Cass Sunstein and Star Wars According to His World
For a graduate course on American history and popular culture, I recently watched a C-SPAN video of author and legal scholar Cass Sunstein talking about his book The World According to Star Wars. I’ve spent almost forty years indifferent to the franchise. The only Star Wars movie I put effort into seeing was 2015’s Episode VII, The Force Awakens, specifically because the trailer was enticing to my pop culture-devouring eyewever, once Sunstein quoted Star Warsscreenwriter Lawrence Kasden, “It’s the biggest adventure you can have, making up your own life […],” I checked out the e-book from one of my digital libraries in the middle of his talk. As a lover of quotes and fabulous book lines, Kasden’s tome on our ability to create our lives in whatever form we see fit hooked me: “Just what is the interest in this Star Wars?” After the C-SPAN video, I watched the original trilogy. I viewed them while also reading Sunstein’s book. I watched all three with repeats of A New Hope and The Empire Strikes Back in two days. I needed to ensure my observations were substantial. In no way am I now as devout of a Star Wars fan as Sunstein, but there are a few aspects of the original trilogy I feel he missed in his narrative.
The book’s title insinuates a comparison between Star Wars and global affairs, but the thesis focuses primarily on American leaders, politics, socioeconomics, and law. Sunstein posits George Lucas’s original trilogy as the “new hope” for (American) society, following the deaths of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Malcolm X, and the Kennedy brothers. Sadly, for his thesis and for his readers, Sunstein fails to mention the systemic racism, bigotry, and toxic masculinity leading to those murders. It certainly seems Darth Vader (Sunstein’s favorite of all the characters) exudes all three exceptionally well. Sunstein conveniently leaves that out of his analysis. But I suppose it wouldn’t be fitting to point out how DV’s negative attributes replicate those of some privileged elites and national leaders, and their harrowing affects on national and international relations. One of the more accurate and closely relative global topics he should have mentioned but doesn’t is the xenophobia prevalent among powerful nations. He could have conducted a comparison between how nations treat those they consider “other” and the ways certain characters, i.e., the Ewoks and the droids, are mistreated and utilized only for what they can produce for both the Rebel Alliance and the Empire. Lastly, but certainly not least, I surprised myself by continuing to read following the author’s tone-deaf comparison. He writes, “What do Martin Luther King, Jr. and Luke Skywalker have in common?” Nothing, Mr. Sunstein. Absolutely nothing. And he proves this point by making no valid, legitimate connection between them. He labels them both “conservative rebels” but fails to mention what each were fighting against. Once again, Sunstein misses an optimal opportunity to discuss racism, bigotry, toxic masculinity, and xenophobia. I’ve noticed that many white academics and elitists talk about alienated persons without actually talking about alienated persons. They slap MLK, Jr. in their prose and language feigning shoddy solidarity. If anything, it’s just plain lazy. Especially considering there are other global citizens who have fought on behalf of civil and human rights.
Another opportunity Sunstein misses is Luke’s relationships with the other humans in the movie. He focuses primarily on Luke and Darth Vader to express religious and Oedipal analysis, which seems the most obvious. Even those of us who never saw The Empire Strikes Back are aware of the relationship between these two characters. In A New Hope, Luke isn’t initially interested in battling Darth Vader or the Empire. Sunstein doesn’t mention a significant piece of the narrative—Luke’s family is murdered by the Empire. Only then does his anger about that noteworthy event propel him to Jedi attainment. This comparison is also significant to global extremist organizations who feel they have lost vital people and property to powerful global nations with little to no justification. Anger and frustration of the underprivileged are huge catalysts in world conflict. Han Solo and Princess Leia become replacements for his slain uncle and aunt, and Luke learns they are in the same danger. When Luke leaves Dagobah against Yoda and Obi-Wan Kenobi’s counsel in The Empire Strikes Back, he intends to fight Vader ONLY to save his new family. The dark side of the Force within Luke is driven primarily by his love for his new family and want to save them from danger. Luke’s love and devotion for the other humans are evident, and Emperor Palpatine uses it to taunt him in Return of the Jedi. Again, this is a universal concept Sunstein fails to mention this in his work.
More than halfway through his talk, Sunstein remarks movies, particularly Star Wars, are mirrors of political and social movements. His position is valid and would have been beneficial to his book had he expounded upon this. I read the book to the very end in hopes Sunstein would actually give us a meaty comparison between the movie franchise and the world. Sadly, it never came.
*This post was written while listening to The Row's April 2021 Spotify playlist.