Star Wars: The Force Awakens and its Formula for Success Essay (Essay Sample)

Student’s Name
Instructor’s Name
Class Title
Date
Star Wars: The Force Awakens and its Formula for Success
The Force Awakens is the latest installment of Star Wars, one of the most successful action adventure franchises of all time. It was well received in the United States and abroad, grossing nearly US$2 billion in its first month in theaters (Mendelson). The Force Awakens owes its success not to its novelty or innovation, but rather to its allegiance to character archetypes and dramatic structures familiar to the audience from the original Star Wars films and other heroic adventure stories.
The Force Awakens introduces characters and a plot similar to those in the original Star Wars trilogy, lending it a certain nostalgia that contributes to its success. The trio of protagonists mirrors that of the original Star Wars films; even the villains from the new and original trilogies are very similar in their appearances and backstories, including a family connection to one of the protagonists. Both films introduce protagonists living on desert planets where they have been left indefinitely by their families and pair these protagonists with droids that contain crucial information that must be kept secret from the enemy. The Force Awakens incorporates the same main characters of the original Star Wars trilogy: Han Solo, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, R2D2, and even the Millennium Falcon spaceship all make appearances. The film mirrors its source material not only by emulating its main characters and basic plot, but also by incorporating those original characters themselves.