I wonder if it’s meant to be imperial propaganda/censorship. Like maybe everyone knows deep down the Jedi were real, but it’s frowned upon to talk about it, because the Emperor is trying to erase them from memory.
It could also be that the galaxy is a big place and the Jedi were never that numerous. So even when they were a thing, most people would go their whole lives without ever seeing one. I can see how they would become semi-mythological in that case.
But we know the real answer is simply that Star Wars is not a franchise that values verisimilitude in worldbuilding or writing. It’s a fantasy world with a veneer of sci-fi.
Shame too. It would be very cool to have a “I’ll believe it when I see it” culture more around it. That’s part of what makes Han’s arc so beautiful. At the end of a new hope he is “beginning to believe“ even if he has not suddenly a force wielder. He stops for a moment going against the grain all the time and embraces his humanity and allows the force to work through him to do good for good’s sake
If you’re talking about Tolkien, he wasn’t the originator of the fantasy genre. It existed long before him and was generally known for being very inconsistent in worldbuilding. His main innovation was inventing a style of fantasy worldbuilding which was actually realistic.
I disagree. Maybe aesthetically to some extent but the story and writing are more inspired by classical fantasy stories. It’s a story about a poor farmer who joins a wizard on a quest to become a knight, save a princess from a dark wizard who serves an evil king. That’s a fairy tale.
And it’s also the modern canonical example of the Hero’s Journey/Monomyth structure.
I wonder if it’s meant to be imperial propaganda/censorship. Like maybe everyone knows deep down the Jedi were real, but it’s frowned upon to talk about it, because the Emperor is trying to erase them from memory.
It could also be that the galaxy is a big place and the Jedi were never that numerous. So even when they were a thing, most people would go their whole lives without ever seeing one. I can see how they would become semi-mythological in that case.
But we know the real answer is simply that Star Wars is not a franchise that values verisimilitude in worldbuilding or writing. It’s a fantasy world with a veneer of sci-fi.
Shame too. It would be very cool to have a “I’ll believe it when I see it” culture more around it. That’s part of what makes Han’s arc so beautiful. At the end of a new hope he is “beginning to believe“ even if he has not suddenly a force wielder. He stops for a moment going against the grain all the time and embraces his humanity and allows the force to work through him to do good for good’s sake
Being fantasy has nothing to do with being consistent in worldbuilding, the godfather of the genre was VERY consistent.
If you’re talking about Tolkien, he wasn’t the originator of the fantasy genre. It existed long before him and was generally known for being very inconsistent in worldbuilding. His main innovation was inventing a style of fantasy worldbuilding which was actually realistic.
Star Wars came more from serials like Buck Rogers than straight fantasy.
I disagree. Maybe aesthetically to some extent but the story and writing are more inspired by classical fantasy stories. It’s a story about a poor farmer who joins a wizard on a quest to become a knight, save a princess from a dark wizard who serves an evil king. That’s a fairy tale.
And it’s also the modern canonical example of the Hero’s Journey/Monomyth structure.
You can disagree as much as you’d like. Lucas said the main inspiration was serials.