Star Wars, Dune and Taiji

I was watching Star Wars V: The Empire Strikes Back today when the similarities with Dune and taijiquan struck me. I have written about Dune before in a previous post on the computer game Dune 2. And of course, I have my own blog about taijiquan.

What led me to think about Dune while watching Star Wars was the scene why Luke had a vision about Leia and Han needing his help. Just like Paul Atreides, Luke Skywalker was able to see the future. The huge worm coming out of its hole in an asteroid chasing the Millenium Falcon reminded me about the huge sandworms found on the planet Dune, also known as Arrakis. The gas mining operation headed by Lando Calrissian draws parallels with the spice harvesting (and smuggling) activities on Dune. Just as Dune's Emperor Padishah was aided by the Harkonnen baron, Star Wars' emperor had Darth Vader. While Paul Atreides turned out to be the Harkonnen baron's grandson, Luke Skywalker found himself to be Darth Vader's son.

And how about the link with taijiquan? Well, most of it was during the scene when Luke Skywalker was undergoing Jedi training under Yoda. Yoda described the Force as something to be always used for knowledge and defence, not for attack. This is similar to taijiquan, which teaches one to counter the force directed at oneself. Just as Yoda taught Luke to flow with the Force, taijiquan teaches one to follow your opponent's force and not resist it. Just as anger and fear will bring one to the dark side of the Force, anger and fear causes one to resist your opponent's force, to use brute strength, ultimately branching away from the principles of taijiquan.

This site contains more about parallels between Star Wars and Dune.
An article on the influence of Oriental culture on Star Wars.

So it seems I am not alone in thinking that Star Wars drew some ideas from Dune and taijiquan. Just like Frank Herbert got many of his ideas for Dune from real life culture.