A dazzling collection of original essays by some of America's most notable young writers on the cultural impact of the Star Wars films A Galaxy Not So Far Away is the first ever exploration of the innumerable ways the Star Wars films have forever altered our cultural and artistic landscape. Edited by Glenn Kenny, a senior editor and critic at Premiere magazine, this singular collection allows some of the nation's most acclaimed writers to anatomize, criticize, celebrate, and sometimes simply riff on the prismatic aftereffects of an unparalleled American phenomenon. Jonathan Lethem writes of the summer he saw Star Wars twenty-one times as his mother lay dying of cancer. Neal Pollack chips in with the putative memoir of a certain young man having problems with his father, written in the voice of Holden Caulfield. Erika Krouse ponders the code of the Jedi Knight and its relation to her own pursuit of the martial arts. New York Times film critic Elvis Mitchell meditates upon the mysterious figure Lando Calrissian. A classic assemblage of pop writing at its best, A Galaxy Not So Far Away is a book for everyone who loves Star Wars films and seeks to understand just what it is about these films that has so enchanted an entire generation of filmgoers.
Autorentext
Glenn Kenny is a senior editor and chief film critic for Premiere magazine. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
Inhalt
Introduction: Jedi Mind Tricks, by Glenn Kenny
13, 1977, 21, by Jonathan Lethem
Pale Starship, Pale Rider: the Ambiguous Appeal of Boba Fett, by Tom Bissell
Dagobah, Nebraska, by Dan Barden
Celebrating the Fiftieth Anniversary of Catcher in the Red-Eye: Episode IV: A New Goddamn Hope, by Neal Pollack
A Night Out at the Memeplex, by Arion Berger
Married to the Force, by Kevin Smith
Works Every Time, by Elvis Mitchell
The Chrysanthemum and the Lightsaber, by Erika Krouse
The Force Visits Willoughby, Ohio, by Elwood Reid
Anakin, Get Your Gun, by Joe Queenan
Becoming Darth Vader, by Lydia Millet
It's a Wonderful Life Day, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Star Wars Holiday Special, by Webster Younce
Planet Rock: Star Wars and Hip-Hop, by Harry Allen
Jedi Uber Alles, by Tom Carson
A Big Dumb Movie About Space Wizards: Struggling to Cope with The Phantom Menace, by Todd Hanson
Star Wars Tale, by Kate Bemheimer
A Star Wars Miscellany: Extracts Culled from Various Media, compiled by Aimee Agresti
Acknowledgments
Contributors