The force is 90% ESP and is a minor part of the story told. Luke’s journey is mostly to become a warrior to defeat Vader and the Emperor and then Luke makes a twist by sacrificing himself to save his father and his father kills the Emperor, sacrificing himself in the process. Luke’s main story is not dependent on the force, but on his own character.
Not true at all. The Force is integral to Luke and his story. It is at the philosophical core of the series. A power that connects every living thing on a deep and spiritual level. A power that can be used for good, to help others, or for evil. Luke’s story is about using that power with responsibility. By sacrificing himself, he’s trusting in the light side of the Force, in the belief that love and care for others will save the galaxy. When Vader makes his sacrifice, he’s choosing the Force, giving into something greater than him.
It’s telling that even in Rogue One, the film that’s possibly the most sci-fi of the series, the Force still plays an important role.
The Force is really the religion in Star Wars. It provides the moral compass for the characters. That is especially notable in Rogue One where it is a matter of faith, not special abilities. Tarkin even calls it a religion in ANH. Take away the ESP aspect and the core story remains unchanged. I’ll agree that the light and dark aspect of the force is integral to the story, but the powers used are not. Take away the powers and leave it as a religion and the story is little impacted.
“The Force is not a power you have. It’s not about lifting rocks. It’s the energy between all things, a tension, a balance, that binds the universe together”
The Force isn’t a religion, the Jedi are. The Force is more akin to a deity - a supernatural entity - that actually exists in universe. The Force is not simply a matter of faith, it is a matter of fact. Saying the Force is nothing more than ESP is a fundamental misunderstanding of it. Take away the “powers,” and it’s still a driving, uh, force in the universe.
No, I’m not misunderstanding. This is what genre analysis is. If you question if something is genre related you see if you can cut it and keep the core story intact. Cut out the force powers and you would get essentially the same story. So the force powers are not a genre determiner (even though the are an expanded ESP which is a standard science fiction trope).
So if you can cut out the mystic force power and the story is solidly space opera and every other aspect is space opera (including the first TESB script being written by the queen of space opera), then the argument that Star Wars is closer to fantasy falls apart. It isn’t fantasy and Lucas calling it space fantasy doesn’t make that a valid genre and doesn’t make it closer to The Hobbit than to the pillars of classic science fiction. the pillars of classic science fiction are either hard sci-fi or space opera and if you quiz people, they will know the space operas better. The early ones were called planetary romances, but the style of storytelling expanded with the addition of FTL to span the galaxy instead of planets and took on the name space opera. That is exactly what Star Wars is, space opera.