Mythological and Mythogenic Aspects of Star Wars and the Specificities of its Stories in Regard to Serialized Storytelling covers the six stories of the Star Wars series in relation to Emil Volek's story model whose terminology and story typology is used to describe how the stories influence one another, which is to say, how the stories influence the reception of the other stories in the series and how the reception has changed over time. The diploma thesis also examines how myth is being applied to Star Wars and reflects whether such connection is justified. Both Star Wars and myth are given a definition and the relationship between the series and Joseph Campbell's monomyth, a concept frequently connected to Star Wars, is explored. The final part of the text describes narrative elements and processes participating in the creation of the original trilogy. An appendix covers various issues in regard to the translation of the series into Czech and briefly evaluates existing translations.

In contemporary consumer culture, branding is the term given to the creation of an image or text (visual, aural, textural or multi-sensory) intended to represent a commodity or product sold by a producer or service provider. This product’s commercial viability depends largely on the way it is presented (via branding) to its target market. The aim of this research report is to show that music used consciously as a branding medium, with special reference to film music (in its commodified form), has become a brand in itself, as opposed to merely a component of a multi-modal commercial product. Through analyses of a central film music theme from Star Wars: Episode IV, composed by John Williams, I aim to identify what I will term `audio-branding techniques’ within the music, thereby showing how music has come to be regarded as a brand. The audio branding techniques will relate directly to the four levels of analysis that I propose to conduct. The nature of branding implies the presence of three entities in the cultural and commercial `transaction’ that takes place: namely, the service provider (creator), the product (commodity) and the target market (consumer). I intend to argue that, as a result of powerful creative collaborations between John Williams and his various directors (not to mention his own unique talent), this composer’s film music has increasingly become an audio brand which is almost commensurate with the brand status of the film itself. Williams’s ability to create a symbiotic relationship between a music brand and that of a film has set him apart from most other contemporary art and commercial composers. As a result, it is not simply the actors, directors and producers associated with a movie that induce one to buy tickets to see it, but Williams’s independent audio branding style as well. I thus aim to prove that his film music is an audio brand independent of, and yet also allied with, other brands.

<p>The digital evolution in the film industry has opened possibilities that was only to blockbusters before the digital age. I am talking about mass-scenes. Huge scenes with hordes of people often in huge battlefields. This was earlier in film history an extremly costly undertaking for the filmindustry and was a major reason why the large studio systems in Hollywood collapsed in the 60s. Now we can enjoy large scale battles created with CGI without costly extras, costumes and props. It’s all made with the computer and with ’blue screen’ technology. Is it possible to track the mass-scene back to some sort of origin or at least to who that defined the mass-scene ? If we look closer at mass-scenes used in contemporary movies then a clear pattern often emerges. These scenes can often be traced back to especially two propaganda films from the late 30s. Triumph des Willens by Leni Riefenstahl and Alexander Nevsky by Sergei M. Eisenstein. Of course there are others, but these two stands out from the others regarding mass-scenes. My opinion is that these two classic propaganda films have defined the mass-scenes as we have come to see and understand them in many comtemporary films from Star Wars to Lord Of The Rings.</p><p>In this thesis I will try to explore the usage of mass-scenes in comtemporary films and hopefully uncover the strong intertextual ties to Triumph des Willens and Alexander Nevsky.</p><p>I will also attempt to define the mass-scene and it’s usage in contemporary film.</p>

The digital evolution in the film industry has opened possibilities that was only to blockbusters before the digital age. I am talking about mass-scenes. Huge scenes with hordes of people often in huge battlefields. This was earlier in film history an extremly costly undertaking for the filmindustry and was a major reason why the large studio systems in Hollywood collapsed in the 60s. Now we can enjoy large scale battles created with CGI without costly extras, costumes and props. It’s all made with the computer and with ’blue screen’ technology. Is it possible to track the mass-scene back to some sort of origin or at least to who that defined the mass-scene ? If we look closer at mass-scenes used in contemporary movies then a clear pattern often emerges. These scenes can often be traced back to especially two propaganda films from the late 30s. Triumph des Willens by Leni Riefenstahl and Alexander Nevsky by Sergei M. Eisenstein. Of course there are others, but these two stands out from the others regarding mass-scenes. My opinion is that these two classic propaganda films have defined the mass-scenes as we have come to see and understand them in many comtemporary films from Star Wars to Lord Of The Rings. In this thesis I will try to explore the usage of mass-scenes in comtemporary films and hopefully uncover the strong intertextual ties to Triumph des Willens and Alexander Nevsky. I will also attempt to define the mass-scene and it’s usage in contemporary film.

Begreppet ”fan edits” betecknar filmer som klipps om av fans, vilka är missnöjda med hur en adaption för vita duken som gjorts. I min uppsats vill jag påvisa dels hur samspelet mellan fans och filmmakare/filmbolag sett och ser ut, dels försöka klargöra varför copyright/fair use är så knepigt att applicera på området.

Ce mémoire a reçu l'appui financier du Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture (FRQSC). / Ce mémoire porte sur la musique composée par John Towner Williams (1932- ) pour le film The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Il se limite à la musique extradiégétique, c’est-à-dire celle dont l’origine se situe à l’extérieur du monde fictionnel dans lequel prend place le récit du film. Ce répertoire présente l’intérêt de suivre le modèle classique hollywoodien, où la trame musicale est étroitement associée au déroulement narratif. L’étude propose une analyse de l’organisation des hauteurs musicales (accords, couches à l’intérieur d’une texture stratifiée) et cherche à élucider son impact narratif au sein d’une sélection de scènes. Plutôt que de s’appuyer sur des outils traditionnels propres aux approches tonale fonctionnelle ou schenkérienne, l’analyse s’inspire des théories néo-riemanniennes se traduisant par l’usage des transformations ainsi que des Tonnetz. Ceux-ci sont employés dans leur rôle usuel, mais également comme représentations d’espaces harmoniques pouvant englober des ensembles plus vastes que de simples enchainements d’accords. Ils peuvent par exemple illustrer des motifs ou encore le rapport entre les différentes couches qui composent une texture stratifiée. Cela permet d’aborder le déploiement d’un matériau musical selon l’axe diatonique, hexatonique ou octatonique d’un Tonnetz. De plus, la récurrence de certaines transformations suggère des espaces harmoniques qui contribuent à l’identité des matériaux thématiques au même titre que l’orchestration ou l’usage d’échelles données. Finalement, ce type de trame musicale étant ponctué de fréquentes ruptures et changements, sa construction est considérée à travers de multiples déplacements entre des espaces harmoniques. / This thesis is centered on John Towner Williams’s (b. 1932) music composed for the movie Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980). It concentrates on extra-diegetic music, that is, music that originates outside the fictional world where the story takes place. The interest for this repertoire originates in its conception, which is based on classical Hollywood film scores, specifically in its high degree of correspondence with narrative content. This study proposes an analysis of pitch organization (chords, strata in a multi-layer texture) and seeks to establish the narrative connections that the music maintains with the image throughout selected scenes. Rather than relying on traditional tools drawn from functional or Schenkerian approaches, here analysis borrows from the theoretical method of Neo-Riemannian theories such as transformations and Tonnetz. These are used in a conventional way, but also as representations of harmonic spaces capable of encompassing broader musical events aside from simple triadic progressions. For example, they may represent motives, or the connections between the different strata comprised in a layered texture. This allows musical material to unfold through the diatonic, hexatonic or octatonic axis from the Tonnetz. Furthermore, the reiteration of particular transformations suggests harmonic spaces that establish the identity of thematic material in a way similar to that of orchestration or scales. Finally, because this type of soundtrack is punctuated by frequent breaks and changes, we will consider its construction throughout multiples shifts between harmonic spaces.

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Cette étude porte sur la « culture geek » et son émergence en tant que sous-culture et identité culturelle revendiquée en France depuis le milieu des années 2000. En effet, ce mouvement d’abord américain a fait une entrée remarquée dans l’espace public qui incite à s’interroger sur sa réalité sociologique. Les geeks sont abordés ici comme fans de mondes imaginaires fantastiques (science-fiction, fantasy…), passionnés de nouvelles technologies et en tant que public premier et fondateur du processus de convergence culturelle théorisé par Henry Jenkins. La montée en visibilité du phénomène geek est ainsi liée dans cette étude à celle de pratiques médiatiques associées à ce processus (fanfictions, démocratisation des outils numériques, œuvres transmédiatiques et immersives, etc.). Dans ce cadre, le tournant réflexif (vers un sentiment d’appartenance à une identité collective) et la mode médiatique autour de la culture geek ces dernières années trouvent leurs racines dans les moments fondateurs de la convergence culturelle (depuis les pulps fictions et la naissance des comic books jusqu’à la sortie de Star Wars, du Seigneur des anneaux, des premiers jeux de rôles et jeux vidéo). Mais cela doit aussi à la radicalisation récente des croisements médiatiques, des pratiques participatives, de la mondialisation des partages liée aux technologies numériques et au passage des identités prescrites aux identités choisies dans les sociétés contemporaines marquées par l’individualisme. / This dissertation is about « geek culture » and the emergence of this subcultural identity in recent years in France. This movement, born in North America, has entered the public sphere in a spectacular way and it encourages us to study its sociological reality. Geeks are seen here as fans of imaginary worlds (science-fiction, fantasy…), new technologies lovers, and as first and original audience of the process of cultural convergence defined by Henry Jenkins. The increasing visibility of the geek phenomenon is connected to many practices associated with this process (fanfictions, wide use of digital technology, transmedia and immersive storytelling, etc.). From this point of view, the reflexive moment (the feeling of being part of a collective identity) and the geek trend are both rooted by the beginnings of cultural convergence (from the pulp fictions, and the birth of comic books, to the release of Star Wars, the Lord of the Rings and the first role-playing or video games). It also has to do with the recent growth of links between media, with the success of participatory culture, the possibility of worldwide share thanks to digital technologies and the shift from preassigned identities to chosen ones in our individualistic society.

Thesis (MPhil (Ancient Studies)--University of Stellenbosch, 2006. / This thesis explores the Star Wars films in terms of C.G. Jung's theories on the archetypes and the collective unconscious, particularly as described by Joseph Campbell in his discussion of the journey of the mythic hero. In Chapter 1 short definitions of relevant terms such as “myth,” “the collective unconscious” and “archetypes” are given. Chapter 2 is a short discussion of four Jungian archetypes relevant to the topic, namely the Shadow, Guide, Mother, and Father. Chapter 3 focuses on the archetype of the Self and the psychological process of individuation as described by Jung, and its relation to the mythic hero and his journey. In Chapter 4 Star Wars is analysed in terms of the theoretical framework set out in Chapters 1-3. Chapter 5 is the concluding chapter, in which certain conclusions are made pertaining to the mythic character and psychological function of Star Wars, i.e., that the films contain elements that are mythic in character and may therefore perform the same psychological functions as myth. It is also argued that the popularity of Star Wars can therefore be ascribed to the same psychological reasons as the popularity of myth. Some attention is also given to possible further areas of study in this field, such as the mythic character of some other popular phenomena (for example Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings) and the function of myth and modern mythic equivalents as a community-shaping factor in people’s lives.

No description available.