cross-posted from: https://slrpnk.net/post/21909592
this post was submitted on 09 May 2025
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Is that actually true? I like to think I'm at least somewhat educated in history but I never got the connection between the Star Wars plot and the Vietnam War. I initially thought it was inspired by the French Resistance (probably very wrong).
But I think everyone can also obviously tell that the prequels are inspired by the events of the transformations of the Roman Republic and Weimar Germany from dysfunctional republics into imperialist regimes.
The plot of the sequels on the other hand seemed more like they were inspired by advertising campaigns than history
It's true, but part of it - as Lucas apparently drew inspiration from several places. But yes the vietnam war was one of the big ones. The us is the bad guys
Can you point out some examples of this? Some plot point in Star Wars and its real-world analogue? Because "plucky protagonists overthrow big bad evil government" is, at least today, on its own, a pretty generic stock plotline. If that alone is enough to claim that Star Wars = Vietnam War, you could easily (and perhaps even more validly) claim that it's actually the Xinhai Revolution or the Russian Revolution. Or the English Civil War. Or the Meiji Restoration. Or the French Resistance/Free French Forces. Or... (&c.)
To illustrate what kind of examples I'm talking about, you could say that the Galactic Senate voting emergency powers to Palpatine in the prequels is analogous to the Enabling Act and the Reichstag Fire Decree of Weimar Germany or the Roman Senate voting to appoint Julius Caesar as dictator for life.
The whole battle of Endor, where the technologically superior invaders were defeated by the underdogs in the forests using primitive traps & ambush techniques
Okay, that I can see. When people mention the original Star Wars I think of A New Hope (which isn't particularly Vietnam-y), not Return of the Jedi.
https://youtu.be/Nxl3IoHKQ8c?t=56
Here's a video where George Lucas discusses this a little.
I mean not just a little, he literally states the film is an allegory for the Vietnam war.
I meant more... It's a bit short, and there's not a lot of detail.
He does literally say it.
A lot was from the Kurosawa film "The Hidden Foretress". Two rogues escorts a princess and her samurai across a battlefield to safety. But that was just A New Hope.