When I finally see the new Star Wars film, I will be keeping my ears open. Although the initial trilogy was justly celebrated for its use of groundbreaking visual effects, for me, the sound of the films has always been more significant. Even in the woeful prequel trilogy (1999-2005), Ben Burtt’s distinctive sound design – which encompasses the hum of lightsabers, the screech of laser blasts, and the electronic language of R2D2 – helped offset the deluge of CGI and dodgy dialogue. It rooted the drama firmly in the soundworld of the first trilogy (1977-1983).
But it’s John Williams’s score, that epic music that countless people know and love, that will have me most interested. Just like Burtt, Williams has been involved from the beginning of the franchise, and his music plays a vital role in the film’s narrative strategies.
Despite happening in a galaxy far, far away, George Lucas rooted much of his story in the familiar. His narrative design owed a great deal to episodic movie serials such as Flash Gordon, the aerial dogfight sequences of war films, and the swordplay of Errol Flynn swashbucklers. Such was his desire to evoke something universal, Lucas even drew upon the mythological theory of Joseph Campbell.
