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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Star Wars: The Magic of Myth (Star Wars.) Review

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(More customer reviews)This book attempts to explain Star Wars in the context of patterns found throughout the mythology and legends of various cultures. The success of the film, the book claims, is due in no small part to the fact that the film's story is a composite of all the things that make mythical stories endure as myths.
To my suprise, however, I found the book to be an excellent commentary on mythology itself - the book is almost as informative in pointing out elements that repeat themselves in mythical stories - the concept of the "hero's journey" - with Luke being our hero - mystical forests as a place of healing (Degobah), etc, as it is in relating these elements to the story of Star Wars.
This book was written to accompany an exhibit of the same name at the National Air & Space Museum in Washington DC, and I was fortunate enough to see the exhibit on tour in San Diego last year. While the exhibit itself was amazing, and filled with various props and spaceship models used in the film, this book is actually more informative than the exhibit and stands exceedingly well on its own.
I love the Star Wars films, though I am certainly no hard-core Star Wars buff. I feel that just about anyone who, like me, loves these films will get a lot of enjoyment from this book.

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Star Wars(r) has captured the hearts and imaginations of millions and millions of people like no other story of our time.This official companion volume to the landmark exhibit at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum explores the mythological roots of the Star Wars saga, a story that will continue to unfold into the next millenium.Written by the exhibit's curator and illustrated with hundreds of photographs, drawings and images, Star Wars(r): The Magic of Myth illuminates this modern tale of the ageless and mythic battle of good versus evil.

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Star Wars: The New Myth Review

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(More customer reviews)Working from the idea that Star Wars is indeed a "new myth," authors Hanson and Kay offer readers a valid explanation of how George Lucas used the basic tenets of historical myth (allegory, ritual, hero, for instance) to craft stories that are universal to the human experience.
Yes, it reads like a college thesis (which a portion of it was), but that does not make the conclusions less valid. What does detract from the reading is the dozens of typographical errors that abound in the book! Some serious proofreading was definitely called for here.
Overall, I found it to be an interesting addition to the vast universe of Star Wars literature, fiction and nonfiction. I only wish someone had been paying attention to the spelling and punctuation errors.

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Star Wars: The Magic of Myth Review

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(More customer reviews)If you've been lucky enough to see "The Magic of Myth" in one of its many permutations, this book is a great supplement to and a wonderful reminder of just how cool that exhibit was. If you haven't seen the exhibit, this book is still great to have for it's back-story on the origins of the trilogy.
I'm not the most well-read person around so it was a lot of fun to learn how Lucas' characters and story were shaped by (or copied from) myths and legends of other times and cultures. Reading this book has led me to explore some of the material that Lucas borrowed from in creating Star Wars. I'm a big SW nut, but it's nice to get my head out of the SW universe and out into other forms of art and literature.
If you don't feel like reading, this book is also full of GREAT photos from the trilogy.
I keep this one on the shelf next to Joseph Campbell's "Power of Myth." It is a nice complement to Campbell's book.

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