Genre Research: Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back

 What elements of the genre that you chose to base your final task on does this movie have?

 In my story I plan on having my protagonist find an artifact with magical properties that can help them travel between dimensions, which I feel is one of the more obscure elements of my film. I feel that the idea of an ancient magical artifact is used very often in science fiction. This is especially seen in Star Wars, particularly the more recent films. However, when looking at The Empire Strikes Back I based my film off the dialogue specifically. I feel that science fiction films often use dialogue manly as a plot-device, and as a result this makes the characters giving the dialogue feel disingenuous. However, I feel that The Empire Strikes Back doesn’t have this problem. With every line each character says, the characters feel real. They feel like relatable people. This allows the audience to relate more closely to the film as a result.

What elements of the genre did the movie have that you liked? 

I really enjoyed the setting and locations the film used to set the story in. Although The Empire Strikes back is a pretty old film by now, each setting feels real and exciting. The setting of yoda’s planet feels like a real swamp, yet it was a complete constructed set. Many of the scenes of the snow planet of Hoth were either real locations or miniatures, yet it is filled with tiny details to make the setting feel real. I think that by constantly switching between such different locations, the film creates a sense of excitement, and it creates shows the vastness of science fiction. It shows the audience that the setting the films is based on is huge. It shows us that this universe is always bustling in the background.

 What elements of the genre did the movie have that did not appeal to you?

I feel that some of the special effect did not appeal to me. This isn’t necessarily something that is the films fault, as this is a problem that stems from the  technology at the time so it’s not necessarily the fault of anyone working on the film. It just that whenever the film uses special effects it could possibly take the audience of the detour for a bit as it reminds the audience of how old the film is. Nonetheless the visual effects were good for the time but by today’s standards it’s obvious when the film uses green screens and miniatures.



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