If you learn anything about Star Wars these days it’s important to learn that when making this movie the crew had to work with just about no budget at all. This doesn’t mean they were relegated to working with tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, they literally had no budget. As the book Lair: Radical Homes and Hideouts of Movie Villains gets into it, the design of Darth Vader’s samurai look is given a much better explanation even though it sounds exceedingly simple. Andrew Dyce of ScreenRant goes into a brief explanation as to how this happened, but really it seems like chance more than anything since the guy getting all the stuff together for the movie was literally picking out scraps and pieces from garages and wherever he could find to put something unique together. The idea that he found a black samurai getup was kind of fun but it’s also fate as one would say since the look of Darth Vader could have gone in so many different directions. But when you think of it, the look of a samurai, obviously adapted to a more science fiction look and feel, makes a lot of sense.
One thing that any Star Wars fan should understand is covered by Ollie Barder of Forbes, and that’s the fact that Star Wars does owe a lot to Japanese culture. The most telling is that which is shown by the Jedi and the Sith, as the Jedi serve as peacekeepers among the galaxy, while the Sith act more like the Ronin, those disgraced samurai with no masters. One can also see the tenets of Bushido within the Jedi code, and the armor that Vader wore is said to be reminiscent of that worn by warlords during the time period. In short, Lucas has for a long time been a big Akira Kurosawa fan, and it shows in how he crafted one of the greatest franchises to ever come along. It’s also evident how he pulled away from the traditional influences since science fiction and history can easily coexist in many ways, but it’s more of a one-way street than anything when trying to make an epic. The use of swords is yet another aspect that Lucas took, but thanks to the scifi aspect the blades took on a much different look than the deadly weapons that the samurai’s used. But if you’ll notice throughout the movies and the many stories the idea remains that each lightsaber is unique to each individual. In fact the only ones that ever seem to see them as mere tools are random Jedi and the Sith, who have been known to manufacture them in great quantities in some stories so as to provide every apprentice with one until they can make their own.
A Jedi’s lightsaber was much like a samurai’s katana in which the warrior prized the weapon, a lot of the time, and it was something that was to be used only when necessary, and never without cause. Some Jedi didn’t seem to value their lightsabers all that much at times and saw them as mere tools, while others saw them as another part of their connection to the Force. But throughout much of the franchise thus far they’ve been just as revered as the legendary blades that the samurai used extensively in their time. In fact if you were to ask a person which weapon is more prized in this day and age it feels safe to say that you might find the results a little closer than you might think. The lightsaber of course would be a very desirable weapon since it can cut through most anything and has only a few big limitations, while the katana would no doubt take the realistic edge simply because it’s a blade that actually exists and has been around for a very long time, and also has a very deadly and impressive history.
But as far as the look of Star Wars being taken from Japanese culture, Darth Vader is by far the biggest influence that we can see since his outfit is in fact very close in resemblance to a samurai, and one can almost imagine him being the type of warlord that might go from galaxy to galaxy striking fear into the hearts of his subjects. In fact you could honestly say he would rule by fear since there’s no one that would dare to look at him and think that he’s a benevolent leader. There were tales of such warlords in Japan back in that time as well however, men that ruled with such power and an utter lack of respect for their fellow humans that they were detested even by those that served them. In a big way Star Wars does owe a great deal to at least one aspect of Japanese culture.
Follow Us
