I was fortunate to pass through the latest Star Wars exhibit last week in London. Identities allows the visitor to explore the backgrounds of various characters in the Star Wars universe including rejected sketches, original origins, and deleted plot points. You, as well, are allowed to build your own character along the way by choosing your background, influences and trade. Your motivations and your spirit put the finishing touches on your unique Star Wars self.
The whole experience was very modern and very commercial. But if you want to dive a bit deeper, which I do, you can glean a lot from this development of the self. We tend to remember people in our history books for one bold or brave action. We sum up an entire life of feelings, growth, drama, fear, and chance into a sentence or, if you’re lucky, a chapter. For those of us still living our lives and not yet banished to the history books, we experience a million feelings a day. We have chances to act on impulses and throw our lives onto different tracks. Understanding what drives you and why… understanding what you admire about the people you look up to… all these can help you better be at peace with yourself and with your decisions. It’s too easy for others to look at our own lives as we look at the lives in history books. People want a short simple answer to who we are. Even the Star Wars exhibit broke many complex fields into Dark and Light.
As we continue to work on our identities I’ll let you browse a few gems from the exhibit.
Early work on the various aliens in the Cantina scene from the original Star Wars.
There were plans to reveal Vader’s dreams and the Emperor’s powers to infiltrate them. Here, the Emperor takes the shape of a beautiful woman to persuade his apprentice.
A graphic with various information concerning star ship capabilities.
Original artwork of a Tatooine cityscape.
Original artwork of Tatooine city outskirts.
Image of Boba Fett’s original white outfit. He was to be a storm trooper turned bounty hunter hence the white armor. Here he is with Vader on Bespin turning over Solo.
The inspiration for Chewie came from George Lucas’ dog, Indiana, who would ride around with him in the passenger seat of his car. Here, a more doglike sketch of an early Chewie shows the resemblance.
An early Jabba sketch.
Everyone’s favorite character with 30 lines or fewer.
Planned dialogue between Luke and Minch (later Yoda).
An artist explores the possible powers of the Emperor.
