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A remarkable amount of the dialogue in A New Hope focuses upon whether characters like each other or not:

C-3PO to R2-D2 about Luke: No I don't think he likes you. I don't like you either.

Dr Ezavan to Luke about Ponda Baba (Walrus Man): He doesn't like you. I don't like you either.

Han about Leia: Either I'm going to kill her or I'm beginning to like her.

On top of the explicit statements we have other instances of exclusion including Wuher's barring of the droids (‘We don't serve their kind in here’) and C-3PO's aversion to Jawas who are 'filthy creatures'.

This theme even extends into the sale of the droids, which on the one hand is reminiscent of a slave auction, but on the other reminds us of waiting in line to be chosen for one team or the other for a school sporting event when egos are built or bruised depending upon whether you're picked first or last. In this instance R5-D4 has to sit it out on the bench due to injury and doesn't get to take part in the game.

A New Hope is just one massive popularity contest determining who's in and who's out. This is a trope that has massive appeal to both children and adolescents who seem to spend a disproportionate amount of their time worrying about such things. I suspect that an awful lot of the appeal of the movie originates from it being so in touch with the concerns of its younger audience, even if this was an unintentional consequence and although this particular source of appeal operated at a subconscious level.

So whilst A New Hope deals with the universal polarities of good and evil, it also deals with the more pedestrian polarities of popular or unpopular.

The appeal to the adolescent mind even extends to the familiar family activity of playing a board game. Chewbacca's refusal to abide by the rules of Dejarik chess and his tantrum are scenes most families have witnessed in the living room with their children over Christmas or some holiday period or other. On the one hand, the chess game represents the main characters starting to coalesce into a family unit and establishing the dynamics of that family. On the other hand it connects in our mind the relationship between Star Wars and toys, games, presents and family activities. Whilst this is happening Luke is playing what is in essence yet another game watched over by Ben Kenobi. His attempts to deflect the remote's shots with his lightsaber whilst wearing the blast shield look remarkably like a one-man game of blindfolded swing ball. These scenes on the Millennium Falcon firmly implant in our minds the relationship between Star Wars and toys and games.

What is also being established here is a proxy family within which a child can situate themselves within a variety of roles; with C-3PO and R2-D2 perhaps being the younger children, Chewie and Luke the adolescents with Han and Leia in more parental roles and then finally Ben as the more patient and benevolent grandfather figure who gives us our first taste of mortality and bereavement.

In short, the story of A New Hope is told in such a way to have an incredibly potent appeal to the minds of children and adolescents covering as it does relationships with peers (popularity/ unpopularity) ones with family and parents, and finally and perhaps most importantly the formative interior world of imagination and play.

Note: In Episode VII, The Force Awakens Abrams does a very good job of continuing the theme of Chewbacca's adolescent role. In the scene where his shoulder is being patched up by the female Dr (Dr. Kalonia), he couldn't have looked any more like a schoolboy being sent to see the school nurse, if she had stuck a plaster on his knee and given him a sticker. 'That sounds very scary. You must be so brave.' she says to him.

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All Star Wars action figures, vehicles, collectibles and Star Wars toys shown on this website are the 3.75 inch scale and from my own private Star Wars collection unless otherwise stated. Where possible original vintage accessories have been used but in some instances I have placed Kenner Star Wars figures with either reproduction weapons and accessories or for Hasbro figures close approximations have been used. This is mostly the case for modern Star Wars lightsabers where the correct item can be very difficult to identify on some ocassions. Vintage Star Wars action figures are shown with their original weapon or accessory when I have them. When a vintage Kenner action figure is shown with an accessory which is not original I have tried to point this out where possible.

All of the Star Wars action figures shown were purchased second hand, usually incomplete, and in bulk. They have been reunited with their original weapons and accessories where we could get hold of them.

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