Soviet Union makes "Star Wars"

[Galba Otho Vitelius]

How would the world be different if "Star Wars" was made by the Soviet Union?

And yes, I am referring to the movie. Plot and characters are mostly the same, its in Russian, for whatever reason no American filmmaker does something similar. Also comes out in the mid 1970s.

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

Leia wouldn't be a princess and I doubt the Jedi would be warrior monks. Other than that, simple farm boy, wise sage, two ordinary if rough around the edges workers against an evil empire, fits in with Soviet thinking quite well.

 

[Max Sinister]

What would their censorship say about a princess and a cool but morally questionable guy among the good guys?

 

[Byzantine fanatic]

Princess is not a problem, she can simply be a high ranking member of the Communist party. An ideal portrait of the Soviet woman. Independent, hard working and educated.

Not sure about the guy.

 

[Seandineen]

How would the world be different if "Star Wars" was made by the Soviet Union?

And yes, I am referring to the movie. Plot and characters are mostly the same, its in Russian, for whatever reason no American filmmaker does something similar. Also comes out in the mid 1970s.

Han Solo is an unenlightened petty burgosise, taught and given class awareness by 3po. head commissar of the galaxy.

 

[Jan Olbracht]

On Dagobah, Luke meets Marxter Yoda, who passes him ancient knowledge contained in "The Communist Manifesto", in Capitalist Cave Luke confronted Class Enemy, instead of ghost of Obi Wan, Spectre of Communism appears in decisive moments to guide Luke.

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

What would their censorship say about a princess and a cool but morally questionable guy among the good guys?

They're fighting back against the empire the only way they know how and have been led astray, but are taught the correct way to go about it by the daughter of a peoples champion.

 

[Anchises]

How would the world be different if "Star Wars" was made by the Soviet Union?

And yes, I am referring to the movie. Plot and characters are mostly the same, its in Russian, for whatever reason no American filmmaker does something similar. Also comes out in the mid 1970s.

Han Solo: Professional Revolutionary using questionable methods but always has the greater good in mind.

Luke: Simple farmer who develops class awareness and revolutionary spirit once his foster parents are killed by Imperial tax collectors.

Empire: Weird mix of Republican America and Nazi Germany.

Ewoks: Obvious stand in for opressed native Americans.

 

[Analytical Engine]

The Rebels are the Glorious Multi-Ethnic Revolution against the Imperialist Capitalist(TM) Empire.

 

[Seandineen]

Boba fett wears green to represent the corruption of trade. The Wookiee’s live communally and are vegan.

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

Han Solo: Professional Revolutionary using questionable methods but always has the greater good in mind.

Luke: Simple farmer who develops class awareness and revolutionary spirit once his foster parents are killed by Imperial tax collectors.

Empire: Weird mix of Republican America and Nazi Germany.

Ewoks: Obvious stand in for opressed native Americans.

Sand people?

 

[ObssesedNuker]

Sand people?

Either unenlightened tribalists resisting modernization or freedom fighting revolutionaries seeking self-determination, depending on the tack taken with them.

 

[Analytical Engine]

The Hutts would be greedy bourgeois capitalists, who cruelly oppress the workers.

 

[FBKampfer]

May the dialectic be with you. Always.

 

[Seandineen]

Dialectic

 

[Hapsburg]

Princess is not a problem

You're overthinking it. Her being a princess that sides with the rebels mirrors the career of Count Felix Dzerzhinsky. It can easily be justified as a parallel to that.

As far as most of the suggestions here, Star Wars already does like half of them, just lowkey. But that's mostly superficial stuff, and fan interpretation. A lot of what makes Star Wars what it is was formed by the vision of its director, coming from the New Hollywood era. Lucas was driven not just by his love of Westerns, Samurai films, and pulp serials, but also by American youth culture of the post-Vietnam era. For a Soviet-made Star Wars to be remotely recognizable, you need a director with similar life experiences and attitudes, which requires a youth culture that (and correct me if I'm wrong here) the USSR simply didn't have. You'd need a POD earlier in the 50s, and have the Khrushchev Thaw last much longer. You need it last long enough to develop a Counterculture in the 60s, and have that Counterculture be tolerated long enough to burn out by the mid 70s. And you need a director to tap into that cultural mood, while simultaneously also being influenced by Westerns and pulp sci-fi. The latter is the easy part.

 

[thatsbunkers]

Ewoks: Obvious stand in for opressed native Americans.

The Ewoks are already a stand in for the Vietcong

George Lucas said the OT was based on the Vietnam war. The original trilogy was already made from a left wing view but I think the Soviet version would be a bit more heavy handed

 

[IntellectuallyHonestRhino]

Empire: Weird mix of Republican America and Nazi Germany.

It's Evil Emperor Adolf Gitler-Goldwater!

Russians pronounced Hitler as Gitler.

 

[Peg Leg Pom]

I should wear my glasses, if first read that as Glitter.

All hail the Galactic Emperor Glitter.

Instead of the Imperial March.

 

[Roches]

Gary Glitter on Top of the Pops? *cringe* At least the BBC have taken a Soviet attitude to those two entities and simply erased them from history.

No, it's Gitler because Russian doesn't have the letter H. The only trouble I have with the Rebels as World Socialist Revolution vs. Empire as Fascist Beast Imperialist Capitalists is that SW doesn't make it clear that the Rebels will and must eventually be victorious. They're the underdogs. The Revolution OTOH *will* eventually overcome the class enemies.

For anyone who might know, did Soviet culture have the "rag-tag band of heroes defeating evil against all odds" trope? As I said, the Rebels are the underdogs and that's precisely why Anglosphere culture likes them. Russians, historically, tend to outnumber their enemies, so the trope of heroic victory while outnumbered might not be a Russian thing.