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Storytelling Elements in Star Wars: A New Hope

May the force of storytelling be with us.

Cover photo: @jerrysilfwer

Here are the storytelling ele­ments in Star Wars: A New Hope.

A while back, I out­lined the storytelling ele­ments found in almost all great stor­ies in an infographic:

Storytelling Elements
The storytelling ele­ments by Doctor Spin.

I wanted to apply these clas­sic­al ele­ments to a well-known story to see how well they would work. 

The choice of a great story was a no-brainer:

I was born in 1979, two years after Star Wars was released, so Star Wars: A New Hope was essen­tial to my upbringing.

Storytelling for Jedi Master - Star Wars—A New Hope
The clas­sic poster from Star Wars: A New Hope.

What bet­ter story could I’ve used? The Star Wars char­ac­ters immerse them­selves in astro­nom­ic­al dra­mas quite lit­er­ally. The storytelling les­sons from star wars are epic.

Here goes:

Storytelling Elements in Star Wars

Here’s how I struc­tured the storytelling ele­ments in Star Wars: A New Hope to make them usable:

Darth Vader and Princess Leia - Star Wars - A New Hope - Storytelling Element
No one tells Princess Leia what to do — not even Darth Vader. And we learn about her com­mit­ment to the cause, but it will only get worse, espe­cially for her home plan­et, Alderaan.

1. The Contract

Right at the begin­ning of Star Wars: A New Hope, you get to see Star Destroyers in space shoot­ing lasers and Darth Vader tak­ing Princess Leia Organa host­age while they nego­ti­ate the whole dra­mat­ic setup before Leia’s taken to her cell.

C3PO and R2-D2 - Star Wars - A New Hope - Storytelling Element
Two droids on the mis­sion of their lives. We learn that deliv­er­ing Princess Leia’s mes­sage to Obi-Wan Kenobi is more import­ant than any­thing else.

2. The Pull

The Empire uses a tract­or beam, but we’re drawn into the story by two droids, R2-D2 and C3PO. R2-D2 knows some­thing but can only beep and blip, so C3PO has to ask lots of ques­tions and repeat the answers to pull the view­er into the story.

Luke Skywalker is attacked by the Sand People on Tattoine - Star Wars - A New Hope - Storytelling Element
First knocked out, then he finds his home des­troyed and his fam­ily dead. Luke Skywalker is hav­ing a rough day, and he’s forced to make a choice and take up the fight against the mighty Empire.

3. The Incident

After fight­ing with his foster par­ents, Luke Skywalker runs away from home and gets attacked by Sand People. However, he is then saved by his mys­ter­i­ous pro­tect­or, Obi-Wan Kenobi.

Obi-Wan Kenobi gets the message from Princess Leia via R2-D2 - Star Wars - A New Hope - Storytelling Element
Princess Leia’s mes­sage func­tions as a cata­lyst, and through the eyes of Luke Skywalker, we get to exper­i­ence how a whole new world opens up for him. 

4. The Reveal

R2-D2 shows his mes­sage from Princess Leia, thus open­ing up a whole new world for Luke Skywalker, and then Obi-Wan Kenobi explains about the Jedi.

The Millennium Falcon escapes Mos Eisley on Tattoine - Star Wars - A New Hope - Storytelling Element
In flee­ing from Mos Eisely, there’s no turn­ing back for Luke Skywalker. He and his new com­pan­ions are now in the fight against the Empire.

5. Point of No Return

Luke Skywalker real­izes his life will nev­er be the same as he rushes home to find his fam­ily butchered. He decides to fol­low Obi-Wan Kenobi and the droids to save Princess Leia. 1The Incident, The Reveal, and the Point of No Return are often quite close to each oth­er in most nar­rat­ives, and they might even be bundled togeth­er in the same scene or sequence. Together, they lead … Continue read­ing

Obi-Wan Kenobi is struck down by Darth Vader - Star Wars - A New Hope - Storytelling Element
What was sup­posed to be a brave and glor­i­ous res­cue ends in the sac­ri­fice of Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke’s ment­or and Jedi master. 

6. Anti-Climax

Together with new com­pan­ions Han Solo and Chewbacca, Luke Skywalker man­ages to save Princess Leia, but at the same time, Obi-Wan Kenobi is struck down by Darth Vader.

Luke Skywalker as the pilot ready to destroy the Death Star - Star Wars - A New Hope - Storytelling Element
It soon falls on Luke Skywalker to do the impossible. But he’s only begun to learn about the Force. And every­one dying around him.

7. All is Lost

As the rebels mobil­ize to strike against the Death Star, they suf­fer heavy losses against a super­i­or mil­it­ary force. But the rebels are picked off one by one, and Luke Skywalker is left with the almost impossible task of blow­ing up the Death Star without a func­tion­ing aim­ing system.

Millennium Falcon Returns with the Rebel Fleet - Star Wars - A New Hope - Storytelling Element
Han Solo plays the role of the ulti­mate sidekick who saves the day when our hero needs him the most.

8. News of Hope

Luke Skywalker gets sur­pris­ing help from Han Solo, who returns with the might of the Millennium Falcon — and the rest of the rebel fleet.

Luke Skywalker Torpedoes the Death Star - Star Wars - A New Hope - Storytelling Element
Luke Skywalker taps into the Force and — bull’s eye!

9. The Climax

Luke Skywalker com­pletes his char­ac­ter arc for this movie by sum­mon­ing the spir­it of Obi-Wan Kenobi. Using the Force, Luke suc­ceeded in blow­ing up the Death Star and, more import­antly, took an import­ant step towards ful­filling his des­tiny to become a true Jedi Knight.

The medal ceremony - Star Wars - A New Hope - Storytelling Element
Heroes should get medals, right?

10. The Pay-Off

Team Skywalker get medals, but more import­antly — their com­pan­ion­ship is forever forged, and they’re now ready to face the Empire yet again. 2Since the audi­ence has act­ively taken part in the story, shared decisions and exper­i­enced struggles emo­tion­ally, they want to be rewar­ded through the main char­ac­ters. They also want to feel that they … Continue read­ing

Additional Storytelling Resources

For cor­por­ate pur­poses, I prefer to use this sim­pli­fied script:

Promise. Why should any­one read your post? A sig­ni­fic­ant com­mit­ment ensures your read­ers know what to expect from this story. Of course, you also need to deliv­er on your contract.

Conflict. You need to explain that you under­stand the frus­tra­tion. I’ve been there your­self. Why should any­one trust your story oth­er­wise? Most writers rush this to get to the solu­tion, but all good stor­ies focus more on hard­ships than any­thing else.

Discovery. When, how and why did you decide to find a solu­tion to your prob­lem? A “point-of-no-return” is needed to engage the read­ers in your story. Tell them when, how and why.

Solution. As for the solu­tion, keep it brief and to the point.

Call-to-action. And finally, since you’re cre­at­ing a blog post, you should leave the read­er with a clear notion of what to do next!

For hon­ing your writ­ing skills, these are my go-to books on per­suas­ive writing:

… and last but not least, my favour­ite soft­ware for dra­mat­ic writing:

One more thing. As I’m writ­ing this, we’re expect­ing a baby boy, and my wife is cur­rently five days past her due date. If all goes well (and I think it will!) — I hope to have many years of storytelling in front of me.

May the Force be with all of us!


Please sup­port my blog by shar­ing it with oth­er PR- and com­mu­nic­a­tion pro­fes­sion­als. For ques­tions or PR sup­port, con­tact me via jerry@​spinfactory.​com.

ANNOTATIONS
ANNOTATIONS
1 The Incident, The Reveal, and the Point of No Return are often quite close to each oth­er in most nar­rat­ives, and they might even be bundled togeth­er in the same scene or sequence. Together, they lead up to this: the audi­ence must want Luke to go on this adven­ture before he decides to go. Audience buy-in is crucial.
2 Since the audi­ence has act­ively taken part in the story, shared decisions and exper­i­enced struggles emo­tion­ally, they want to be rewar­ded through the main char­ac­ters. They also want to feel that they have grown from this story and are now bet­ter equipped to face any chal­lenges in their own lives.
Jerry Silfwer
Jerry Silfwerhttps://doctorspin.net/
Jerry Silfwer, alias Doctor Spin, is an awarded senior adviser specialising in public relations and digital strategy. Currently CEO at KIX Index and Spin Factory. Before that, he worked at Kaufmann, Whispr Group, Springtime PR, and Spotlight PR. Based in Stockholm, Sweden.

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