Dieselpunk + Steampunk Culture
Star Wars - one of the original dieselpunk movies?
I jokingly posted a video a few days ago where someone had scene-by-scene taken the trailer for The Empire Strikes Back and juxtaposed old 50's video clips in their place. But in all seriousness, couldn't Star Wars be considered an example of dieselpunk?
I noticed this article on Wired.com today while I was searching for references for the Wikipedia article, and I got to thinking about it. Lucas did draw heavily on both WWII and pulp iconography when making Star Wars. The swashbuckling, ray-gun toting hero who shoots from the hip, the wise-cracking princess to be saved, the farm boy who makes good, the bigger-than-life villains, the comic "stooge" sidekicks... and the spaceship movements and radio chatter in the final battle were straight out of WWII films.
I noticed this article on Wired.com today while I was searching for references for the Wikipedia article, and I got to thinking about it. Lucas did draw heavily on both WWII and pulp iconography when making Star Wars. The swashbuckling, ray-gun toting hero who shoots from the hip, the wise-cracking princess to be saved, the farm boy who makes good, the bigger-than-life villains, the comic "stooge" sidekicks... and the spaceship movements and radio chatter in the final battle were straight out of WWII films.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Hayen Mill on -
There's certainly some potential there. Thanks for sharing the article!
IMO Star wars would probably be closer to atompunk than dieselpunk (pew pew pew anyone?), but indeed the ww2 inspiration is aparent throughout all the movies. Not to mention some of the streamlined designs
(btw jonny, could you link to that video you talked about in the beginning? I must've missed it =[ ... )
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Permalink Reply by Jonny B. Goode on -
http://www.dieselpunks.org/forum/topics/the-empire-strikes-back-in-3d
Hayen Mill said:(btw jonny, could you link to that video you talked about in the beginning? I must've missed it =[ ... )
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Permalink Reply by Jonny B. Goode on
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I seem to recall seeing an interview with Lucas back in the day, where he talked about using iconic imagery from both pulp serial dramas of the 30s-50s and WWII newsreel films. Wish I could find that now...
Wikipedia's own page on Star Wars says that Lucas drew heavily on the 1930s Flash Gordon and Buck Rodgers film serials, and that C3PO was based on the robot in Metropolis, and that the final Death Star battle was modeled after the 1955 WWII film The Dam Busters.
Hayen Mill said:There's certainly some potential there. Thanks for sharing the article!
IMO Star wars would probably be closer to atompunk than dieselpunk (pew pew pew anyone?), but indeed the ww2 inspiration is aparent throughout all the movies. Not to mention some of the streamlined designs
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Permalink Reply by Larry on -
Oh, most certainly I think we could call it dieselpunk for the very reasons Jonny gave.
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Permalink Reply by TheBoyWhoLived on -
I completely agree, Jonny. You gave some definite examples that are hard to refute. . . and it seems as though we aren't alone in this opinion. Some great Star Wars propaganda posters here:
http://pbh2.blogspot.com/2010/04/incredible-star-wars-propoganda-po...
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Permalink Reply by Jonny B. Goode on
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Those totally ROCK.
TheBoyWhoLived said:I completely agree, Jonny. You gave some definite examples that are hard to refute. . . and it seems as though we aren't alone in this opinion. Some great Star Wars propaganda posters here:
http://pbh2.blogspot.com/2010/04/incredible-star-wars-propoganda-po...
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Permalink Reply by Velvet Cyberpunk on
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No, no I don't think so. They were both inspired by the old pulps, but that doesn't mean they are the same thing.
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Atterton is correct, Vader's helmet looks much like a samurai helmet. Also, I would say that the Indiana Jones movies are far more dieselpunk than Star Wars.
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Permalink Reply by Cap'n Tony on -
There were several "inspirations": old Republic serials (Flash Gordan, et al), WWII*, Kurosawa Samurai films, and also ancient myth (the Hero of a Thousand Faces story arc).
* Lots of WWII influence: see it in the dog fights ("heavy, armored, powerful" alliance X-WIngs vs. "light, unarmored, manuverable" TIEs; compare to Hellcat vs. Zero), the uniforms (note resemblance of Imperial khakis to Japanese Imperial Navy), the radio chatter (the Ep. 4 Death Star run chatter was taken almost word for word from Dambusters), the Stormtroopers (name translated directly from the Nazi SA), Vader's helmet resembling as much German coalscuttle helm as samurai, and so on.
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Permalink Reply by Post Apocalyptic Nietzsche on -
::Prepares himself to be flamed:: While I love the original Star Wars Trilogy, Lucas is a ..... well a doodle. Don't get me wrong he is a talented doodle, but a doodle none the less. Trying to place faith on anything he says in an interview is pointless. He changes his mind so often (especially about Star Wars) that I've just given up listening to him talk. I can see Star Wars as AtomicPunk but have difficulty with DieselPunk, but we are all entitled to our own view of what is or isn't something till a court tells you otherwise. Someone mentioned Indiana Jones, I place good ole Indy in Pulp hero, but again fail to see a true connection, aside from the time period, for DieselPunk.
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