Finding the Force of the Star Wars Franchise: Fans, Merchandise, and Critics

by Matthew Wilhelm Kapell (Editor), John Shelton Lawrence (Editor)

In 1977 a single film called Star Wars exploded on the consciousness of the world. Since then the franchise, created by George Lucas, has become a global entertainment corporation. The merchandise of the original trilogy was largely confined to toys and games, but those games have since become computerized, the toys more sophisticated, and Star Wars has moved into the multi-media environment of the twenty-first century in ways unimaginable in the long-ago world of 1977. Computer games and web sites, novels, animated television shows, as well as a new trilogy of films, have all placed Star Wars at the center of world popular culture.
Finding the Force of the Star Wars Franchise brings together contributors who critically analyze the Star Wars universe from many perspectives. Topics include war, foreign policy, gender roles, spirituality and religion, toy play and adult collecting, creative fandom, race, special effects, and mythology.

308 pages, Paperback

First published July 1, 2006

Reviews

[Christina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Every now and then I’m in the mood to read pop culture essay anthologies. The ones I’ve read in the past (about the Hunger Games and Veronica Mars) were more YA while this was a collection of academic texts. It was published in 2006, so it’s only about the originals and prequels. It was informative at times but mostly too dry and theoretical for me. There were also a few parts that I just found bizarre. I did like the essays about Leia/Padmé/how women are marginalised in the GFFA and about people who identify as Jedi or who include Star Wars in their spirituality in some way. The essay comparing midichlorians and the Jedi gene pool with IQ testing/eugenics/racism was also interesting.