Ed West Ed West

Star Wars is the perfect analogy for the decline of America

Star Wars is a generational thing and older people think my cohort are mentally subnormal for enjoying it, but it’s been such a part of my childhood that I’m prepared to just set aside that voice in my head telling me it’s nonsense. So I was sad when I came out of the cinema earlier this week, having watched the best Star Wars film in at least 36 years, to hear that Carrie Fisher had died. Rogue One is an interesting example of my theory of Ottomanism.

In the most recent Star Wars films the human rebels have been overtly multiracial while the baddies are almost to a man of northern European appearance (including lots of Brits – I’m pretty sure the original started the craze for English baddies in Hollywood. Before 1977 they tended to be Russian or German).

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