The Empire Strikes Back
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The Empire Strikes Back (1980), the second film in the original Star Wars trilogy, is often cited as the 'best' and most popular Star Wars movie. In her compelling study, Rebecca Harrison draws on previously unpublished archival research to reveal a variety of original and often surprising perspectives on the film, from the cast and crew who worked on its production through to the audiences who watched it in cinemas. Harrison guides readers on a journey that begins with the film's production in 1979 and ends with a discussion about its contemporary status as an object of reverence and nostalgia. She demonstrates how Empire's meaning and significance has continually shifted over the past 40 years not only within the franchise, but also in broader conversations about film authorship, genre, and identity. Offering new insights and original analysis of Empire via its cultural context, production history, textual analysis, exhibition, reception, and post-1980 re-evaluations of the film, the book provides a timely and relevant reassessment of this enduringly popular film.
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A bit frustrating, this one. The author fires out loads of ideas, some of which land and some of which don't, and also teases out lots of threads for discussion. The problem for me is that most of these threads just don't get tugged on enough. There are seeds of some really worthwhile discussion here, but it all gets passed over very quickly. It's partly a failing of the monograph format, I guess, but I would have preferred a book of this length to concentrate on fewer things and follow through on them a bit more. It doesn't help that the whole thing is written in an academic style, which a) brings back terrible memories of my own dissertation, and b) adds a layer of unnecessary verbiage to a book that's already chafing against size restrictions. It's interesting, but not what it could be.