Posted by Steven on 27/11/2011, 10:41:11, in reply to "Re: Recent Reading"
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Doing Wagner as a non-operatic film is an interesting idea. I had similar thoughts about Parzival while reading it.
It's fascinating also to speculate how much influence these epics have actually had on films that, at first glance, are unrelated. "Star Wars," for example, has elements of both the Ring and Parzival.
Star Wars as the Ring: Luke is Siegmund, princess Leia, his twin sister, is Sieglinde. They fall in love, not knowing that they are related. Luke/Siegmund has a magic sword and uses it to fight against his father Vader/Wotan. There is cutting off of hands.
Star Wars as Parzival: Luke is Parzival, Han Solo is Gawan. They take separate paths on a similar quest. Luke/Parzival is on a spiritual quest and, along the way, learns the true identity of his father. He makes two visits, deep in the forest, to a reclusive ex-knight who becomes his tutor. Han/Gawan's goals are more secular and material, first involving a private feud. He is cocky and very direct in his approach to the ladies.
There is also a wonderful episode in Parzival where Gawan seduces a beautiful and shapely young woman with a single kiss, immediately turning her against her own family. When they are surprised in their lovemaking by Gawan's enemies, she leads him to a tower where they defend themselves using an oversized chessboard as a shield and chess pieces as missiles. I immediately thought of all the James Bond movies where similar scenes have been played out.
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