It is said that a certain film director, or a certain critic, used to say that Star Wars was a western with the setting changed. From the dusty plains we moved to the immensities of space, from the Indians to the Martians, and so on. There is in fact a genre called space western that places cowboys of the West in a science-fiction setting, and many have no qualms about fitting the saga we are talking about into that pigeonhole. Here I am going to deny this assumption and argue that Star Wars does not particularly resemble a western at all, but rather another genre: epic fantasy. Below I lay out the comparison in several points:
- There are good guys and bad guys, as in westerns, and as in nearly every film of every other genre. But the western admits very human nuances which, in the idealised characters of fantasy — whether spatial or medieval — are simplified, or else become an existential tragedy between good and evil — light and darkness.
- People shooting at each other, yes, as in every gangster film, thriller, or murder story from any time and place. But if anything is memorable about Star Wars, it is the lightsaber duels. Special, powerful blades, like the magic swords so frequent in medieval epics.
- Magic — without doubt the strongest criterion in favour of my thesis. There is absolutely no magic or supernatural power in the western, but it is central to our saga, as it is in any self-respecting epic fantasy. The Jedi are subjects in possession of a supernatural talent that they may use for good or for evil. Once again we see how nuance is blurred away in the face of this force that drags the characters along.
- Mythological creatures and monsters. Only by twisting the story ridiculously can we consider the Indians as fantastic beings. In Star Wars we find all manner of creatures with the most varied qualities. In the fantasy sagas we find an equally varied catalogue: elves, orcs, trolls, dragons, dwarves, giant spiders, bear-men, and whatever else the author can dream up.
- The political context of a tyrannical empire against republican freedom-fighters. There are no struggles against oppressive monarchies in the western. This, however, is very common in medieval fantasies, full of kings, princes, princesses, and mercenaries. The protagonists of the western, on the other hand, bear no traces of messianism — unlike, for instance, Luke Skywalker, a fellow chosen by the Force for a great destiny. This too is very frequent in epic fantasies, where seemingly humble figures become heroes and fulfil their redemptive nature.
- Epic fantasies escape from our world: they are not interested in the real map but in the one invented by their story, just as happens in Star Wars. The opposite of the western. The films of the West unfold in a real and recognisable historical-social context that leaves little room for those flights of fancy so necessary to science fiction and to medievalising epic.
In conclusion, the criteria adduced for comparing Star Wars with the western are too general and imprecise, and could be applied to virtually any story of good guys and bad guys, of exploration and pistols. There are, however, elements in Star Wars that are utterly contrary to the topoi of the films of the West and that fit perfectly with the typical product of epic or heroic fantasy: monsters, supernatural magic, empires, chosen ones, mighty swords, fantastic worlds, fabulous places, and so on.