The History And Politics Of Star Wars

This book provides the first detailed and comprehensive examination of all the materials making up the Star Wars franchise relating to the portrayal and representation of real-world history and politics. Drawing on a variety of sources, including films, published interviews with directors and actors, novels, comics, and computer games, this volume explores the ways in which historical and contemporary events have been repurposed within Star Wars. It focuses on key themes such as fascism and the Galactic Empire, the failures of democracy, the portrayal of warfare, the morality of the Jedi, and the representations of sex, gender, and race. Through these themes, this study highlights the impacts of the fall of the Soviet Union, the War on Terror, and the failures of the United Nations upon the ‘galaxy far, far away’. By analysing and understanding these events and their portrayal within Star Wars, it shows how the most popular media franchise in existence aims to speak about wider contemporary events and issues. The History and Politics of Star Wars is useful for upper-level undergraduates, postgraduates, and scholars of a variety of disciplines such as transmedia studies, science fiction, cultural studies, and world history and politics in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

What does it mean that our most popular modern myth is a radical left story about fighting corporate authoritarianism? From its roots in the 1960s new left, Star Wars still speaks to millions of people today. By design, the saga mirrors our own time and politics. A real empire of corporate domination has arisen within weakened and corrupted republics. Now it threatens our existence on a planetary scale. But the popularity of Star Wars also suggests that if we tell the right stories, we can welcome many more people to the rebellion and the fight for a better world...

At last—an analysis of the historical patterns that influenced the creation and storyline of the Star Wars saga Star Wars took place long ago in a galaxy far, far away, but its epic stories are based on our own history. From Ancient Egypt and the Roman Empire to the French Revolution and the Vietnam War, Star Wars and History explores the major historical turning points, heroes, and villains in human history and their impact on the creation of the Star Wars saga. Star Wars and History shows how the atomic and hydrogen bombs led to the Death Star; how Princess Leia's leadership in the Rebel Alliance resembled the daring work of intrepid women in the French Resistance during World War II and the Mexican Revolution; historical parallels between the Jedi Code and Bushido as well as those linking the Jedi culture with that of the Templar Knights and other warrior monks; and all of the history that underlies the Star Wars galaxy. Read how our own civilization's civil wars, slavery, international corporation states, and teenage queens were transformed into the epic Star Wars history and discover how Tatooine reflects the lawless frontiers of the past and Coruscant our own history of glittering and greedy capitals. The first book devoted to analyzing the actual historical events in our past that influenced the creation of the space fantasy, Star Wars Features 11 essays by a wise "council" of history scholars, written in close collaboration with George Lucas and Lucasfilm Gives new insights into central Star Wars characters and historical figures who helped inspire them (including Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Han Solo, Darth Vader, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Queen Amidala, Yoda, Jabba the Hutt, Lando Calrissian, Emperor Palpatine, and others) Includes both stunning photos from the Lucasfilm Image Archives and historical photos that demonstrate the parallels between both worlds Filled with fascinating historical comparisons and background that will take your experience of the Star Wars saga to a new level, Star Wars and History is an essential companion for every Star Wars fan.

In 1977, Star Wars blazed across the screen to become one of the highest grossing and most beloved movies of all time, spawning an unprecedented merchandising phenomenon. It was followed by two sequels and three prequels, all of which became blockbusters. Comic books, novels, graphic novels, and magazines devoted to the films added to the mythology of George Lucas’s creation. Despite the impact of the franchise on popular culture, however, discussion of the films from a scholarly perspective has not kept pace with the films. In Sex, Politics, and Religion in Star Wars: An Anthology, Douglas Brode and Leah Deyneka have assembled a provocative collection of essays exploring some of the more intriguing aspects of the Star Wars phenomenon. Contributors to the volume tackle such hot topics as race and racism in the Star Wars galaxy, Judeo-Christian and Eastern religious themes, homosexual romance, and philosophical and political implications—both earthbound and otherworldly. These essays interpret the Star Wars universe from a variety of perspectives—including feminist and Freudian—offering insights from writers who bring a new passion to the subject. A companion volume to Myth, Media, and Culture in Star Wars, Sex, Politics, and Religion in Star Wars is an authoritative anthology incorporating scholarly analysis with engaging insights. It will engross readers, both fans and scholars alike.

When Padawan Keerin Fionn and Jedi Knight Lily Tora-Asi learn that the recent Drengir battle was not an isolated incident, but part of a coordinated attack orchestrated by the Nihil, they are determined to protect their new home. While Master Arkoff is away assisting Master Stellan Gios’s investigation, Lily is left in charge of rebuilding Banchii and restoring hope to the community. Lily vows the temple will not be put in danger again, but when a disruptive visitor arrives, Lily must protect Banchii, Keerin, and the Younglings from the growing Nihil threat—a threat that is closer than they think! -- VIZ Media

This book brings together various different analyses of the Star Wars movies, each of which approaches the films from a different point of view, such as history, music, advertisement, new media, ideology, economics, politics, and narration. The book will appeal to various audiences, from high school students to academicians, and from university students to fans of the Star Wars franchise.

Speculative science fiction, with its underlying socio-political dialogue, represents an important intersection of popular culture and public discourse. As a pop culture text, the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars offers critical commentary on contemporary issues, marking a moment of interplay whereby author and audience come together in what Russian philosopher Mikhail Bakhtin called collaborative meaning making. This book critically examines the series as a voice in the political dialogues concerning human cloning, torture, just war theory, peace and drone warfare.

Star Wars has reached more than three generations of casual and hardcore fans alike, and as a result many of the producers of franchised Star Wars texts (films, television, comics, novels, games, and more) over the past four decades have been fans-turned-creators. Yet despite its dominant cultural and industrial positions, Star Wars has rarely been the topic of sustained critical work. Star Wars and the History of Transmedia Storytelling offers a corrective to this oversight by curating essays from a wide range of interdisciplinary scholars in order to bring Star Wars and its transmedia narratives more fully into the fold of media and cultural studies. The collection places Star Wars at the center of those studies' projects by examining video games, novels and novelizations, comics, advertising practices, television shows, franchising models, aesthetic and economic decisions, fandom and cultural responses, and other aspects of Star Wars and its world-building in their multiple contexts of production, distribution, and reception. In emphasizing that Star Wars is both a media franchise and a transmedia storyworld, Star Wars and the History of Transmedia Storytelling demonstrates the ways in which transmedia storytelling and the industrial logic of media franchising have developed in concert over the past four decades, as multinational corporations have become the central means for subsidizing, profiting from, and selling modes of immersive storyworlds to global audiences. By taking this dual approach, the book focuses on the interconnected nature of corporate production, fan consumption, and transmedia world-building. As such, this collection grapples with the historical, cultural, aesthetic, and political-economic implications of the relationship between media franchising and transmedia storytelling as they are seen at work in the world's most profitable transmedia franchise.