Star Wars

Setting

Time

The only clue given to indicate the time setting of Star Wars is the line that opens each film: "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...". This is an allusion to the classic fairy tale line "Once upon a time, in a faraway land...", and other variations thereof. It may reflect that the films are to be interpreted as myths of the future, as opposed to literally meaning the events take place in the past. Lucas himself intentionally left the details open to interpretation.

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Although it is unclear when the stories take place, the scope of the entire Star Wars fiction covers over 7,500,000,000 years, with the film series spanning only two generations.

Related Topics:
''Star Wars'' fiction - 7,500,000,000 years

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Place

As far as location, all of the characters of Star Wars come from the same galaxy (except a race called Yuuzhan Vong, introduced in a novel series dubbed The New Jedi Order). A lot of the movies "hover" around Coruscant. Unlike traditional science fiction films preceding it, the Star Wars world, particularly of the original trilogy era, is portrayed as dirty and grimy rather than sleek and futuristic. In interviews, Lucas tells of rubbing the new props with dirt to make them look weatherworn, a concept he refers to as "a used future." He may have been inspired by Sergio Leone, whose 1960s films performed a similar function for the Western genre.

Related Topics:
Galaxy - Yuuzhan Vong - The New Jedi Order - Coruscant - Science fiction - Sergio Leone - Western

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