Chris Brown

Student ID: 11038484

145.120 Transmedia Narrative and Storytelling

Assignment 1

Tutor: Dr Pansy Duncan

28th August 2015

Chris Brown
154.120 Transmedia Narrative and Storytelling
Dr Pansy Duncan
28th August 2015

This essay will address what has made the Star Wars franchise successful
over multiple generations. It will look at things such as how the Hero's
Journey, demographic targeting, and world building have influenced that
success.

The first topic we will look at is the use of what Joseph Campbell refers to
as the Hero's Journey. In the original Star Wars film 'A New Hope' there is a
clear use of this journey seen through the character of Luke Skywalker. In
the start of the film Luke is set in the ordinary situation of being a farmer
before receiving the call to help the rebellion. After his initial refusal and
after meeting his mentor and receiving his father's lightsaber, Luke sets
out on his journey. He is tested in the fight against the Empire but
succeeds in destroying the death star before returning with his new
abilities in the force to help continue to fight the Empire. If we look at the
most recent Star Wars Cartoon, 'Star Wars Rebels' we see a return to this
format of the Hero's Journey after the storytelling of prequel films focused
more the story form of tragedy. This return to the Hero's Journey during
the first season of the show has been well received by the audience,
despite being a replacement for the highly popular cancelled show 'Clone
Wars' that preceded it. Executive producer Simon Kinberg stated that,
"We wanted it to be true to the original movies". This use of the Hero's
Journey has been well received due to it resonates with the audience.
Joseph Campbell repeatedly told his students to "follow your bliss". (Pat
Soloman, Tedx). When you follow your bliss, or your passion, your life
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Chris Brown
154.120 Transmedia Narrative and Storytelling
Dr Pansy Duncan
28th August 2015

becomes your own Hero's Journey. It too starts off in an ordinary setting
before we're called to action, by whatever our passion is, and just like in
the stories we also have our fears and doubts about going on the journey,
but once we go on that journey and after facing our own trials we achieve
what we set out to do. This mirroring of the Hero's Journey in mythology
helps create a connection between the audience and the story. So when
we watch something like Rebels or A New Hope, and we see the
characters going on their own Hero's Journey it gives us hope and
inspiration that we can also go on ours.

John Caldwell states, "Media corporations now must try to master the
cumulative "aggregation" of audiences from across the fragmented
demographic niches". (New Media: Theories and Practices of
Digitextuality, p. 137). We see this as part of Star Wars' success as a
franchise in the way in which it targets its demographics. A good example
of this is to look at the cartoon series "Cone Wars', which started off with
an introductory movie before running for six seasons. The film and early
seasons of the show had a much lighter tone which was friendly for a
younger audience. In these early seasons the main focus was on the
iconic characters from the live action movies. This then creates a jumping
on point for a younger generation who would otherwise not have had any
new Star Wars content to introduce them to the franchise for their
generation. The early focus on iconic characters also creates a link to the
pre existing content which helps to steer the new audience towards the
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Chris Brown
154.120 Transmedia Narrative and Storytelling
Dr Pansy Duncan
28th August 2015

films, creating a new audience for those films that wouldn't have
otherwise existed. Now as this new demographic aged the series decided
to get darker in tone and begins to delve into more complex plots with
issues of morality and conflicting political agendas as the story moves
towards the fall of a republic and the rise of an empire. In the later
seasons the show also starts to follow characters that aren't seen in the
live action films. This change of tone helps to keep the show relevant for
the ageing audience. The diversification also does this, but the characters
also give the audience something unique to the Star Wars franchise that
originated from the show that they grew up with. This helps to create a
more personal attachment to the franchise for this new demographic,
which in turn helps to establish a loyalty between the audience and the
franchise.

The final point is how the Star Wars franchise uses world building across
mediums to engage its audiences. Looking at two of the new novels that
were released as part of Disney's

re- launch of Star Wars, 'A New

Dawn' by John Jackson Miller, and "Tarkin' by James Luceno. In 'A New
Dawn' the events take place on the planet Gorse, which is a new planet
that hasn't been explored before in the Star Wars universe. This also
occurs in 'Tarkin' where the readers explore Tarkin's home planet Eriadu
for the first time. However in this book we also get to explore more of the
planet Coruscant, where we get to see what happened to the Jedi temple
after the events of 'The Revenge of the Sith'. This form of world building
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Chris Brown
154.120 Transmedia Narrative and Storytelling
Dr Pansy Duncan
28th August 2015

allows the audience to imagine what these worlds look like, and in the
case of the Jedi temple what it looks like now. It's this imagination that
allows the readers to actively participate in the expansion of the Star Wars
franchise.

We also get to see a similar form of audience participation through the

Star Wars games. A good example of this is the 'Knights of the Old
Republic' game which takes place thousands of years before the original
films. In this particular game your choices have repercussions for the
entire universe during that time period. At the end of the game you get to
choose between the light or the dark side, each with their own unique
outcome. Due to the fact that the game takes place so many years before
the films none of the decisions you make will contradict anything that has
been made. This opens up the freedom to shape the universe in whatever
way you decide. This level of immersion and interaction of the games and
books in this franchise help create a relationship with the audience where
they feel that they are actively part of the creation of the Star Wars
mythos.

In conclusion we can see that the use of the Hero's Journey, targeting
demographics, and world building helps to create a bond with the
audience which allows them to feel that they are a part of the franchise.

Chris Brown
154.120 Transmedia Narrative and Storytelling
Dr Pansy Duncan
28th August 2015

It's this sense of participation and community that has helped forge
success for Star Wars across multiple generations.

Word Count: 1,104

Bibliography
Everett, A., & Caldwell, J. (2003). New media: theories and practices of
digitextuality. New York: London: Routledge,2003.
Simon, K. (2013, December 2013). Meet Simon Kinburg, Executive
Producer Star Wars Rebels. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=btnvTx-10I8

Chris Brown
154.120 Transmedia Narrative and Storytelling
Dr Pansy Duncan
28th August 2015

Soloman, P. (2013, May 11). What is the Hero's Journey?: Pat Soloman at
TEDxRockCreekPark. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=x8XUVqjX_IA