Why did George Lucas set Star Wars in the past instead of the future?

Question

I always found it interesting that Star Wars is set in the distant past instead of the (more obvious) future.

Has George Lucas ever commented why he chose to do that?

Duh, it has to be in the past, otherwise we wouldn't know about it yet. ;) — DavidW, Dec 08 '19 at 22:45
not worth an answer but...we technically don't know exactly when it is set in relation to our timeline. The tag "a long time ago" could still be an in-universe setting - ie - R2-D2 narrating the story to some kids in a barn. And we don't know that perhaps that narration is happening a billion years in our future — NKCampbell, Dec 08 '19 at 23:57
Related: Who is Star Wars' narrator? The story is retold by R2-D2, many years after the events occured. So "a long time ago" is from R2's perspective, not ours. — Remy Lebeau, Dec 09 '19 at 03:49
@NKCampbell That doesn't quite explain the "in a galaxy far far away" part. — Möoz, Dec 09 '19 at 09:28
@Möoz: Same thing - couldn't the R2-D2 have bridged a long distance before telling the story? — O. R. Mapper, Dec 09 '19 at 10:46
@Möoz - eh I'm not going to worry about it too hard. For one thing, we've already seen that the characters can leave their galaxy (or at least are fairly close to another one) so it's certainly possible R2 could be elsewhere. Like I said, it's just a fun idea, not an answer — NKCampbell, Dec 09 '19 at 14:38
If I'm not mistaken, there are some early drafts of the Star Wars script floating around that were set in our future and our galaxy. Back when Luke was a Starkiller rather than a Skywalker. — Steve-O, Dec 09 '19 at 14:39
@Mast agree in general but... when we have a quote from Lucas himself back in 1977 (this is an important point, too), what can beat this? — desertnaut, Dec 09 '19 at 21:33
Anthropic principle: If Lucas had set Star Wars in the future instead of the past, then, you were asking about this latter? — Bingo, Dec 09 '19 at 21:58
@DavidW - that's one of the best comments on all of SO, good one :) — Fattie, Dec 11 '19 at 16:22
@NKCampbell - just FTR that's a fascinating point, I never thought of that! Very clever. (Purely FTR, it's pretty clear from Lucas that he did literally mean "the past", not the clever possibility you point out.) — Fattie, Dec 11 '19 at 16:23
My personal headcanon is that the earliest hyperdrives reversed time to achieve FTL travel, and the first colonists to use them were from Earth's future! — Malcolm, Dec 11 '19 at 17:29

score 226 · Accepted Answer · edited Jun 16 '20 at 09:31

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The goal was to evoke fantasy, not science fiction. Placing it in the dim and distant past freed Lucas up to create a visual and sound palette that was unique, without incurring the ire of 'hard-science-fiction' fans.

RS: You firmly establish that at the beginning of Star Wars with the words: “A long, long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…”

Lucas: Well, I had a real problem because I was afraid that science-fiction buffs and everybody would say things like, “You know there’s no sound in outer space”. I just wanted to forget science. That would take care of itself. Stanley Kubrick made the ultimate science-fiction movie and it is going to be very hard for somebody to come along and make a better movie, as far as I’m concerned. I didn’t want to make a 2001, I wanted to make a space fantasy that was more in the genre of Edgar Rice Burroughs; that whole other end of space fantasy that was there before science took it over in the Fifties. Once the atomic bomb came, everybody got into monsters and science and what would happen with this and what would happen with that. I think speculative fiction is very valid but they forgot the fairy tales and the dragons and Tolkien and all the real heroes.

_{^{George Lucas: The Wizard of ‘Star Wars’ - Rolling Stone: 1977}}

LucasFilm's Head of Fan Relations Steve Sansweet addressed precisely this issue in the Star Wars "Ask the Jedi Council" featurette.

How long ago is a long time ago? And how far is the galaxy that’s far, far away? Was this ever decided or is the concept just left open to our imagination?

Unlike hard science fiction such as Star Trek, where the action clearly stems from a civilization on our own planet and takes place in a definable future, Star Wars is a fantasy. As such, it doesn’t have to obey any of the laws of physics, of space, or time. George Lucas deliberately left it vague and open to fan speculation--that’s part of the fun of Star Wars. It’s other-worldly, yet somehow familiar. It’s futuristic, yet somehow anachronistic.

George could answer a lot of the fans’ specific questions, either in the films or spin-off fiction, but deliberately doesn’t. Some of the answers are in his notes and binders, others are in his head. But speculation, he believes, is healthy. It helps to create a broader, denser Star Wars galaxy and gives fans more of a sense of ownership--rightly so.

Being less restrictive also lets individual’s creative juices flow and pushes their imaginations. Over the years Star Wars films and spin-offs have inspired creativity and creative careers in countless men and women all over the world.

edited Jun 16 '20 at 09:31

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answered Dec 08 '19 at 22:49

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A unique sound pallete, such as sound propagating in space.... – Spencer Dec 08 '19 at 22:55
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@Spencer - Space in the Star Wars galaxy has texture called "ether". That explains how ships can bank, how you can hear sounds, why you need to continually accelerate, how ships can have a top speed, etc etc etc – Valorum Dec 08 '19 at 22:56
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Anyway, the situation demanded snark. – Spencer Dec 08 '19 at 22:58
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Little did he realize we would say things like "There wasn't sound in outer space a long time ago either". – Jetpack Dec 09 '19 at 02:19
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@Jetpack You're missing the point. With "long time ago", he's evoking fantasy and myth. Myths are full of physics-defying stories, and it doesn't bother most people. It's also very common in mythical stories to have "lost knowledge", something that humans in the past could do, but can do no more. Really, that was the standard story - humans are fallen from grace, we used to be so much more and are waning with every generation. It's just that people ignored the setting, saw "look, it has spaceships!" and somehow that makes Star Wars a sci-fi. – Luaan Dec 09 '19 at 08:48
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As though the laws of physics were any different thousands or hundreds of thousand, or even millions of years ago. – JRE Dec 09 '19 at 12:25
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@JRE they were, e.g. https://phys.org/news/2012-02-early-universe-rapid-expansion-weird.html note that the paper is considering the speed of sound in the early universe so a long time ago, there was sound in space, and it may have gone faster than light, which is against the current laws of physics. – Pete Kirkham Dec 09 '19 at 14:24
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Smaug would tear off his flight muscles if he ever flapped and would evaporate his own nose if he ever breathed fire. And small rings are neither sentient evil nor able to turn you invisible. The Hobbit must therefore be thrash – Borgh Dec 09 '19 at 15:52
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@PeteKirkham When that paper is talking about the "early universe", it means the universe around the inflationary era, which lasted from 10^-36 to 10^-32 seconds after the Big Bang. In that slice of time, nuclei and atoms didn't even exist yet, let alone galaxies, and the universe was generally an incredibly hot mostly-homogeneous soup of fundamental matter and radiation. Suffice it to say that this is not the setting of Star Wars. – probably_someone Dec 09 '19 at 16:39
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"A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." is an adaptation of "Once upon a time, in a faraway land/kingdom..." It signals that the story is a fairy tale, a myth, an allegory of good and evil. Setting the story in the past eases suspension of disbelief when it comes to magic (the Force). If it were set in the future, we'd expect the magical elements to have a basis in some yet-to-be-discovered science (cough--midichlorians--cough). – Adrian McCarthy Dec 09 '19 at 21:05
@AdrianMcCarthy Exactly. Actually using the script "Once upon a time in a galaxy far, far away…" might have been a little too on the nose, so "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away..." works perfectly. – RobertF Dec 10 '19 at 02:30
@probably_someone I thought adding that amount of detail would spoil the fun. – Pete Kirkham Dec 10 '19 at 14:28
@Borgh: Are you arguing that Star Wars space ships are powered by / use magic to "fly" through the vacuum of space? The argument is that only the Force is a magic/fantasy element in the SW universe, and the rest of it looks like technology, and is treated by in-word characters as technology. Including ones who think the Force sounds like nonsense. So why should we as an audience assume any mystical / fantasy explanation for how ships fly in space? Settings that mix magic + tech exist, e.g. urban fantasy novels, and the tech in those settings obeys physics except when magic is used. – Peter Cordes Dec 11 '19 at 04:21
That said, Star Wars is very clearly not science fiction. It's space fantasy / space opera, with space ships and other things that follow their own rules. And to the extent we can figure out those rules, they are mostly consistently followed, I think(?) The fact that the rules have no basis in physics is something I can ignore as long as the stories are about characters. Nonsense physics doesn't really stand out compared to many other movies. Even Star Trek often has things work the way the plot demands, inventing tech reasons for it that the audience didn't know ahead of time. – Peter Cordes Dec 11 '19 at 04:30
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@PeterCordes Sufficiently advanced nonsense physics is indistinguishable from magic – Borgh Dec 11 '19 at 07:36
The idea "THERE'S NO SOUND IN SPACE" is one of the most staggeringly, amazingly, astonishingly naive cinematic observations I have ever heard. Please note that THERE ARE NO microphones in space, no hand-held sequences in space, indeed no cameras in space, no John Williams in space, no titles in space, no edits in space, no fades in space, no subtitles in space, and so on. The observation that "THERE'S NO! SOUND! IN SPACE" is just comically silly. – Fattie Dec 11 '19 at 16:27
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@Fattie - I think that is a misleading equivalence. First, video cameras and microphones are not in movies (barring bloopers). They are part of the media used to create movies, much like the food that the performers eat for breakfast. Second, cinematic cuts and fades or subtitles may be in movies, but they are extradiegetic and necessary for understanding. At least, unless the story takes place in real time and follows nearby events, and will never be seen by someone with auditory disabilities. – Adamant Dec 09 '21 at 17:34
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By contrast, George Lucas's audible space explosions are indicative of one of two things: either they are diegetic, and he didn't realize until after the movie was released that explosions are silent in space (given his loose grasp on things like units of measure, this seems quite possible), or they are extradiegetic and he had such a low opinion of viewers' intelligence that he thought they would not believe that the explosions were explosions without a boom, like the "POW" panels in old cartoon TV shows. Neither one is flattering to him. – Adamant Dec 09 '21 at 17:38
@Adamant I appreciate your detailed viewpoint. I would put it this way; say we are storytelling ("by a campfire"). I tell "and there was a loud explosion!" It doesn't mean that "Character X was able to hear a loud explosion" or that myself, or you, or some other character or set of characters was able to hear a loud explosion. It just means ... there was a loud explosion. It's not meant to be diegetic (or a "practical" audio source as you'd usually say on a set). Just like the Williams' music is non-diegetic (whereas the cantina players are I guess diegetic). It's a storytelling explosion: – Fattie Dec 09 '21 at 18:45
"and now there was a huge explosion". – Fattie Dec 09 '21 at 18:45

score 51 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 11 '19 at 15:04

It was part of Lucas's decision to portray the series as part of a science-fiction-based myth cycle. Lucas was heavily influenced by the work on Joseph Campbell, who studied the structure of myths. Luke Skywalker's character arc, especially in the first Star Wars film, was modeled on the traditional "hero's journey" that Campbell wrote about in The Hero With a Thousand Faces. Some excerpts from Campbell talking about Star Wars can be seen here.

There are many specific examples of the correspondence between the structure of A New Hope and the monomyth Campbell wrote about. For example, Luke is trained by a skilled mentor (Obi-Wan Kenobi), who guides him in the early stages of his journey through danger. However, the first time Luke receives the "call to adventure," he "refuses the call"; he cannot go to Alderaan, because he is needed on Owen's and Beru's farm. Only after his home is made unsafe does he follow Obi-Wan across the "threshold to adventure," traveling outside the delimitations of his previous world; at the Mos Eisley cantina, he encounters the "threshold guardians," who wish to block his advance. He is too weak to defeat the guardians on his own; only his mentor's supernatural powers can beat them back.

Besides a plot rooted in the hero's journey, George Lucas gave Star Wars some other trappings of a myth. Making the first movie "Episode IV" was part of this (although Fox would not allow him to include the episode number in the first release); it gives the sense that the film is just one part of a long, ongoing story—part of a mythic cycle that stretches off both before and after that particular story.

The opening text, "A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away....," serves a similar purpose. It places the story back long ago, in the half-remembered time of myths. Traditionally, most myths take place fairly early in the imagined history of the world, when magic was a more important part of existence, wielded by great heroes and villains whose power could never be matched in the later days.

score 14 · Answer 3 · edited Dec 10 '19 at 19:45

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It's a common storytelling device.

In English we use 'Once upon a time...' to set the scene somewhere distant in time.

In traditional Japanese folk stories we use 'Mukashi mukashi aru tokoro ni...' which translates as 'A long long time ago in a certain place....' This sets the story in a distant time and a distant place. This is so often used that these types of stories are called 'mukashibanashi' or 'stories of mukashi.'

Lucas has (perhaps deliberately) borrowed the idea of these phrases and changed it to evoke a place far away in distance and time — allowing him to create whatever he wants where noone can challenge his history.

edited Dec 10 '19 at 19:45

Buzz

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answered Dec 10 '19 at 13:10

tomi

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This doesn't explain why he chose the past instead of the future. – TheAsh Dec 10 '19 at 13:44
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@TheAshsaysReinstateMonica :because that's the traditional way that stories begin - once upon a time and mukashi mukashi are both references to past times. – tomi Dec 10 '19 at 14:57
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Not to mention a lot of the inspiration for Star Wars was Kurasawa's Hidden Fortress. Thus showing an even closer connection to the Japanese way of starting a myth/legend. – Daishozen Dec 10 '19 at 21:02
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This is actually an outstanding answer, indeed possibly the best answer. "A long time ago" is a rephrasing of 'Once upon a time...'. Fantastic answer, thanks. – Fattie Dec 11 '19 at 16:29
@tomi the point raised by Daishozen is particularly relevant to your answer - I'd edit it in but would be a big edit, so better if you do it. – Criggie Dec 11 '19 at 18:34
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ジョージ・ルーカシばなしですねー。[ゴメンなさい] – Will Crawford Dec 13 '19 at 11:51

score 8 · Answer 4 · edited Dec 11 '19 at 15:05

Star Wars is "Mythical" style story telling, sword and sorcery fantasy that just so happens to take place in a pan-galactic society where space travel is ubiquitous.

Unlike most science fiction where technological progress and new developments are often the plot; the Star Wars universe is already a professed and ancient society whose expanded universe goes back tens of thousands of years.

To add a sense of cinematic realism, George described and had ordered designed a "Used and Ancient Future" where machines, environments and settings were weathered, utilized and rusty. The villains live in clean, sterile, colorless settings where as the protagonists are ethnic and culturally diverse to enjoy residence and headquarters in a variety of settings.

Why did George Lucas set Star Wars in the past instead of the future?

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