In the films of Star Wars, there is a detail that many viewers may not immediately notice. If you look at the position of the spaceships during space battles, you will notice that they mostly point upwards. What is the reason for this?
What do space battles in Star Wars look like? The fights between various spaceships in the vacuum of space are among the highlights of every Star Wars film – besides the lightsaber duels, of course. It’s simply fun to see huge tin cans shooting at each other, laser beams flying around, and smaller ships like X-wings performing spectacular maneuvers.
However, what seems a bit strange is that most larger ships always show with the “roof” upwards, meaning they are in the correct position to shoot at the opponent. This is strange because space is a three-dimensional realm, and essentially there is no up and down.
Realistically, each ship should appear on the battlefield in a slightly different position. This would create great chaos, and it would be difficult to hit anything. Some spaceships would be upside down to the opponent, while others would be tilted to the side. To solve this problem, the people in Star Wars came up with a trick.
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A Tradition Provides Relief
Why do spaceships face the same direction? For weaker ships, it would even be advantageous to be upside down relative to the opponent. This way, they could not be easily or not at all hit, as the weapons are often mounted on the top.
YouTuber EckhartsLadder refers to a video where he consults the book “The Rebel Alliance Sourcebook.” It was published in 1990 and explains various aspects of Star Wars, including the problem with spaceships. It describes that especially humans and humanoid races find it very confusing to see a spaceship that is upside down. This significantly complicates battles.
Therefore, a tradition has been agreed upon: the ship that joins a battle properly aligns itself towards the opponent without further discussion. This creates order, and the battles closely resemble those of ships in water.
Is the tradition valid for everyone? No, because not all races in Star Wars have the same feelings as humans. Those who feel more comfortable in three-dimensional space can even take advantage of the weakness of humans by deliberately flying upside down or sideways to their opponent.
However, most ships that we see in Star Wars are either piloted by humans or humanoid beings. Therefore, it is not surprising that they are almost always properly aligned and follow the aforementioned tradition.
Aside from that, it simply looks better and clearer for us human viewers in the cinema if spaceships are not flying around haphazardly in space. Besides practical benefits, it was certainly also an aesthetic decision from the filmmakers’ perspective. The creator of Star Wars wanted to do everything right in his film but still had a concern: George Lucas thought his most important film would be a flop
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