Star Wars: Five Times ‘A New Hope’ Changed Cinema
With A New Hope, Star Wars changed the world. Let’s take a look at how.
Star Wars is a great franchise. Lately, we’ve taken a good, hard look at some of the things the Sequel trilogy got wrong, some things it got right, and some things it just kind of… did.
We’ve also been taking a look at some of the things Star Wars Prequel movies have gotten right, and a few things they’ve gotten wrong here or there. We’ve looked at mistakes made in Revenge of the Sith and Attack of the Clones. Some silly git even had the temerity to pan The Phantom Menace.
We’ve also talked about what movies like The Phantom Menace and Attack of The Clones got right. Continuing on we looked at the OT. We’ve taken a look A New Hope. We even desecrated the Holy Grail and pointed out some of The Empire Strikes Back mistakes. But of course these movies did a lot more right than wrong. Today lets take a look at some times A New Hope wasn’t just good, but times in changed cinema.
5. The Opening Shot
Courtesy of Lucas Films
Right from the very start, A New Hope changed movies. The opening shot is iconic. It has become one of the most emulated, parodied, and honored scenes in movie history. It also perfectly sets up the movie without needing dialogue. The opening shows the grand scale of the movie. It sets up the power difference between the factions in the scale of the ships. And it gives us Star Wars right off the bat. It’s literally perfect.
4. Vader Killed Your Father
This line part isn’t so much a game-changer within A New Hope itself. Having a bad guy who killed the MC’s father isn’t groundbreaking. It’s the fact that it’s a lie. In more recent years, multi-movie twists and later retcons of earlier events have become pretty common. But when Star Wars came out, that wasn’t really the case. In American cinema at least, it was pretty rare at that time to get multi-movie plots and twists. In retrospect, this was one of those things that really kicked off a trend.
3. These Aren’t The Droids Your Looking For
Courtesy of Lucas Films
This scene of course is also one of the most quoted and parodied scenes in movie history. But it’s important for far more than that. At this point in the movie, we’ve been introduced to the Jedi and told about them. But we haven’t really seen what they can do. Space Monks is one thing. Space Wizards is a whole totally different thing. With the showing off of Jedi powers, Star Wars takes a real turn from sci-fi to space fantasy and really pioneers a whole new genre.
2. It Made Sci-fi Look Big And Grand
Courtesy of Lucas Films
Sci-fi wasn’t particularly rare before A New Hope. Sci-fi movies went back all the way to the silent movie era. But large sweeping space operas were pretty rare. Most sci-fi took place in one world. On the small screen, you did have more out-there shows like Star Trek. But A New Hope blew everything before it out of the water. This movie looked better, was bigger, and was grander than anything else. It redefined what sci-fi could be. It made space opera more serial. A New Hope mixed genres to make a type of movie that was no longer its own little niche. It changed things.
1. Every Other Iconic Shot
Courtesy of Lucas Films
I mean honestly what else do you want me to say? This movie is filled with shots that are iconic. Shots that films for the past 40+ years have been copying. Scenes that people have tried to top for decades, and failed. The Twin Suns shots. The Cantina Scene. The Trench Run. It was Star Wars, and it changed everything.
Let us know what your favorite part of the movie is, down in the comments!
