Scan barcode
A review by mlarson92
The Ultimate Star Wars and Philosophy: You Must Unlearn What You Have Learned by Jason T. Eberl, Kevin S. Decker
2.0
I love Star Wars. It’s one of my favorite trilogies of all time - the originals of course (No special editions, please). The prequels and the sequels....those are another story, though prequel memes can be spicy.
My love of Star Wars and interest in philosophy made me pick up this book, which is a collection of essays written by a bunch of different academics. They identify scenes, characters, themes, etc. that align with the philosophies of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Kirkegaard, Campbell and others. The main stories focused on are the prequels, the OT, and some EU properties. The sequel trilogy had not yet been released upon publication, and honestly, there probably wasn’t much they could philosophize on from those anyway. Which leads to my next point: a lot of these essays seem to be a stretch.
In order to make some Star Wars elements align with some philosophical musings, was like putting a square peg in a round hole. While others made sense, others just seemed to be filler in a way, and some seemed like the writer had never seen Star Wars before. While some came off like some nerdy academic with a love of Decartes and Star Wars was asked to write an essay while feeling like it didn’t contribute much. It’s a mixed bag.
While there are good essays in this book, the whole thing can come off as “Philosophy for Dummies” with a sci-fi/fantasy candy coating. It’s just okay. If you’d like a quick overview of Plato and Aristotle while reading about your favorite space rebels, then go for it and have fun. But overall, it’s just okay, hence two stars.
May the Force be with you.
My love of Star Wars and interest in philosophy made me pick up this book, which is a collection of essays written by a bunch of different academics. They identify scenes, characters, themes, etc. that align with the philosophies of Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Kirkegaard, Campbell and others. The main stories focused on are the prequels, the OT, and some EU properties. The sequel trilogy had not yet been released upon publication, and honestly, there probably wasn’t much they could philosophize on from those anyway. Which leads to my next point: a lot of these essays seem to be a stretch.
In order to make some Star Wars elements align with some philosophical musings, was like putting a square peg in a round hole. While others made sense, others just seemed to be filler in a way, and some seemed like the writer had never seen Star Wars before. While some came off like some nerdy academic with a love of Decartes and Star Wars was asked to write an essay while feeling like it didn’t contribute much. It’s a mixed bag.
While there are good essays in this book, the whole thing can come off as “Philosophy for Dummies” with a sci-fi/fantasy candy coating. It’s just okay. If you’d like a quick overview of Plato and Aristotle while reading about your favorite space rebels, then go for it and have fun. But overall, it’s just okay, hence two stars.
May the Force be with you.