Star Wars?! Star Wars!!
So maybe you're like me and you're chugging through these last few days of hectic pre-holiday, working and shopping and cooking and decorating and waiting for that golden moment when you can finally sink back into a popcorn-scented, overly springy lounger and tranquilize yourself into a light, restorative coma with Star Wars: Rogue One.
Maybe you have a longish commute during which you can read eBooks. Maybe you are enjoying your anticipation of Rogue One, and would like to enhance it by reading about Star Wars things.
Maybe I can help:
The World According to Star Wars
by Cass R. Sunstein
Why do we like Star Wars so much? It's not just about Yoda's grammar or Harrison Ford's leer or the mere fact of Boba Fett. (Is it?) Maybe Star Wars has something valuable to teach us, about family, rebellion, and… constitutional law. At least, that's Sunstein's thesis. See what you think.
William Shakespeare's Star Wars
by Ian Doescher
Unknown fathers, unrecognized brothers, disguised princesses, mysterious islands occupied by cryptic wizards, bloodshed, romance, the will to power and its comeuppance: Star Wars is totally Shakespearean. Now you can read the trilogy it as it was meant to be read: in iambic pentameter, with Elizabethan-style woodcut illustrations.
How Star Wars Conquered the Universe
by Chris Taylor
There are people who list their religion on the census as "Jedi". There are Star Wars spinoffs and parodies made around the world. How did Star Wars come to be so influential? Journalist Chris Taylor talks to industry insiders (writers, artists, editors) and outsiders (cosplayers, mostly) to find out.
Glittering Images: A Journey through Art from Egypt to Star Wars
by Camille Paglia
Does anyone remember the nineties, when Camille Paglia, with her ferociously cockeyed takes on topics such as Alfred Hitchcock and Madonna and feminism, was the Kylo Ren of public intellectuals? Here, the Žižek of my youth declares avant-garde art dead, and crowns George Lucas the world's greatest living artist. And who am I to argue?
Black Amazon of Mars and Other Tales from the Pulps
by Leigh Brackett
Did you know that the same woman wrote the screenplays for The Empire Strikes Back and The Big Sleep? Did you know that she also wrote a ton of pulp science fiction? (I didn't!) This book collects the Queen of Space Opera's best pulpy tales of high adventure in outer space, and given her screenwriting credits, it's probably amazing.
The Power of Myth
by Joseph Campbell
Joseph Campbell set himself the task of identifying the archetypes that underlie all myths and religions in his seminal book, The Hero With A Thousand Faces. A few decades later, George Lucas based his Star Wars trilogy on a detailed outline of Campbell's monomyth, the Hero's Journey. Read this, and maybe you'll be similarly inspired.
The Star Wars Holiday Special
Since it's the season and all, if you haven't already, you might want to make some time to watch what is possibly the worst Christmas special in recorded history. The Star Wars Holiday Special features a lengthy stretch of dialogue in uncaptioned Wookiee, among many other questionable delights. Prepare to have your childhood messed with.
(Thanks to Alison Wright for the idea!)
Comments