Modern Myths and Mass Culture in the 1970s. 25 May 1977. Italy Reacts to Star Wars

Nearly fifty years on from the first public projec tion of the episode A New Hope on 25 May 1977, the fantasy universe conceived by George Lucas has given rise to a full-scale transmedial paral lel world made up of cinema spin-offs, animated series, fictions, strip car toons, books, videogames, articles of clothing and all kinds of gadget. It seems to have become one of the main mass culture franchises to survive the transition from old millennium to new. first released on 21 October 1977) and what factors shaped the judgement of the main daily and periodical reviewers. It will be possible to see how, and how far, the novel features of the Star Wars phenomenon that caught the collective imagination across the globe were perceived in Italy. Analysis of journalistic sources will focus on three salient features in reviews of the film: its connection with its period and the major political, economic and cultural phenomena attesting to the so-called shock of the global.; developments in the cinema industry and the new distribution channels of mainstream mass culture in that globalised post-industrial setting; and the birth of a new worldwide myth tailoring a new version of the traditional ‘hero cult’ to the late 1970s in response to the various demands voiced by the social body, and providing helpful bearings on a historical context that many find hard to fathom.