8 Major Cinematic Influences On Star Wars: A New Hope

Metropolis

Practically every major sci-fi film owes some kind of debt to Fritz Lang’s original dystopian movie Metropolis. The visual aesthetic of Blade Runner wouldn’t exist without Metropolis – and many of the images in the Star Wars prequel trilogy directly reference Lang’s dystopian but indulgent world. While A New Hope will take more of its visual aesthetic from other sci-fi films, it does reference Metropolis in the construction of one key character.

The design of C-3PO is a clear homage to the robot Maria in Lang’s Metropolis. The big eyes with pinpoint pupils, the stiff, silent-film movement, cantilevered joints, and even the extremely oval shape of the head, all have their aesthetic based in Maria’s design. The similarities end there: C-3PO is not exactly meant to act as a messianic distraction or a creator’s fevered dream of rebuilding his dead wife, but it’s a neat little homage to one of the original sci-fi epics.