STAR WARS Came From Jin Yong Wuxia

[hirobo2]

There is nothing new under the sun. Everything comes from something that existed before it. No where in this thread will the claim be made that STAR WARS plagiarized Jin Yong wuxia. You can parody something and not violate copyright laws.

Enough said. Here are the argument(s) and supporting evidence(s) that STAR WARS drew inspiration from Chinese wuxia, in particular Jin Yong's works:

[hirobo2]

STAR WARS / Jin Yong Discussion Index:

1. The Made-In-China Phenomenon - Page 1

2. In the 70's and earlier, it was difficult to know about Jin Yong. Why couldn't STAR WARS from the 90's onward derive inspiration from Jin Yong when he is already popular with a wide following? - Page 1


Legend: Topic - page in thread


NOTE: This thread will be something like a marathon that may take weeks/months to be thought out then updated (as I will be updating several of my other marathon-type threads in the movies section as well...)

[hirobo2]

1. Pic below (The Made-In-China Phenomenon):

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I have posted before in another thread that the current highest grossing movie of all time, James Cameron's Avatar (2009) is Chinese in origin.

Usually, if you don't know where something comes from, be it a piece of tech gadget or "pop-culture" phenomenon and put down China or a Chinese work as its source of inspiration, you will be correct 99% of the time.

[whiteskwirl]

So how did George Lucas know about Jin Yong when none of his novels had been translated to English yet. Remember too that Star Wars was released in 1977, yet Jin Yong did not become a global phenomenon until the early 1980s. Before 1980 he was little known outside Asia, and his work was even officially banned in China and Taiwan. It was Ni Kuang's book 我看金庸小說 in 1980 that really began the serious study of Jin Yong's work.

[hirobo2]

So how did George Lucas know about Jin Yong when none of his novels had been translated to English yet. Remember too that Star Wars was released in 1977, yet Jin Yong did not become a global phenomenon until the early 1980s. Before 1980 he was little known outside Asia, and his work was even officially banned in China and Taiwan. It was Ni Kuang's book 我看金庸小說 in 1980 that really began the serious study of Jin Yong's work.

Patience. This is a marathon thread (periodic bursts of posting stretched over a long timeframe) as explained earlier. I will get to it eventually.

BTW, when I write China is this thread, I could be referring to HK (where Jin Yong first published his works) which is in fact Chinese territory... I will use this term interchangeably. To me there is only one China, whether we r dealing with HK or Taiwan.

[whiteskwirl]

Patience. This is a marathon thread (periodic bursts of posting stretched over a long timeframe) as explained earlier. I will get to it eventually.

BTW, when I write China is this thread, I could be referring to HK (where Jin Yong first published his works) which is in fact Chinese territory... I will use this term interchangeably. To me there is only one China, whether we r dealing with HK or Taiwan.

That's beside the point, all three areas have their own censorship laws/restrictions, so it's useful to treat them separately. From the 1960s to 1980 wuxia was banned in mainland China completely, yet it thrived in Taiwan and Hong Kong. And of course HK at this time was under UK rule. In 1980 the wuxia ban was lifted in mainland China and in Taiwan the ban on Jin Yong's work was lifted (though his work had been available there on the black market all along).

Anyway, the point is George Lucas would likely not have ever heard of Jin Yong at that time (probably still hasn't, outside of Asian communities Jin Yong is still obscure). Plus George Lucas has given his inspiration for Star Wars: Flash Gordon and other such sci-fi, as well as Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces.

[hirobo2]

That's beside the point, all three areas have their own censorship laws/restrictions, so it's useful to treat them separately. From the 1960s to 1980 wuxia was banned in mainland China completely, yet it thrived in Taiwan and Hong Kong. And of course HK at this time was under UK rule. In 1980 the wuxia ban was lifted in mainland China and in Taiwan the ban on Jin Yong's work was lifted (though his work had been available there on the black market all along).

Anyway, the point is George Lucas would likely not have ever heard of Jin Yong at that time (probably still hasn't, outside of Asian communities Jin Yong is still obscure). Plus George Lucas has given his inspiration for Star Wars: Flash Gordon and other such sci-fi, as well as Joseph Campbell's The Hero With a Thousand Faces.

Once again, let me reiterate. I have only posted 1 point so far out of maybe 20 that I plan to post later. Hence, the marathon. Anyways, what makes you think another point won't talk about the issues you raised up?

[whiteskwirl]

Once again, let me reiterate. I have only posted 1 point so far out of maybe 20 that I plan to post later. Hence, the marathon. Anyways, what makes you think another point won't talk about the issues you raised up?

I look forward to reading your argument.

[hirobo2]

2. In the 70's and earlier, it was difficult to know about Jin Yong. Why couldn't STAR WARS from the 90's onward derive inspiration from Jin Yong when he is already popular with a wide following?

Ignore these for the moment:

SW Ep IV: A New Hope (1977)
SW Ep V: The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
SW Ep VI: Return of the Jedi (1983)

Look what got made then and thereafter:

LotCH (1976 TV series)
The Battle Wizard (1977 DGSD movie)
HSDS (1978 TV series)
HSDS (1978 movie)
The Brave Archer and His Mate (1982 LotCH/RotCH movie)
DGSD (1982 TV series)
DGSD (1982 movie)
Little Dragon Maiden (1983 RotCH movie)
LotCH (1983 TV series)
RotCH (1984 TV series)
The Hidden Power of the Dragon Sabre (1984 movie)
New HSDS (1986 TV series)

(I have purposely left out all Jin Yong adaptions 9 years before SW Ep I to allow time to watch/read/know about Jin Yong. And as you can see, Jin Yong's adaptations were already quite many with those 9 years omissions)

So, why couldn't/wouldn't these originate from Jin Yong's works after he had become a "household name" in HK (and you could rent JY shows/movies at virtually any Asian VHS rental store in North America years in advance of Ep. I)?

SW Ep I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
SW Ep II: Attack of the Clones (2002)
SW Ep III: Revenge of the Sith (2005)
SW Ep VII: The Force Awakens (2015)
SW Ep VIII (2017)
SW Ep IX (2019)

For example: (see next post)

[hirobo2]

On second thought, I am not going to write post after post explaining the same thing over and over, so I will just re-post what I wrote on another forum here, end of discussion:

The way Yehua (of Three Lives, Three World 2017 drama) didn't fall for any of Su Jin's tricks is what made him one of the best male leads ever! Also, BQ was so badass! Definitely the best leads ever.

That is b/c Ye Hua is based on Condor Trilogy character Yang Guo, a very intelligent and cunning individual.

Anyways if anyone cared to read my few previous comments, this work and STAR WARS prequel trilogy were both derived from a work first published in 1961 in Hong Kong called Return of the Condor Heroes. This work made its way to the West in the form of STAR WARS b/c Hong Kong was under Western rule until it was handed back to China in the late 1990's. So, Westerners being very exploitive, especially within an area under their control managed to adapt Condor Heroes wielding lightsabers instead of metal swords... But the underlying story is essentially the same: Father turns evil, effectively dies before son is born, son redeems the father ('s past misdeeds and hence his tainted character), etc. The further proof is that instead of featuring a Giant Condor in the story, STAR WARS has that infamous (M.) Falcon in its stead. Regardless of Condor or Falcon, they're both giant birds...

[hirobo2]

The following scene portrays the epic fight between the X-Wing (YG) + Millennium Falcon (XLN) vs. the Death Star (GWM):

[hirobo2]

Adam (Yang Guo):

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Eve (The Dragon Lady):

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Big Bad (The Golden Wheel Monk):

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[Vijay]

I can't share my thought because I have not watched this yet.
Going to watch very soon for sure.