Friday, May 20, 2016

Move Musings: Where Have I Seen This Before? Star Wars: The Force Awakens

While watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens I had a little bit of deja vu. And yes, more than the fact that the story was essentially A New Hope. Some of the actual visuals from the film were very familiar. And yes beyond the fact that they borrowed from previous Star Wars films. As a rule, Star Wars borrows imagery from Star Wars, that is part of the style of the series.

In any case, as Rey was wandering the derelict Star Destroyer, I realized that I had seen similar shots and angles in another movie I watched.





And just when I think I can stop writing about Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, someone has to go and reference it. Of course Nausicaa is a pretty good model for a lead female character in a science fiction story, so it is hard to begrudge the creators of The Force Awakens from giving Rey a visual nod to the opening scenes in Miyazaki's film.

2 comments:

  1. That's what happens when you've watched the classics (and neo-classics): you see the influences on newer films. Usually that's more satisfying than not. I wouldn't have caught this one.

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    1. Yeah this one didn't bother me because it felt like a nod to the anime. As opposed to "Independence Day" which felt like it was ripping off scenes from "Star Wars", "Close Encounters" and "Star Trek" because it couldn't think of anything on its own.

      Besides it is a nod to a really great anime and anime creator, hard to argue with that one.

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