Date Masamune: the samurai who inspired Darth Vader (2016) • Hacker News Board

Re: Date Masamune: the samurai who inspired Darth Vader (2016)

#21

Post by smcl » Fri, Dec 02, 2022, 2:36 PM UTC

Anyone else recognize a couple of these from Ghost of Tsushima? I wonder if this character is one of their inspirations. See the Date Masamune one with the crescent, it's similar to the fully-upgraded "Samurai Armor" helmet you get from finishing Masako's missions:

https://ghostoftsushima.fandom.com/wiki/Samurai_Clan_Armor?f...

https://nipponrama.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/date-masam...

and the "Feudal Japan Darth Vader" figurine isn't too dissimilar from the un-upgraded version of the same helmet from Ghost: https://ghostoftsushima.fandom.com/wiki/Samurai_Clan_Armor?f...

Re: Date Masamune: the samurai who inspired Darth Vader (2016)

#22

Post by the_af » Fri, Dec 02, 2022, 2:47 PM UTC

PMunch wrote: post #5

Huh, interesting. I always assumed the helmet was based on the german WW2 helmets seeing how so much of the weaponry is taken from there. Compare for example the Stormtrooper heavy blaster with the German MG-34. And even the name "Stormtrooper" compared to "Sturmabteilung" (Storm detachment) based on the earlier "Sturmtruppen" (literally Storm trooper).

There are definitely Nazi vibes to the Galactic Empire, but Darth Vader's helmet has indisputable Samurai inspiration. Maybe some Stahlhelm in there too, sure, but the main DNA is samurai. I mean, these are sword fighters with a mystical warrior-poet philosophy and a casual disregard for death.

Re: Date Masamune: the samurai who inspired Darth Vader (2016)

#23

Post by yamtaddle » Fri, Dec 02, 2022, 4:10 PM UTC

lr4444lr wrote: post #13

And Star Wars' plot is, of course, heavily drawn from Kurosawa's "Hidden Fortress". I wonder what other Japanese culture influences on Lucas are yet to be uncovered.

I've watched a bunch of the films said to influence Star Wars, and I'd say the main influence of Hidden Fortress was the R2-D2 and C-3PO characters. There are some plot similarities and of course Lucas has a character almost say the words "hidden fortress" but the only part that made me go "oh, wow, that's exactly where that came from" was the two sidekick buddy-characters.

Re: Date Masamune: the samurai who inspired Darth Vader (2016)

#24

Post by yamtaddle » Fri, Dec 02, 2022, 4:29 PM UTC

KennyBlanken wrote: post #14

Good LORD, the random bolding of certain WORDS is extremely ANNOYING....and was this written by (and for) an 8th grader? "DID YOU KNOW that Vader's helmet is styled after samurai helmets?" I mean jesus christ, you'd have to be born under a rock to not know that Star Wars is a cross between a spaghetti western and a samurai flick. The "light saber" is the ultimate version of the "samura swords can cut through anything…

> I mean jesus christ, you'd have to be born under a rock to not know that Star Wars is a cross between a spaghetti western and a samurai flick.

And WWII movies (633 Squadron and The Dam Busters, most prominently) and a splash of sword-and-sorcery fiction (the "magic exists but is rare to the point of being near-mythical and not really thaaaaat powerful" thing is some straight Conan shit, as are some other elements and flavors in the setting—from the stories, that is, not the movies, which came too late to influence Star Wars, though, fittingly, James Earl Jones is in both).

Star Wars' greatest contribution to cinema—and it's a big one—is pioneering the multi-genre pastiche. That thing Tarantino does? Like, his whole career basically? Star Wars cleared the way for that. Proved it could work and result in a good film, proved it could make money. The most successful later entries understand that formula and lean hard into the genre-mashup and freely ripping off other works thing. Mandalorian's full of that, for instance (to the point that you can make a meta-game of watching it, playing "name what they ripped off")