compare and contrast: epical elements of star wars and the odyesseus
...d than just his kingdom, there were islands that housed seductive witches, giant man eating children of Poseidon, and even gods and goddesses that would appear to help, or hinder, his quest. Fast forward thousands of years and you will find Luke Skywalker in much the same situation. Luke lived a calm and peaceful life on Tatooine until a tragic chain of events lead to the murder of the only family he knew. He decided to leave his home planet and embark on a journey to rescue a princess and learn to use “the force” to his advantage. Being a “small town guy” almost everything Luke experienced on his journey was exciting to him. In every epic there is an element of science, although sometimes it is so abstract or outdated that it is hard to spot. This epical element is the cosmological function. This function tells something about the world or how it works. This element was hard to spot in The Odyssey because of the time period in which it was written. In The Odyssey Odysseus passes through, basically, the entire known world at the time. Although homer gives very detailed descriptions of these places he still does not divulge the locations of the various islands mentioned in the journey, thus leaving an element of mystery, which is always essential in the world of mythology. Star Wars on the other hand a mentioned its own brand of “sci-fi science” quite often. From Han Solo explaining jumping into hyperspace to the various maps of planets, unknown to us, it is a tale chock-full of “science”. However, keeping with the traditions of the epic Star Wars keeps its science shrouded in mystery. In the times of the Greeks epics were often used to portray the social order of the time. In this capacity epics can very greatly from culture to culture. In The Odyssey Odysseus portray the ideal Greek citizen. For instance throughout the story, no matter what the conditions, he held up Zeus’ law that you should be courteous to your guests. Odysseus was never unkind to anyone unless they had been unjust to him in some manner. In Star Wars the story uses archetypal roles to trick the viewer. In the beginning it seems as though this could just be a another “male saves helpless female” type of movie but as you soon find out the “helpless female” has a mind and attitude all her own and can take care of herself if needed. Also this film showed the...