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TABLE OF CONTENTS About the Exhibition ............................................................................................................................................. 2 Introduction for Educators ................................................................................................................................... 2 Educational Goals ................................................................................................................................................. 2 Educational Standards .......................................................................................................................................... 3 Introduction to Character Archetypes .................................................................................................................. 3 Costume Design Process ....................................................................................................................................... 4 Suggested Subject Area Explorations ................................................................................................................... 5 Selected Exhibition Walkthrough ......................................................................................................................... 6 Additional Resources ............................................................................................................................................ 9 Costume Design Vocabulary ............................................................................................................................... 10 Archetypes in Science Fiction and Fantasy Stories ............................................................................................. 11 Gallery Activity Sheet .......................................................................................................................................... 13 ABOUT THE EXHIBITION Presenting nearly 60 hand-crafted costumes from the first six blockbuster Star Wars™ films, Rebel, Jedi, Princess, Queen: Star Wars™ and the Power of Costume uncovers the intricate processes and the remarkable artistry of George Lucas, the concept artists, and designers—and reveals the powerful connection between character and costume. Through nine presentational “chapters”—Introduction: Dressing a Galaxy; Jedi versus Sith: Form, Function and Design; Concept and Design for Royalty and Beyond; Symbolism and Military Power; Outlaws and Outsiders; All Corners of the Galaxy: The Galactic Senate; After the Throne: Padmé’s Journey; Darth Vader: Iconic Villain; and Droid™ Design: C-3PO and R2-D2—visitors will be able to explore the creative process behind the names and faces that would come to shape the timeless story of a hero’s journey. Rebel, Jedi, Princess, Queen: Star Wars™ and The Power of Costume was developed by the Smithsonian Institution Traveling Exhibition Service in partnership with the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art and in consultation with Lucasfilm Ltd. The exhibit marks a 12-city national tour that begins at EMP, where it will be on view January 31 through October 4, 2015. INTRODUCTION FOR EDUCATORS “For the first Star Wars™ films, I wanted the costumes to be simple but timeless…Costumes modeled on the archetypes that audiences would find understandable and familiar.”—George Lucas As educators we are always striving to create meaningful content connections for our students. Student motivation and interest play a crucial role in predicting achievement. The Star Wars franchise has spent more than 35 years in the popular culture spotlight, and remains relevant today through various iterations—film, literature, television, gaming, and more. Focusing on English/Language Arts and Visual Arts themes, this guide will help you make curriculum connections to the artistic process of character design and development, literary character archetypes, and costume creation in an effort to help to bring your subject area to life by tapping into the phenomenon that is Star Wars. EDUCATIONAL GOALS The purpose of this guide is to help you engage your students in creative new ways through English/Language Arts and Visual Arts lessons focused around decoding the concept of archetypes in legends, myths, and fantasy and science fiction; studying the hero’s journey; and exploring the process of character design and development applied to both creative writing and visual art representations. It is our hope that through attending the exhibition and studying the associated lessons presented in this guide students will be able to achieve the following goals: 2 Apply knowledge of character archetypes to better analyze multiple texts across genres. Identify underlying aspects of character archetypes as found in cinematic costume design. Describe aspects of the creative and collaborative process of costume design. Demonstrate an understanding of the wide variety of elements that go into character design. EDUCATIONAL STANDARDS A selection of applicable standards for lessons related to the exhibition topics: Common Core State Standards for English and Language Arts corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy Key Ideas and Details: o Determine a theme of a story, drama, or poem from details in the text, including how characters in a story or drama respond to challenges or how the speaker in a poem reflects upon a topic; summarize the text. o Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events. o Describe in depth a character, setting, or event in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., a character’s thoughts, words, or actions). o Compare and contrast two or more characters, settings, or events in a story or drama, drawing on specific details in the text (e.g., how characters interact). Integration of Knowledge and Ideas: o Explain how specific aspects of a text’s illustrations contribute to what is conveyed by the words in a story (e.g., create mood, emphasize aspects of a character or setting). INTRODUCTION TO CHARACTER ARCHETYPES “Costume is not separate from character design.” –Sang Jun Lee, Star Wars concept artist Star Wars stands apart from other science fiction stories in many ways. One of the most apparent is the story’s use of a narrative structure that in many ways reflects the classic hero’s journey (a term often used to describe a protagonist's story of self-discovery). In creating the story of Star Wars, George Lucas drew heavily on the rich tradition and history of fantasy stories. The Star Wars world is populated with creative new takes on traditional character archetypes. Archetypes can be viewed as roles characters play in a story. Across stories these archetypes have many different faces, but share certain important character traits. Some common character archetypes include: hero, fool, rogue, mentor, and villain. These familiar archetypes are often used to help orient the 3 reader/viewer in new and sometimes fantastical settings. A list of twenty of the most common character archetypes and examples from the genres of science fiction and fantasy can be found at the end of this guide. Costume designers draw on the prior knowledge and expectations of the viewer about these archetypes to add immediately recognizable elements to a character’s costume. An excellent example of this is the design for the roguish smuggler Han Solo as seen in Star Wars™: Episode IV A New Hope. His costume includes a low-slung gun holster and tall leather boots both reminiscent of a cowboy or gunslinger from the Wild West. Additionally, his decorated pants, off-white long-sleeved “Custer” shirt, and loose black vest may bring to mind the image of a pirate. Before the character even speaks on screen, the viewer begins to develop their impression of what type of person this new character might be. COSTUME DESIGN PROCESS “I was hired to give George Lucas a chance to get as close as he could to the ideal look for things he had been dreaming about getting into his films…Science fantasy allows me to create realities that have never been seen before... I’ve done a lot of dreaming in my life—and now I’m getting a chance to put it all to work.”— Ralph McQuarrie; concept artist; Star Wars™: Episode IV A New Hope, Star Wars™: Episode V The Empire Strikes Back, Star Wars™: Episode VI Return of the Jedi A large-scale production such as the Star Wars™ films requires a dedicated team of professionals to create the hundreds of costumes necessary for filming, and to translate the vision of the writers and directors into reality. For the prequel trilogy of the saga, costume designer Trisha Biggar created a wardrobe facility which employed nearly 100 people. Some of the arts-focused jobs involved with costume design and development in film include: cutters, tailors, sewers, printers, dyers, beaders, milliners, leatherworkers, mold makers, and jewelers. The costume design process starts with collaborative production meetings with the writers, directors, and concept artists. Through these discussions concept artists create a series of preliminary sketches that try to capture the character descriptions, culture, setting, feelings, and ideas found within the script and the filmmakers’ imagination. Costume designers work from the approved concept art and start the process of making those designs a physical reality. Designers must make numerous choices about what fabrics to use, color, materials, textures, and how a character’s body type and personality

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