Hope is hard to come by these days, especially in the theaters. Back in the 1970s, the world was hurting. Wars and financial struggles were abound. In Hollywood, the latest trend of films were very dark and edgy. Whether it was Taxi Driver, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, Dog Day Afternoon, etc. It truly was a cynical time in cinema. Until May 25th, 1977.
Star Wars, which ironically was later given the subtitle of A New Hope in its 1981 re-release, gave audiences a resounding feeling of hope. No longer were the main characters in the popular films dying or murdering. Star Wars gave audiences hope that good could, no, will prevail in the end. Even though The Empire Strikes Back ended on a sour note, we knew that the family of characters we grew to love would prevail in the end. And by the end of Return of the Jedi, we even saw the personification of evil that was Darth Vader return to the light side of the Force.
Even in these current times in cinema where dark and edgy seems to be all of the rage once again, along comes The Force Awakens to give us a sense of hope among cynical films and a cynical world of terrorism, politics, and tensions. Hope is always a good way to get audiences into the theaters again.
