Title: The Empire Triumphant: Race, Religion and Rebellion in the Star Wars Films
Author: Kevin J. Wetmore Jr.
ISBN: 0-7864-2219-X
Publisher: McFarland & Company, Inc.
Copyright: 2005
Reviewed by Reihla.
Reviewing this book was an unusual experience for me. While I’ve read quite a few books analyzing the Star Wars films, I felt that even the more studious forays were geared to a more casual reader. I found Empire Triumphant to be more seriously academic, or perhaps it was the subject matter that made it seem this way.
The tendency in the literary world is to analyze Star Wars in relation to religion or mythology in film and fiction. Even in Empire Triumphant there is an entire chapter which includes comparisons of religion. The author touches briefly on the usual items (for example: Anakin Skywalker’s “virgin birth” and the Tao/water symbolism) but for the most part he avoids that typical methodology. Instead of centering his book around these things, he gives them a nod and goes on to use more controversial real world issues to examine the trilogies.
Most fans of the saga avoid comparisons of the real world to the Star Wars universe. In Empire Triumphant, Kevin Wetmore – a self-confessed fan himself – does the opposite. Though he admits to having a fan’s affection for Star Wars, the author leaves no taboo unexplored. He examines the ethics of war and the politics of violence. He even considers the principles of modern world economics and how they might have been used to shape the Star Wars galaxy. To a lesser extent, he also touches on such broad-based topics as cloning, slavery, and holocaust. Racism – always a sensitive subject where Star Wars is concerned – was addressed head-on in its own chapter and, I felt, handled with diplomacy. Most interesting for me, though, was the first chapter of the book because it covered a comparison I haven’t seen mentioned widely in Star Wars academic circles - namely, the way colonialism is represented in the two trilogies.
For die-hard fans looking to read this book, the thing to realize is that it does not critique George Lucas, his personal life or his personal beliefs. It does, however, examine the Star Wars saga even when that means pointing out comparisons between Lucas’s world and our own that we’d rather not notice. I felt Mr. Wetmore did this with respect and I found his analysis both interesting and informative. This was true even when I didn't wholeheartedly agree with him. His fan side was easy to glimpse, especially when he likened Star Wars to works that have proven historically worthy of in-depth academic analysis, for example: books by authors such as Conrad and Hemingway and even academically iconic films such as Citizen Kane.
In short, I feel Empire Triumphant did a solid job of putting each of the Star Wars films into the perspective of the modern worlds that surrounded them during their creation. It shows the parallels between the original trilogy and the tensions of the cold war, small rebellions & nuclear arms races that colored the late 70s/early 80s. Likewise it shows the focus of the prequel trilogy as being more on corrupt government, evil corporations and terrorism. It gives a good look at the Empire as a colonialist (power & profit driven) form of government and shows us the Rebellion as the liberation organization protesting this type of colonialism.
I won’t say every Star Wars fan should read this book, but for the more serious academics who enjoy a more critical study of the trilogies, this book is definitely food for thought.
