 So, you've probably read, heard, or most likely noticed on your own that the Star Wars original trilogy takes heavy inspiration from hundreds of different sources, everything from obvious influences like Japanese and especially samurai cinema and culture, some American space operas like Flash Gordon and Buck Rogers, and even to literature like The Lord of the Rings trilogy which parallels the overarching narratives very closely. It also took heavy inspiration from a lot of ancient mythology, especially surrounding the Force, some from medieval, some Roman, and some Greek, but it doesn't just pull from the pages of other stories, so much of Star Wars comes from history books as well, both more recent but also ancient history, and that isn't even mentioning what may be the most important and most impactful, the writing of Joseph Campbell whose work on story and narrative has influenced millions of different stories. Star Wars is just one very direct example. It would be hard to argue that Star Wars is completely original, like almost every story ever told, it's based on existing literature. It is the known unknown, a story that we're all familiar with that has been reimagined and retold in its own context in its own world and in its own way. I think it really is remarkable how George Lucas and all of his collaborators for that matter were able to make this story work. And Star Wars doesn't work despite these influences. Star Wars works because it was able to take and borrow from so many different sources to find the best way to tell its story. Now I don't want to spend too much time addressing the prequels in this video, but I do think it's worth pointing out that these movies are a lot closer to original than the original trilogy. There are only a handful of characters from the original trilogy who appear in the prequels, but for the most part they focus on new characters, new planets, and new technology. There are new storylines and if you look at traditional storytelling and narrative beats, these movies went completely off the reservation. Think about a typical love story, and I bet you it doesn't end like this. There's no real redemption at the end of the trilogy, no real lessons learned, just the only heroes we know who survived going off into exile. Love them or hate them, the prequels were different. And although it would be easy to argue that some of the biggest problems that came from the prequels arose from this unique storytelling approach, I think it's really cool to see what happens when a very creative person is given near unlimited power to tell what kind of a story that he wants to tell. But I'm getting sidetracked. What I really want to discuss today are the modern Star Wars films, both the sequel trilogy and the standalone anthology films. And I want to ask, for how long are they going to be sustainable? What I mean by this is that the modern films have gone back to taking heavy inspiration from others. The stories follow much more traditional plot and narrative structures, and take inspiration from different sources. But this is where I see the modern Star Wars films facing a bit of a long-term problem, because their biggest inspiration is the earlier Star Wars films. After the release of The Force Awakens, the biggest complaint that I saw with the movie that people had was that it was too similar to a new hope. But as I've discussed before, what the film did so well was create and develop unique characters to fit into the rest of the upcoming saga. The Last Jedi is a unique case, because it took both direct influence from earlier Star Wars films and also indirect influence by changing what we thought we already knew. And let me just say that I don't think that this is a downside to the new Star Wars films. As I mentioned a few times before, I think almost all, if not all, four of the Disney era Star Wars films have either been pretty good or really good. I'm not trying to diagnose a problem that is already there. Instead, I want to ask, how long can this reasonably last? How many spinoffs can be made that fit into this timeline that we already know? I've read some people say that the problem is too many films being released, that a movie a year is too much. But I don't think that's true, and I think Disney's success with Marvel proves that if done right, a movie a year cannot only be successful, but that's just the start of how many can be released. Star Wars has near unlimited potential in terms of where it can go next. So far we've seen 10 movies in a few TV series all take place within a 90 year period from the first frame to the last one, and there's nothing wrong with this. A galaxy as big as the one as there is in Star Wars, 90 years is plenty of time to tell new stories, create new characters, and go into a direction that we've never seen before. But so far that hasn't happened. The series has stuck to what we already know, and in order to unlock the true potential of Star Wars, it's going to have to pull influence from the entire galaxy, not just the Star Wars films that preceded it. Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed a few things that I just want to say. First of all, this is the first video that was made through the support of Patreon. I just launched the page, so if you are interested, please consider checking out that page and seeing if there is anything over there that interests you. Please feel no pressure, the content over here is always going to remain free, and hopefully be better than ever. I also want to add that this video comes from the perspective of a huge Star Wars fan, and I have been my entire life, and I'm hoping to see the franchise branch out into the future, and to success that we have never seen before. Anyway, if you enjoyed this video, and want to see more, be sure to hit that subscribe button. I also put a link to my last video on Martin Scorsese and his rather unique use of music, so check that out if you're interested. Thank you for watching.