Coupled w/ your statements, it's even worse if you dissect all the things Lucas stole from. <here are a few out of the many I've wondered about.>
Japanese Samurai code <Vader's outfit, his movements>
Superman Mythology - The Darkseid mythos was created in the late 60's. Two planets, one good and one evil existed together as a balancing factor. On the good one(Darkseid[an evil all-powerful menace in Superman]'s son), the young son apprentice carried a tech-box(lightsaber anyone?) as his weapon/lifeline. His energy and ability to control the weapon and manipulate its power came from the 'Source.' Lucas admitted in interviews that he went to comicbook stores looking for
"inspiration" before he started writing the initial SW saga.
Cowboy Westerns - Self-explanatory; we all pretty much can agree that SW is a futuristic sci-fi western.
Flash Gordon - I seriously hope that people don't think the scrolling sentences at the beginning are the brainchild of Lucas.
Allusion to Nazis = The Empire, its members, their conduct,
Greek Tragedy: Anakin's fall to the darkside and the price he paid: immolation
Roman influence: The Emporer <self-explanatory>/ The Praetorian guard aka his Imperial Body Guards
Messianic Complex: Anakin's virgin conception by way of the force/spirit/medoclorians(sp?)
If you look at the species in SW(in and outside of the films), he patterns each one after a historical people. Ex: Echani = Babylonian Mandalorian = Assyrian
Twi'lek dancers = Asian Geisha/Persian slave girl influence
Hutts = Mophia(Italian, Ukranian, Russian, etc. . . .)
Sand People = Nomadic Arabic Warriors etc. . . .
The primitive people on Naboo(Jar Jar's race) = People of Nineveh/Mayan/Aztec amalgamation
The Jedi: The utilization of the 'Opus Dei' cloak.
The skillful use of mysticism and the ability to control the metaphysical a la the force: it's been used many times in past as magic, sorcery, witchcraft, etc. . . .
Also, When you can't provide a logical answer: Make it a mystery and let the fans do the work for you.
Lucas drew(and in a few cases: deliberately stole) from other story elements to create his own.
Even after all of this, SW still is appealing to me, and when I hear that Lightsaber charge. . . . I forget the many bones I have to pick w/ the stories and w/ their roots.
