Abstract
Since 1977, the Star Wars franchise has become one of the pillars of modern American mythmaking and storytelling. What began as filmmaker George Lucas’s interpretation of classic Flash Gordon serials has become a mammoth franchise including multiple movies, books, comics, and videogames. Generations of fans have grown up captivated by the adventures of Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Princess Leia, Rey, Anakin Skywalker, and so many more. These stories are not all space battles and laser sword fights: Star Wars lends itself to the ideas proffered by generations of critical criminologists and sociologists. These are stories of dehumanization, of genocide, and of the corrupting power of wealth and military might. Star Wars offers us the chance to examine how capitalism and the forces working for it act on all of our lives through generations of the Skywalker family. How might things have been different for these characters if they had been able to do what they wanted and not what they felt they had to do? How would you answer that question about your own life?
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Wilczak, A. (2021). Radical Criminology and Star Wars. In: Daly, S.E. (eds) Theories of Crime Through Popular Culture. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54434-8_16
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-54434-8_16
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