Star Wars has a certain rhythm, rhyme & symmetry
It's a visual poem where themes echo and rebound.
Where the colors compare and contrast and bode both hope and dread.
When voices air similar beats.
There are plenty of callbacks and references to each film.
Common moments happen at the same time in the film's pacing as they did in their mirrored scenes.
This occurs across all 9 saga films but especially the first 6 of which George Lucas acts as the poet or Great Bard.
Star Wars aficionado Mike Klimo will happily explain this to you as ‘Star Wars Ring Theory‘.
And there's no denying the above when you look at these comparisons between the films which show the extent of the visual symmetry that the first 6 Star Wars films that George Lucas helped write, direct and produced have.
Lucas should be more widely credited for the six Star Wars stories he told – here's the proof why as put together by Mike Klimo on his most interesting Instagram.
His posts have a lot of detail about common connections between the films, and plenty of comparisons of how Lucas was inspired by many movies as he made his films – for example, did you know that Return of the Jedi had a small homage shot to the Wizard of Oz?
So, with full credit to Mike (and George Lucas) here's some visual symmetry and poetry of the Star Wars films:
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| Feeling a great disturbance in the Force. |
This pose of Mace Windu is a deliberate homage back to when we first met the cocky and arrogant Han Solo in ANH.
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| Jedi and Sith, looking after their protege |
Frize Framing
Klimo writes: “When Palpatine reveals himself as the Sith Lord Darth Sidious in Revenge of the Sith, there is a wall sculpture, or “frieze,” hanging in the background of Palpatine’s office.
In “The Art of Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith,” Erik Tiemens, concept artist on the film, notes: “The idea behind the archaeological frieze in Palpatine’s office is that it depicts an event. [George Lucas] was very clear about making it a dynamic and somewhat gory scene of Jedi and aliens and warriors fighting each other.”
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| Die Jedi Dogs! |
Klimo reveals: “When cleaning R2-D2 in the original Star Wars film, Luke Skywalker accidentally stumbles across a hologram of Princess Leia pleading for help, a vital message that draws Luke into a quest to rescue her. In Sith (A New Hope’s corresponding episode in the Star Wars Ring Theory), director George Lucas reinterprets this crucial plot point, rather brilliantly, as Anakin Skywalker’s nightmare about Padme dying in childbirth.
There are plenty more connections made between the films, check out the symmetry of Revenge of the Sith to A New Hope – and for the curious fan, here are 510 facts about Star Wars.
Paul Rose Jr has worked as TV News Producer, Forensic Analyst, and Train Conductor, among many other things. He’s the former TV Editor for Infuzemag.com and owns more books, DVDs, and comics than most people have seen in their lifetimes. When he’s not writing articles, he exercises his creative muscle writing screenplays and acting in film and television in Los Angeles, CA.