Marginal Revolution gives us all a view of the public-choice economics of Star Wars – and a Straussian reading to boot! A sample:
At the happy ending of “Return of the Jedi”, the Jedi no longer control the galaxy. The Jedi Council is not reestablished. Luke, the closest thing to a Jedi representative left, never becomes a formal Jedi. He shows no desire to train other Jedi, and probably expects to spend the rest of his life doing voices for children’s cartoons.
Heh.
See also Johnathan Last’s column from The Weekly Standard that argues that the Empire really wasn’t so bad afterall.
Straussian reading, my ass! Take a look at David Brin’s repeated assaults on Star Wars, immediately followed by his articles on the Neoconservative assault on modernity- http://www.davidbrin.com, that’ll give you a glimpse at a real Straussian interpretation. Close, but no cigar.
Anyway, this guy never followed the story after Episode VI- in the novels (take them for what you will), Luke goes on to train a whole host of Jedi and rebuild the council- though, by the end of NJO, he decides that the Jedi must distance themselves from the Republic government and become an order of peaceful, non-government affiliated mystics if they are to ever stop the killing going on in the name of the force.
In any event, though, Episode III finally proved that Lucas still knows how to point a camera in the right direction, Haydn Christensen isn’t the antichrist (but plays a fairly good one), and Jar-Jar knows how to shut up. And Ian McDiarmad (sic?) rocks. At least two cheers for Sith!
I thought Last calling Pinochet a benign dictator was extremely disgusting. If murdering thousands of people, throwing people out of planes while drugged, and harboring nazis is benign, I wonder what Last thinks is malignent. Even still his piece was funny, but I have had it up to here with Pinochet apologism, there is no such thing as a moderate nazi.