldon S., CC Liu, Seth Auberon (eds.), Wisdom Quarterly
George Lucas freely admits to having borrowed heavily from Zen Buddhism, which was heavily influenced by Taoism, and Japanese culture in the creation of the Star Wars mythos. See below.

May the 4th be with you: how the date became a Star Wars phenomenon
The Zen of R2-D2
Star Wars is one of the most successful and influential movie franchises of all time.

The franchise, which started as a film series, has been expanded into TV shows, video games, comic books, and theme parks.

But why is it that every year on May Fourth fans around the world gather to show appreciation for Lucas' creation?

Luke, I'm your father.
First let's take a look at some history.

It all began in 1977, when Star Wars: A New Hope (Episode IV), written and directed by George Lucas, was released to the world and instantly become a beloved cultural phenomenon.

The film earned an enormous $775 million at the global box office and developed the franchise into a hugely lucrative merchandising industry.


Star Wars was extremely innovative for its time. It began a new era of special effects and pioneered the idea of an expansive fictional universe -- a concept we're accustomed to seeing today with the success of Marvel and Harry Potter.

A New Hope was followed by two sequels, The Empire Strikes Back (1980) and Return of the Jedi (1983), highly praised by audiences.

This wise character is based on the Dalai Lama
Lucas later returned to the series to direct a prequel trilogy, consisting of The Phantom Menace (1999), Attack of the Clones (2002), and Revenge of the Sith (2005), which all received less critical acclaim than the original trilogy.

In 2012, LucasFilms was bought by Disney for $4.05 billion, who went on to release a sequel trilogy, consisting of The Force Awakens (2015), The Last Jedi (2017), and The Rise of Skywalker (2019). More

Richard Cheese "Cantina Song"

Movie clip: The famous cantina scene


May the Force be with You (May 4th): Zen Wisdom from Star Wars! The Tao of Jedi
Japan Subculture Research Center (japansubculture.com) edited by Wisdom Quarterly

May 4th has become an iconic day for Star Wars fans across the universe. “May the 4th be with you” becomes “May the Force be with you” quite nicely. (If you already knew, stifle that groan, young Jedi; some of us didn’t know).

On this day, what better time to introduce one of the stranger and more delightful books to come out in Japan in 2021? It’s Zen Wisdom from Star Wars (スター・ウォーズ 禅の教え エピソード4・5・6), written by noted Soto Zen Buddhist Priest Shunmyo Masuno (枡野 俊明). It takes scenes and dialogue from the good episodes of the series to illustrate Zen Buddhist sayings and wisdom. More

(japansubculture.com)

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