This Popular Film Franchise that Modern Audiences Enjoy Today was Inspired by Other Stories

The root of most creators' successful origin stories lies in trials, struggles, and tribulations and never giving up.

Look at the image below:

https://www.disney.com.au/movies/a-star-wars-timeline-of-every-movie-in-order-of-release

Everyone looking at the image will go: that's Star Wars!

Now look at the below image:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flash_Gordon

The popularity of Star Wars is all because George Lucas wanted to make a Flash Gordon movie but couldn't get the film rights. In desperation, Lucas wrote his own story that was set in outer space. This is where George Lucas in struggling to create a screenplay for his story re-read Joseph Campbell's 1949 comparative mythology book, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. George Lucas was so inspired by Joseph Campbell that he looked at all the stories he enjoyed as a kid growing up in Montecito, California to help him write the spec screenplay that would lead to the Star Wars films. George Lucas was inspired by Flash Gordon, Joseph Campbell, Arthurian Mythology, Chinese Mythology and Philosophy, Japanese Mythology, The Foundation series by Isaac Asimov, and many more.

So when artists and writers become frustrated when they are trying to write stories always remember that all stories come from other stories. We don't have to use the same exact premise but we can use elements from these stories and infuse it into our own creative works. The Jedi Knights aren't directly related to Samurai warriors, medieval knights, or even modern day soldiers in battle but they are distant relatives.

All modern day superheroes can trace their origin story to Clark Kent, the original superhero from 1938. Mario and Donkey Kong exist because Nintendo couldn't get the rights for the Popeye character to make a video game based on his story. The screenplay for the successful film franchise Back to the Future was rejected 40 times by major film studios before it was picked up by Steven Spielberg and Universal Studios.

If inspiration isn't knocking at your door look somewhere else. Maybe your story is in your struggles and you don't even know it yet.