Star Wars’ 30 Years of Wookiees: Bigfoot Inspired?
Posted by: Loren Coleman on May 25th, 2007
A group photograph of some Wookiee fighters is shown above; they first appeared en masse thanks to Revenge of the Sith.
“Wookiee” is the official and correct spelling of these fictional inhabitants of Kashyyyk. “Wookie” is incorrect. Chewbacca (or Chewie) is the most famous and well-known Wookiee, who was there from the beginning.
Friday, May 25, 2007, is the 30th anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars movie.
On opening day in 1977, I was there, standing in line in Boston, and soon was amazed by what I saw on the big screen.
Congratulations to George Lucas for bringing to birth his vision of this universe of science fiction that would become the Star Wars epic.
As far as popular culture, within cryptozoology, the quick assumption is that Wookiees have been based on Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and other unknown hairy hominoids. Maybe. Maybe not. Spoiler: The Bigfoot origin does not seem to be the case.
When I visited Honey Island Swamp, in the 1980s, the Star Wars movies had obviously made an impact on the local naming of the Honey Island Swamp Monster. Locals in the area some miles outside of New Orleans, Louisiana, were calling their Honey Island cryptid, casually, for example, by naming their small swamp boats (wrongly spelled) “Wookie.” The Star Wars movies came first, and there is no evidence that the Honey Island Swamp Monster was called a “Wookie” or a “Wookiee” before 1977.
Some people, however, seem to think otherwise. Florida cryptozoologist Scott Marlowe has argued on the cryptozoology.com forum that “the term ‘Wookie’ chosen by Lucas is a North American Indian term for a Bigfoot…It is culturally and linguistically related to the term Shaawanoki which is the Seminole word for the Skunk or Swamp Ape.”
This is a highly doubtful theory. The significance of the 850 miles between the very culturally different Native groups - the group who use to live near the Honey Island Swamp of Louisiana, and those of the Everglades and Big Cypress swamps of Florida - must be acknowledged.
Most damaging of all, however, is George Lucas’ own testimony on the origins of the name.
The director himself said the name originated in his first motion picture THX 1138. In a line ad-libbed by an actor, a character says, “I think I just ran over a wookiee on the expressway.”
Furthermore, as noted in the bonus material on the Indiana Jones trilogy, the Wookiee is said to be based on George Lucas’ dog named “Indiana.”
Oh no, Chewie based on a dog? Not very Bigfoot-like at all.
Nevertheless, the Wookiee’s apparent link to Bigfoot has become part of popular thought:
Wookiees bear a notable resemblance to the cryptozoological phenomena of the Sasquatch, with one issue of Star Wars Tales linking Chewbacca and Han Solo to the adventurous wanderings of Indiana Jones. “Wookiee” entry, Wookiipedia, the Star Wars wiki.
- Similar Phenomena:
Interesting article. I’ve always thought that Wookiees resembled Bigfoot, but Loren you really put a lot of thought into this! Being a Star Wars fan (nerd alert!), I appreciated this article. By the way, that picture at the top is totally fake. Obviously guys in suits.
I was 5 when Star Wars came out in 1977, and so its release coincides rather nicely with my earliest reliable memories. Thus whenever I try to figure out when something happened in my life, Star Wars is a convenient reference point. In some weird way, my personal history began with Star Wars.
As for Bigfoot looking like a Wookiee, well, he may not have before, but with the recent influx of cheaper, high-quality Wookiee suits (There’s a guy outside Mann’s Theatre who dresses up in one, making money by charging to have pictures taken with him), he may yet, as hoaxers begin to employ them. Indeed, to my mind, these Wookiee suits look more realistic than most gorilla costumes on the market.
There was also the “laser” video from Australia a while back, with many assuming that the Yowie glimpsed in the film was just a guy in a Wookiee suit, so it may already have begun…