'Star Wars' plays the Brooklyn Museum too

NEW YORK, May 16 (UPI) -- "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" opened Thursday at 5,000 movie theaters nationwide and thousands of others around the world, making an exhibition titled "Star Wars: The Magic of the Myth" at the Brooklyn Museum the timeliest museum show on earth.

Leave it to master showman Arnold L. Lehman, the museum's director, to see to it the Brooklyn Museum is the final U.S. stop of the Smithsonian Institution-organized show, coinciding with the release of the first George Lucas film since "Star Wars: Episode I" three years ago. He knows how to get maximum publicity out of his shows, the kind that draws crowds to the box office and museum shop and results in big bucks for the institution.

But Lehman also knows how to give added value to a show that previously was focused only on artifacts from the original Star Wars trilogy -- "A New Hope," "The Empire Strikes Back," and "Return of the Jedi," and on "Star Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace." The show now has an introductory exhibit of 25 objects from the Brooklyn Museum's permanent collection examining the mythological roots of the film series.

These carefully chosen objects illustrate how various cultures from the beginning of human history have explored the themes presented in "Star Wars."

These include the conception of the hero (or heroine) such as Hercules, Faust, and Alice in Wonderland who triumph over evil by means of goodness, valor and chivalry and their relationships to their faithful companions, their fathers or wise mentors, and endangered maidens to be rescued. It's a heady mix of myth and artistry that makes the Smithsonian show more meaningful.

"Star Wars: The Magic of Myth" will run through July 7 in Brooklyn, then move on to the Powerhouse Museum in Sydney, Australia, opening Sept. 17. More than a record million visitors saw the show in Washington, D.C., after it opened at the National Air and Space Museum in 1997, and that number is expected to be increased by a million more before it closes in Sydney early in 2003.

The show is accompanied by a 30-minute documentary, and the Brooklyn Museum is screening all four films from the epic series. It also contains several exhibits from "Episode I" not seen in previous venues, including the elaborate beaded velvet robe worn by Queen Amidala when she appeared before the Galactic Senate, a wondrous combination of Asian, European, and Art Nouveau styles.

Costumes, more than 30 of them, are among the most eye-dazzling aspects of the show that also includes miniature models of space vehicles, life-size robots, space armor, a variety of laser weapons, huge photomurals evoking the majesty and monumentality of several memorable "Star Wars" scenes, and a rich display of original artwork -- drawings and paintings -- that went into the creation of the films' unique vocabulary of imagery. All are owned by Lucasfilm Ltd., which is celebrating the 25th anniversary of the first film of the series.

Among the highlights for "Star Wars" buffs are fully costumed mannequins of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Darth Vader, Yoda, Obi-Wan Kinobi, Han Solo, Boba Fett, and crime lord Jabba the Hutt, shown relaxing with his court jester, Salacious B. Crumb. Other favorites are young Anakin Skywalker's podracer, the Rebel Snowspeeder, a Jedi Training Remote, a Twin Pod Cloud Car, Ewok's hang glider, and Probe, Mouse, and Interrogator Droids.

The final exhibition gallery leads into a hands-on display of character masks, helmets, weapons, and other props that can be worn or brandished by kids of all ages, and this display leads directly into the show shop, where such helmets, weapons, and a huge number of mementos of a visit to the exhibition can be purchased.

It probably is the most commercial tie-in of any museum show to date, but if you want to feel the Force is with you, this is the place to get a piece of the action. For those who want more than a souvenir, there are copies of a 1997 book titled "Star Wars: The Magic of Myth" by Mary Henderson, who was the Smithsonian's curator for the show (Bantam, 214 pages, softcover $19.99).

Henderson spends a lot of space linking "Star Wars" to the world's great myths and to their psychological interpretations, but never mentions the film series actually is a spoof of silly old sci-fi movies dating back to the 1931 "Frankenstein" and that the acting is almost without exception bad.

Nevertheless, the epic has taken its place among the icons of Pop Art, which may be why this show rated display in museum settings once reserved for fine art in San Diego, Minneapolis, Chicago, Houston, Toledo, and now Brooklyn. Or maybe it just goes to show how clever and successful Lucasfilm Ltd. is in marketing its product.