Including; A, B, C & D

1. P5, A, B, C & D
Bethany Blackburn

2. A - Impact and Effect on the audience
• It has been over 30 years since the original Star Wars film has been released and through the evolution of the world and the advancing in technology, the
franchise is not limited to the pop culture or world politics, but instead, the galaxy far, far away continues to grow as our world does.
• Star Wars doesn't have as much of an impact in Hollywood as it has had in main stream media yet they have still encouraged the development of the
modern day special effect movies. An example includes the world renowned Lord of the Rings which they helped to lead to success as well as many others.
Star Wars; The Force Awakens has also had an effect on many different demographics of people around the world.
• After the release of Return of the Jedi,
Star Wars heavily influenced the
production of weaponry to help protect
the United States from nuclear missiles,
The Strategic Defence Initiative was
created by Ronald Reagan in 1983.
• Ronald says he was influenced heavily by
Star Wars, particularly Return of the Jedi
when he nicknamed the Soviet Union the
Evil Empire. This is because the Evil
Galactic Empire was a palce that was
mentioned in the opening crawl of the
very first film that Star Wares released.
• The biggest impact that Force Awakens has had on its audience is the huge increase
of equal representation, it has made the franchise a lot more accessible for a wide
variety of new people and has had a hugely positive effect worldwide. By
introducing so many new and varied characters it reaches everyone and brings the
franchise up to modern day standards for films. Due to Star Wars being one of the
biggest film franchises in the world it is helping to encourage equal representation in
many other films, and helping to engage with as many people in their audience as
possible.

3. A - Impact and Effect on the audience
• Progressions within science and technology as one have been help and influenced by Star Wars, an example being bionic limbs. Huge main characters
such as Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker sport robotic limps in the film and now these are being seen on amputees.
A company has made an ultra-powerful handheld laser that looks like a lightsaber,
as well as walking robots, that resemble giant AT-Ats; the Imperial force used to
attack the rebels. These are designs used for safety and ones that have been
adopted and developed for the military to use.
As well as Star Wars influencing the military ans ultiamtly our saftey as a nation,
the film is also inspiring thing to improve our health, for example, something know
as a Death Star bug-zapper is being designed which uses lasers in order to kill
mosquitoes in flight beofre they land on their victim, this will help to reduce cases
of malaria.

4. B – Relevant Issues Of Representation
The male gaze is a concept coined by feminist film critic Laura Mulvey. It refers to the way visual arts are structured around a masculine viewer. In some films the camera can
lingers on the curves of the female body, and events which occur to women for the man's pleasure or reaction to these events. This is a feature which defiantly features
within the princess Leia scene in the return of the jedi.
The Bechdel Test is a simple way to gauge the active presence of female characters in Hollywood films and just how well rounded and complete those roles are. One of the
requirements that has to be in any film for it to pass this test is that it features at least two women who talk to each other about something other than men. An example of
were the Bechdel test has passed includes the scene where Rey has a conversation with Leia another female character in the film. This conversation lasted over 30 seconds
and was about something other then men, a requirement that I outlined above.
As a whole Star Wars; The Force Awakens had been reported to have undoubtedly passed the test, something which the director and screenwriter both said they were very
cautious about doing.
When the film was compared with the original Star Wars films, more specifically the ones created before the bechdal test was around. The results obtained were drastically
different. It only passed 1 of 3 tests, this was because Princess Leia and other female character Aunt Beru were the only female characters within the movie which means the
film passed this small section, yet the two never met which is one of many examples of were it failed.
Within Star Wars we can see were women are represented in an unethical way, for example if we look at Return of
the Jedi, Princess Leia is regarded as a sexual object. This happens after she is captured by Jabba the Hutt when
she is turned into a sex slave. The scene features the princess in a skimpy gold bikini which when compared to the
other characters clothing is highly derogatory towards one of the only women characters in this early star wars
films.
Despite her defeating her capture by using the chains that she was bound to Jabba the Hutt with, as a method of
escape proving the creators of the film clearly believe women could be useful for something other then just sex. It
is still highly dominated by the sexualized imagery shown within the film. Further taking into consideration this
image of the princes in the bikini was use as a, major marketing point for the film before it was even released. This
means that the producers and creators further though that this small section of the story was a key selling point
for reasons that could be argued over but are clearly linked the the princesses nudity.

5. B – Relevant Issues Of Representation
Another instance were racial representation is deemed unethical by viewers was in the first
Episode of the trilogy. The viewers are introduced to three different alien races that have
often been criticized for their resembles to some racial stereotypes.
• The Neomoidians of the Trade Federation display multiple Asian stereotypically
characteristics.
• Gungans, and especially Jar-Jar Bink, have been said to sound highly exaggerated versions
of African American.
• Watto the Toydarian has been said to be similar to cartoons that were shown as Nazi anti-
Semitic propaganda cartoons,
Many viewers have therefore found these characters highly offensive. The Neomoidians of the
Trade Federation
Watto the Toydarian
Gungans
As well as females being represented in a disgraceful way in the earlier star wars films, there was also a lot of some racial
issues is some of the film including the earlier creations like the force awakens.
Being the first main character to be cast who is black, John Boyega who played finn was both a revolutionary milestone for
the film franchise cast but also an opening for criticism and radical remarks. Many viewers were shocked when they found
out that one of the main characters were ethnic but the reception way warm for him.
However, the original trilogy was far from diverse regarding the choice of actors, the marjory were white male with a few
white females. The only two people within the 3 films who were from ethnic backgrounds and had substantial speaking
roles, include Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones. James Jones was the voice of Darth Vader, however never appeared
on screen in fact he was replaced when it came on screen showing with another actor, who was white, but his voice was
still used. This was seen as a deliberate discrimination act towards ethnic groups.

6. C – Relevant Legal and Ethical Issues
Over the years many legal issues have arose between the companies which own Star Wars and others, this has
usually been either other companies or members of the public, who are mostly likely fans of the trilogy. There
have also been many ethical issues that have included the films themselves, most often characters and
representation.
For example, before the first Star Wars movie came out, the toy company’s, Ideal Toy’s turned down the
opportunity to make officially licensed products associated with the film, this was because they felt as though the
films were to chancy and that Star Wars itself was a rather ordinary property.
However, after the film was released it broke box office records, this resulted in Ideal then revisiting its first choice
not to create Star Wars figures for the brand.
Yet rather then drowning in their sorrows they released a line of branded figures under the name Star Team,
these included the evil Knight of Darkness, Zem-21 and Zeroid. These were quite obviously knock off Star Wars
action figures and were released within the same week that the film was.
After noticing, Kenner Products; who were at the time the official licensed creators for the Star Wars branded toy
figurines, took an immediate injunction against Ideal. This claimed both the copyright and trademark violation of
their official Star Wars action figures. Ideal later admitted that it was exploiting the popularity of these action
figure that were created by Kenner Products. Compelling evidence also didn’t help when 65% of children that
were shown the toys made an association between the toys and the Star Wars movie. However, after analysis by
the court, both claims were denied

7. Star Wars has faced a lot of controversy revolving around offensive material, some of these issues have
since been resolved in the Force Awakens due to Disney wanting it to be appropriate for the new audience
members. However, the old films are especially well known for their unfair representation of people from
different cultures including Asians and Jews. Certain Aliens from Episode I especially clearly have
stereotypical traits of different cultures; it was seen as offensive and many people took it badly. Since then
Force Awakens has tried to overcome this problem with none of these aliens being shown and any new
characters definitely don’t take inspiration from bad stereotypes.
Another big problem that Disney faced after buying Star Wars was its merchandise, specifically anything to
do with slave Leia. This was a very controversial topic especially with the outfit that Carrie Fisher had to
wear, due to Disney now wanting Star Wars to appeal to a newer younger audience as well as the old they
made the decision to get rid of anything involving slave Leia. Any merchandise was recalled as it’s not
something the Disney brand want associated with them, by doing so they remove as much evidence of it
as possible. Whilst some original fans weren’t happy with the choice, overall everyone agreed that it was
the best thing to do as not only was it unsuitable for younger audience members but the representation
of women was very unfair. It was settled that it wouldn’t return and since then Disney has brought equal
representation for women in Star Wars making them equals rather than sexual objects.
C – Relevant Legal and Ethical Issues

8. D - Role of Relevant regulatory bodies (BBFC)
• During the time that Star Wars: The Force Awakens was released in the UK it was age rated as a 12 Advisor, this was
mainly for the moderate amounts of violence and threats the film has within its storyline and content. In rating the
movie, a 12A for children, means that anyone under 12 years old must be accompanied by an adult, as it is expected this
adult with have a level judgement in both deciding whether a film is suitable, particularly for very young children but also
in depicting the storyline which may be deemed to advanced in parts for their age at which the child is.
• However, in the US it was rated as a PG-13, this was an surprising factor for many of the audience as the previous Star
Wars movies have been rated a U for universal in the UK and ‘PG’ Parental Guidance in the United States.
• For Disney, who’s cinema audience capacity is usually mostly made up by children, this isan unusually turn, yet this is
where they can depend on the true fans of the film who will now be older than 12 years old and be able to see the movie
regardless of parental guidance.
• The rating at which The Force Awakens was given is higher than seen in the previous Star Wars episodes this is because
the new producer J.J. Abrams’s created a darker storyline. This can be shown throughout the film on many occasions yet
one particular occasion were it is best highlighted is when Han Solo is killed by his own son. This has a deeper meaning
then just science fiction and can be quite traumatic for a younger audience hence why the precaution has been taken.