Empire Triumphant: Race, Religion And Rebellion in the Star Wars Films Review

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(More customer reviews)The author, Kevin J. Wetmore, Jr, starts out with a few points that should be repeated, even in the review. One, the films are all products of their era. Two, like it or not, the films are not just movies. They DO influence us and pass on values and ideas, even some that Lucas didn't put into them. They can't be dismissed or ignored. Like it or not the Star Wars films reach a lot of people and do deliver messages to them about race, sex and religion.
The book debates how the films treat women vs. men, Asians vs. Europeans, religion, rebellion and even how the films treat EMPIRE! Do we want kids to see these movies? That is up to you but the book does dive into the layers and shows us how the movies do SEEM to lean towards Empires, put men above women and do treat Asian culture and history like myth while treating European culture and history with more respect. While the book is said to be based on all six films, it seems that once or twice it seems to only focus on the first five. It is as if the last one, Episode Three, was not yet finished when the book was. It feels, in some places, to be badly put together or only half thought out, like somebody took their class lectures and molded them into a book.


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Return of the Heroes: The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Harry Potter and Social Conflict Review

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(More customer reviews)As a fan of Tolkein, Star Wars, and Harry Potter and one who has appreciated a number of analytic treatments of their themes in relation to culture and society, I was expecting something a little different. Perhaps a more accurate title might have been "Defending the Heroes: Debating Critics of Tolkein and Star Wars, with a Little Harry Potter Thrown in."
The larger portion of the book consists of the author cataloging an extensive list of negative criticisms and in turn criticizing the critics for their method and mood. Granted, his arguments make a lot of sense. But there is much less positive treatment of heroic themes and their potential validity and usefulness in modern society, and much repetitive groaning about how mistaken the critics are.
Not only that, the subtitle suggests that three different series will be treated in the book. In fact, Harry Potter is mentioned only briefly, a few times, almost as if his inclusion were meant to capitalize on his current popularity. For the amount of space devoted to Harry Potter themes, he could just as easily (and more accurately) have been excluded from the title. I found this to be misleading.

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Why have The Lord of The Rings, Star Wars, the Harry Potter stories, and other tales of heroic fantasy, been so phenomenally successful in the present apparently cynical and disillusioned age? Colebatch argues that the popularity of these works shows the real health of our culture to be more robust than we sometimes believe, and confirms the centrality of "traditional" values which "progressive" thinkers have often disparaged or overlooked. In advancing this argument, the author also seeks to entertain the many readers who love these works, and to open to them new vistas of understanding.

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Culture, Identities and Technology in the Star Wars Films: Essays on the Two Trilogies (Critical Explorations in Science Fiction and Fantasy) Review

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(More customer reviews)I would recommend "Culture, Identities and Technology in the Star Wars Films" to fans of the series as well as to teachers. The book covers a wide range of topics within the Star Wars universe, from capitalism to race to feminism - there's even a chapter on the fetishization of objects. Most essays discuss all six films and though this could cause the chapters to veer in too many directions, the writing in each remains focused and clear.
The highlight of the collection is the essay "Feminism and the Force: Empowerment and Disillusionment in a Galaxy Far, Far Away," which compares the surprising feminine strength of Princess Leia with Padme Amidala's "weepy stereotype of a woman coming undone." The essay goes on to defend Padme and to draw parallels between her and modern victims of domestic abuse, but the real heart of the article is the section on Leia. Truly a great book of essays.

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Star Wars on Trial: Science Fiction And Fantasy Writers Debate the Most Popular Science Fiction Films of All Time (Smart Pop series) Review

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(More customer reviews)Back in 1999, physics professor, NASA consultant, and science fiction writer David Brin contributed an essay to Salon.com highlighting the logical inconsistencies in the (up until then) four Star Wars films and pointing out what he saw as the darker philosophical and ethical underpinnings of the series - a feudal universe in which elite, super-powered beings control the fate of civilization, a galaxy where might is right, in which the life of the commoner is to be ruled by The Jedi or The Sith.
"'Star Wars' Despots vs. 'Star Trek' Populists" generated a tremendous amount of interest and feedback from Star Wars and science fiction fans and over the years on his own website Brin came back to the topic now and then, (often, he laments as an aside in "Star Wars on Trial," taking time away from his other writing projects). With the release last year of the final chapter in the Star Wars film series, Brin is back to update his arguments and lead the prosecution in "Star Wars on Trial," a book-length collection of critical essays on the six-film cycle and its relationship to film-making and science-fiction. The book is organized conceptually around a trial, with a prosecutor leveling charges and a defense counsel attempting to poke holes in the state's case.
The six charges brought to court are, in order: 1) The Politics of Star Wars Are Anti-Democratic and Elitist; 2) While Claiming Mythic Significance, Star Wars Portrays No Admirable Religious or Ethical Beliefs; 3) Star Wars Novels Are Poor Substitutes for Real Science Fiction and Are Driving Real SF off the Shelves; 4) Science Fiction Filmmaking Has Been Reduced by Star Wars to Poorly Written Special Effects Extravaganzas.; 5) Star Wars Has Dumbed Down the Perception of Science Fiction in the Popular Imagination; 6) Star Wars Pretends to Be Science Fiction, but Is Really Fantasy; 7) Women in Star Wars Are Portrayed as Fundamentally Weak; 8) The Plot Holes and Logical Gaps in Star Wars Make It Ill-Suited for an Intelligent Viewer.
Each charge is argued in separate essays, both for the prosecution and the defense. In between the essays are short chapters in which the prosecutor and the defense cross exam the essayists and address the bench on procedure issues.
Leading the defense and providing opening and closing arguments in this literary trial is three-time Star Wars novelist Matthew Woodring Stover (Traitor, Shatterpoint, Revenge of the Sith), a writer whose books I have enjoyed but for whom I have lost some not small measure of respect after reading his smarmy ripostes to Brin's more reasoned arguments. It's not necessarily that Brin's ideas are better (sometimes they are, sometimes not); it's just that Brin is more erudite. Stover comes off like one of those annoying people you read in usenet forums who, when he can't make a cogent argument, resorts to humor to deflect attention from his lack of a reasoned counter argument, or to avoid having to admit he is wrong.
One the whole, the prosecution makes its best case on textual matters, picking at the obvious inconsistencies within the films and demonstrating what everyone who has seen them has known all along, that George Lucas is a poor writer who suffered moreover from having to force the plot when he found he had to make sequels and later prequels. There's also a devastating argument from real-life attorney John C. Wright demonstrating the lack of religious content in the Star Wars universe, in addition to a well-argued essay from astrophysicist Jeanne Cavelos outlining the evisceration of the two major females in the series, Leia and Padme, who go from being strong, independent characters to stereotypical damsels-in-distress.
For its part, the defense makes its best case on the wider issue of cultural matters, on the effect of Star Wars on science fiction and filmmaking. Novelist Karen Traviss, one of the most popular of the current crop of Star Wars authors, argues convincingly that Star Wars literature can be more than turgid prose hastily churned out for cash by revealing some of the positive changes she was forced to make in her own writing when commissioned to write her first Star Wars novel. And addressing the complaint that Star Wars fiction is driving "real" science fiction off bookstore shelves, novelist Laura Resnick points out that the success of Star Wars fiction has in fact provided publisher Del Rey the financial clout to expand its original science fiction publishing.
There are several other well-written and thought provoking essays in this collection addressing issues wider than Star Wars - such as the nature science fiction, the push and pull between art and entertainment, the economics of publishing and film making - that make this an interesting read for those that might like to delve into some of the issues debated among aficionados of science fiction and Star Wars.
For those interested in pursuing some of the issues raised in Star Wars on Trial, publisher PopSmart has a dedicated online forum (http://www.starwarsontrial.com) where you can participate in discussion with other readers and some of the essayists.

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Star Wars (Bfi Modern Classics) Review

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(More customer reviews)A through analysis of Star Wars from an academic standpoint (something sorely lacking in terms of Lucas's film). While much of the writing about Star Wars over the past 3o years has discussed its revolutionary special effects of its blockbuster status, Brooker analyzes Star Wars in terms of what it was for George Lucas the auteur director. In his early career, Lucas longed to be a maverick, separate from Hollywood and in control of his own projects. His first two experiences with the Hollywood system (THX-1138 and American Graffiti) left Lucas with a soured perspective of Hollywood. He began Star Wars by attempting to fashion a troupe of talented people all working together to create something that would out-do Hollywood at its own game. However, Brooker traces that in doing so, and so fiercely attempting to retain his control, Lucas's desire to create band of rebels gradually turns him into the empire itself as he must reign over and control an unruly cast, crew and special effects department. Brooker also examines Lucas's fascination with objects rather than people and demonstrates that Lucas, like the empire, prefers things that are cold and impersonal, less human, but longs for the wild improvisational spirit of creativity found in the rebels. Brooker's book demonstrates that Star Wars is a much more complex film that originally gleaned by demonstrating that Lucas, as the writer/director/editor, is identifying with both sides and while the narrative the film demonstrates a clear victory of the film, Lucas's direction does not reveal such a clear cut winner

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Will Brooker'silluminating study takes issue with many commonly held ideas about Star Wars. Heprovides a close cinematic analysis,carefully examiningits shots, its editing, its sound design, cinematography and performances.Brooker argues that Star Wars is not, as Lucas himself has claimed, a departure from his previous work, but a continuation of his experiments with sound and image.He reveals Lucas' contradictory desires for the total order and control ofthe Empire, and, on the other hand,for the raw energy and creative improvisation of the Rebels. Though at first Star Wars seems a simple fairy-tale, itbecomes far more complex when we realize that the director is rooting for both sides, creatinga tension unsettles the saga as a whole and illuminates new sides of Lucas' masterpiece.

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Star Wars: Panel to Panel Volume 2: Expanding the Universe (Star Wars (Dark Horse)) (v. 2) Review

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(More customer reviews)Star Wars: Panel to Panel Vol. 2 is an interesting book. It's part comic book, part art collection, and part Star Wars Expanded Universe history all rolled into one gorgeous package. The book takes a look at the Expanded Universe of Star Wars as created by Dark Horse Comics since 1991. Since that time, Dark Horse has done a magnificent job in filling in the history both before, after, and even during the time of the two Star Wars movie trilogies. Dark Horse has released dozens of series over the year, further enriching and fine-tuning the Star Wars universe.
In Star Wars: Panel to Panel Vol. 2, you get a blend of traditional comic panel art along with full page cover and splash page pinups culled from the various Star Wars comic series produced by Dark Horse over the past 16 years. The book is formatted chronologically in terms of the Star Wars Universe timeline. Randy Stradley provides text captions for each piece of art.
The history stretches back five thousand years before the Battle of Yavin as depicted in Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope. During this time the Sith were not limited to just a master and an apprentice but indeed, there was an entire Sith empire as depicted in Tales from the Jedi: The Golden Age of the Sith. The Sith Empire would eventually fall and lie dormant for a thousand years until the events in The Sith War, in which Jedi would battle Jedi.
A thousand years before the Battle of Yavin, the war between the Jedi and Sith all came to a head in the series Jedi Vs. Sith from 2001. Some of the events depicted in this book include the detonation of a Thought Bomb, the most terrible weapon of the Sith which killed nearly every Sith and Jedi on the planet. The dramatic page from this series is included which shows Darth Bane taking the young Jedi girl Zannah as his apprentice and forever after the Sith would only number two.
The Second chapter is Countdown to Empire and starts with a magnificent full page painting of the nefarious Darth Maul by Tsuneo Sanda. Much of this chapter deals with the Jedi hero Ki-Adi-Mundi and the Jedi-hunting bounty hunter Aurra Sing. Ken Kelly, one of the premiere fantasy and Sci-Fi artists around provides a breathtaking painting of Aurra Sing battling Ki-Aki-Mundi.
The Dark Times is that period between the time when Anakin becomes Vader and we first meet Luke Skywalker in Star Wars Episode IV. Dark Horse began to explore this fascinating period in the 2006 series Dark Times with stunning artwork by Douglas Wheatley. Boba Fett is also fleshed out in 2006's Boba Fett: Man on a Mission with art by Adam Hughes. Fett fans are sure to love the six pages of art featuring their favorite bounty hunter.
The Rebellion is the fourth chapter and is the era that fans are most familiar with, dealing with the original three Star Wars films. Although we know how the story begins and ends, that has not stopped Dark Horse from telling some outstanding stories that take place between each film and even side stories during each film. Biggs Darklighter, a minor character in Star Wars, finally gets fleshed out in dramatic fashion in the Star Wars: Empire series, perhaps Dark Horse's best Star Wars series ever.
As you read through this book two things hit you right away: The first is the care and reverence in which Dark Horse has treated Star Wars. Sure they may be under the careful eye of Lucasfilms but the license has become their bread and butter and they are not about to screw it up. Second, Dark Horse has always provided its Star Wars series with top flight artists and much of it is on display in this book. Panel to panel and cover to cover, this is the sweetest eye candy for Star Wars fans.
REVIEWED BY TIM JANSON

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From 5,000 years before Luke Skywalker first picked up a lightsaber to nearly 150 years after the events in Return of the Jedi, Dark Horse Comics has chronicled the major events in every era of the Star Wars galaxy in amazing drawings and paintings by some of the most accomplished artists in our own galaxy.In this all-new companion to the first Star Wars Panel to Panel volume, we've spotlighted not only the stunning work of comics' greatest artists, but also the legion of characters Dark Horse has contributed to Star Wars' Expanded Universe - characters who have not only carried the romance and adventure of the galaxy far, far away far beyond the events in the films, but those who have made the jump from the pages of comic books to television and the silver screen!Every Star Wars fan will cherish this look back, forward and beyond!

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