Impact of “Star Wars”

How “Star Wars” changed the world?

3000

Introduction

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away… This is how began one of the most popular and
influential films of all times, Star Wars. Star Wars is a franchise which includes 8 movies, TV
shows, cartoons, books, comics and games. The author of idea and main director of original
trilogy is George Lucas. This person made the trilogy which influenced the creation of such
movies as Mad Max, The Terminator, Back to the Future and others (Roland, 2016). Everyone
knows that they are unique, but nobody knows that they would not exist without Star Wars,
because by shooting original trilogy, were invented new technology of animation, 3D imaging,
wireframe animation and others (Roland, 2016). This film has really become a global
phenomenon in the world of cinema as there are fans of Star Wars all around the world in such
counties as USA, Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand (Caliper, 2015).

Some Kazakhstani people are also aware of the notion of this film. However, there are many
people who do not know about it. It irritates me when somebody says that it is just film,
because Star Wars is a universe. It is whole subculture with fans, meetings and traditions. I
think that this subculture can help people to find hobby or entertainment. Today young people
try to find a place in life and determine the interests. Unfortunately, number of people choose
harmful things like alcohol or tobacco, because government cannot suggest anything, except for
sports. The problem is that not everyone can do sports. So, they have no choice.

Star Wars really helped me to achieve some of my aims. For instance, it taught me to
appreciate friendship and never give up. Also, it helped me in education. Even, now I am writing
my project work about Star Wars. This is the reason why I decided to choose this topic. In the
future, if I will be a psychologist, I will develop this project and consider from a psychological
point of view. May the Force be with us!

Aims

The purpose of the research project was to explore popularity of Star Wars among Kazakhstani
people.

Therefore this research will be guided by the following questions:

 ● What do people in Kazakhstan know about Star Wars?
● How much do people know about influence of Star Wars in different spheres?
● To what extent Star Wars it is popular in Kazakhstan and in the world? And what are the
reasons?

The aim was to explore about how much local people know about influence of this films and
Star Wars in general. Also, to find out their opinions about popularity of this subculture.

The outcomes of the research will be used to explain about Star Wars universe and influence of
this films on different spheres of activity. Also, it will be important to popularize it in Kazakhstan.
Methods

The research design included different methods, because this gave me opportunity to check the
information and compare them with each other. It allowed me to avoid biases and uncertainties.

At the beginning of project work, I performed secondary research to find some information about
my topic. Internet was the main source of data. By surfing across the expanses of the Internet, I
have found some interesting sites which were full of facts about Star Wars. Of course, some of
them was outdated and unofficial. If I were to use all of data which I found, my project would be
unreliable. To avoid these kinds of problems, I used RAVEN criteria. At the end I have found
“Space.com” and “Shuttershock.com”. I think that they are reliable, because authors of articles
have good reputation in this sphere. That is why there are no bias information.

The subquestion of my project was influence of Star Wars in Kazakhstan. That is why I needed
the opinion of society. I decided to conduct quantitative research, because it allowed to know
about the opinion of big amount of people. The site which called “SurveyMonkey.com” helped
me to conduct a survey to collect some information about knowledge of Kazakhstani society. By
analyzing and comparing the answers I am going to identify the level of expertise and influence.

The main participants of survey was students of NIS Aktobe. I chose them, because students
spend a lot of time on social networks and media. Also, it was easier to include them because I
used Outlook.

At the beginning I created a survey on the “SurveyMonkey.com”, which included questions like
“Have you ever seen Star Wars movie?”. The number of respondents was 44. Students do not
want to take survey, because there are a big number of surveys on Outlook and it is boring. I
have these kinds of limitations and that is why my project may be not reliable.
 Context

Star Wars is an American epic space opera franchise, centered on a film series created by George
Lucas. It depicts the adventures of various characters "a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away".
The main plot of these films tells about Skywalker family(BUL, n/d).

The recent research showed that there is much influence of Star Wars on different spheres of life.
Also, it brought new technology of filmmaking and animation. For example: “The
Dykstraflex”(Roland, 2016) motion camera was invented and developed in process of making these
films. Also, technology which called “Motion Capture 3D Imaging System”(Roland, 2016) was based
by Star Wars shooting team. As I pointed out, this franchise impacted on different spheres of life and
of them is science. For example: some species of trapdoor spiders were named in honor of monster
which called “Sarlacc”(Isaac, 2012).

According to the survey of “The Top Tens” Star Wars is ranked second among most popular film
series of all time. Also, it has a big amount of fans from different countries and parts of the world. For
example: the number of fans in Great Britain is 176 632, in Australia is 65 000, in New Zealand is 53
000 and others(Caliper, 2015). But the situation in Kazakhstan is not so good. We do not have such
number of fans and influence is imperceptible. Even some people do not know what does “Star
Wars” mean. Others say that it is just film and it cannot impact on something.

This issue can be viewed from a different number of perspectives. In my situation, they will be a
different spheres of life which were influenced by these films. I want to start from the main
sphere-culture. The cultural influence of the six "Star Wars" films, plus the novels, comics,
television shows, games, toys, spoofs and documentaries linked with "Star Wars," is such that,
in the 2001 United Kingdom census, some 390,000 people stated their religion as Jediism,
making it the fourth largest religion surveyed(Choi, 2010). What does Jediism mean? Jediism is
a new religious movement, which based on the observance of the Force, described as "the
ubiquitous and metaphysical power" that a Jedi believes to be the underlying, fundamental
nature of the universe(BBC, 2016). The main protagonists of Star Wars were the members and
the masters of Jedi Order. Here, we can see that these films are affected to create new
subculture and became new kind entertainment.
The next perspective is technology. As I said, Star Wars helped to develop technology of
filmmaking. According to Roland(2016), these films impact on industry of light and magic. They
helped to create terms like Go Motion Animation, OpenEXR Image File Format, 3D Wireframe
Animation and others.
Also, Star Wars was influenced on society. There are some people whose life changed due to
Star Wars. For example: one man from USA opened a workshop, which makes costumes and
models of weapons from Star Wars universe(Mike B, 2015).
And here we have a question: Why it is so popular? According to Throckmorton(2012) who is
historian of this franchise, there are 5 causes of popularity:
● Star Wars is genre-defining. It was the first feature film of its kind and it opened
the gate for space-based science fiction to occupy an unshakeable position in
mainstream culture.
● The story of the original trilogy of Star Wars is one of humanity's favorite
stories. David beats Goliath. The underdog good topples the powerhouse evil.
● The universe is vast. Multiple planets are mentioned, visited and explored. All
manner of sentient and non-sentient beings are on display, including the primary
antagonist being a mixture of both. Entire books have been written just about the
spaceships, land vehicles, and weapons that exist in Star Wars. And those are just
the films...
● The movies aren't the end of the story. In fact, the seven Star Wars feature films
that exist only comprise around 35 years of the history of the galaxy. There is so
much more information to explore, whether via novels, comic books, video games,
or the Star Wars Wiki (lovingly nicknamed Wookieepedia).
● The stories are relevant to children as well as adults. A 40-year-old can watch
these films or read these books and get just as much pleasure and satisfaction as a
10-year-old. The Star Wars universe isn't something that just fades away as you
grow older. If anything, rewatching the movies with an adult perspective on the
politics and relationships featured in them has only enhanced my love for the
universe.

Concluding all these mentioned things, we can say that Star Wars is one the most influential film
series of all time. But in Kazakhstan it is not so popular and that is why we should popularize it,
because it can be a new type of entertainment and hobby.

Results

Primary research which I conducted by taking survey was full of relevant and valuable
information. The purpose of my project work was to research about influence of Star Wars on
society in the world and Kazakhstan.

The results from the survey were very useful. The analysis of data for each question is set out in
Appendix. The main findings from the questionnaire can be summarized as:
● The 51 per cent of respondents are male and 49 per cent are female.
 ● Question 3 was about Darth Vader, who is the main evil. 27.5 per cent of people
answered that he is character from Star Wars. The 25 per cent of survey participants
wrote that he is the main antagonist. 40 per cent of respondents know a lot of details like
his real name (Anakin Skywalker), that he is Sith and father of Luke. Other 22.5 per cent
do not know him. Totally, percentage is more than 100, because one person noted 2 or
more facts.
● The Question 4 asked have people ever watched Star Wars movies. The 48 per cent of
people answered that they have watched. Other 52 per cent have not.
● The 5th Question was very specific and needed special knowledge, because it asked
what does Jediism mean. 22 per cent of respondents know the meaning of this word.
Other 78 per cent do not know, but they gave very creative answers.
● Influence of Star Wars on society was asked in 6th Questions. 46 per cent of survey
participants agreed with this statement and gave examples like big number of cosplays
(dress like character) and media products. The percentage of people who think that
there is no influence is 33. Other 18 per cent do not know or undecided.
● In the 7th Question people noted a lot of examples of influence. The most interesting
ones: Michio Kaku used it to motivate people to study physics. Оn Comic-Con most
people did cosplay on Star Wars. Influenced the creation of films like Star-Trek, The
Martian, Interstellar, Ben 10.
● The next question directly relates to the first aim question of my project work. More
exactly, have people ever met attributes of Star Wars in Kazakhstani media? 69 per cent
of people have not met. Other 31 per cent gave different answers. For example, one
person met brand yellow font text which moves up. 2 people noted the TV show on
Gakku TV, which called “Follow Wars”. As you can see, they took the style of Star Wars
and adapted it to the genre of show.
● The 9th questions was about popularity of Star Wars in Kazakhstan. 60 per cent of
respondents answered that it it popular and 40 per cent answered that it is not.
● The last question asked the reasons and causes of popularity. Almost all of people
answered that it is popular all around the world and Kazakhstan is not exception.

The main part of respondents answered that they know Star Wars. Here, we can see that some
of them were influenced by it, because they know who is Darth Vader. Also, few people know
what does Jediism mean. It means that there are also a lot of real fans of Star Wars because it
is little-known information. We can say that Internet is popularizing media, because students
have knowledge about this saga.

By analyzing the results, we can see that globalization works and impacts on Kazakhstani
society, because now we meet attributes of Star Wars in our media. Also, you may assume that
children are the main category of people affected by this process, because they spend a lot of
time on the Internet and social networks.

Conclusion

In response to each of the research questions it is possible to make the following conclusions.

● What do people in Kazakhstan know about Star Wars?

Greater part of respondents know about Star Wars. About 46 per cent of people have watched
at least one movie and 25 per cent know the main evil of this saga. However, this information
may be not reliable in other cities of Kazakhstan, because survey was conducted only in
Aktobe.

● How much do people know about influence of Star Wars in different spheres?

The majority of survey participants answered that there is much influence on society. They
noted a big number of cosplays on Comic-Con as example. Also, they answered that Star Wars
influenced the creation of film series like Back to the Future and the development of a space
genre in general.

● To what extent Star Wars is popular in Kazakhstan and in the world? And what are the
reasons?

The main part of respondents answered that it is popular in Kazakhstan. Some of them wrote
about TV show which called “Follow Wars”. The authors used brand “Star Wars” but changed to
describe the show. Other respondents answered about toys and attributes which you can find in
toy stores like Marwin. All of survey participants noted that the main reason of popularity is
globalization and that is why it can be popular like in other countries.

As a result of this research it is possible to conclude that there are much influence of Star Wars
on society in the world and Kazakhstan, because people around the world made it part of their
lives. Even, they created a religion. Also, a big number of inventions in filmmaking sphere were
invented and developed. It means that these films occupy special place in the history of cinema.

Evaluation
The questions of project work were answered and fully described and results were
accomplished with evident arguments.
The secondary research, which was conducted to get information about situation in the
world was gathered from reliable sources that have provided relevant and trustworthy data. For
instance: websites like Space.com and StarWars.com are official and have good reputation,
thus they are considered as credible enough. However, there is a possibility that authors might
had vested interest as the website’s purpose is to promote the Star Wars. Furthermore, some
dates of publication are not recent, so the information can be outdated.
Fairly clear conclusions can be made according to the results of the questionnaire.
However, it is rude to claim the findings of the research on all young people of Aktobe region,
only relying on results of interview with 42 respondents. But the literature review proved that
“Star Wars” film series had a positive impact major part of people all over the world, so that it is
possible to generalise the results of the research.
My personal opinion has not changed, because I сonvinced that “Star Wars” has a positive
impact on people. Furthermore, I started to have a fancy for the movies of space genre. During
the secondary research I have recognized that this genre of films is very useful for children to
learn more about space. I am sure that this will increase their knowledge of the space.
Despite the results, which we have, it would be better to increase the number of respondents
to have more ideas about the importance of “Star Wars” film-series, because as primary
research shows people tend to have different interesting thoughts on the given topic. Moreover,
I should find additional information from more credible websites in order to increase the level of
confidence of the research project.

Further Research

During the process of conducting research some questions appeared to develop the project.
● It would be much reliable to include adult part of society of Kazakhstan in survey,
because the aim question of my research meant opinion of all parts of society.
● Conducting survey in different cities of country would give more honest information,
because people of Kazakhstan are different.
Also, while the process of conducting secondary research I created some research questions
which can be take like new topic.
● There is a perception that the idea of Star Wars was plagiarized from Star Trek.
Because of this assumption there were conflicts between fans of these films. That is why
this topic can be taken to figure out by analyzing arguments of two sides.
● The universe of Star Wars is very big, because there are lots of galaxy and planets.
Even advanced fans of this subculture cannot sort out the locations of them. That is why
it can be useful research and good infographic.
 ●

References

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