New In Print

Using the Force: Creativity, Community and 'Star Wars' Fans

Continuum 2002, 254 pp., $27.95 Is Boba Fett a woman? Did Darth Vader reveal his paternity to Princess Leia prior to Luke Skywalker? Was Obi-Wan's Jedi master really Qui-Gon Jinn? And the most important question of all: Is C-3PO gay? These and other questions spark Will Brooker's timely and provocative study Using the Force: Creativity, Community and Star Wars Fans.

A former pop-culture snob ("Everyone was talking about [Star Wars], so it must be rubbish"), Brooker did not see the blockbuster film until 1978, a year after its premiere. Once he did, he was "crazy for Star Wars." Today, Brooker is a professor of communications at the American International University in London, but the impact of the film on his imagination, and on an entire generation, is the foundation of his enthusiastically written study of Star Wars fan culture.

Starting with his Star Wars experience, Brooker examines contemporary fan Web sites, fanzines, fan flicks, and fiction, interviewing hundreds of fans via e-mail or in person. In 10 well-crafted chapters, Brooker manages to capture the original excitement surrounding the film's 1977 premiere while dissecting how and why the enthusiasm endures. One of the most intriguing elements Brooker reveals is the notion that George Lucas, creator of the seminal film, has failed the spirit of the original with subsequent works. Or, as one fan states, "[Lucas] made Star Wars when he was Luke, when he made The Phantom Menace, he was Jabba. Go figure."

Lucas critics, or "bashers," who consider themselves the true and faithful custodians of the Star Wars canon, create unauthorized works based on tangential material for a loyal audience. But unlike LucasFilm-approved products, these fans operate in fear of "the specter of LucasFilm [the] tyrannical Empire, stamping out rogue interpretations where it fails to assimilate them, and by extension constructing the fan creators as a rebel alliance."

Although written as a scholarly text, Brooker's clear prose sings. Deeply layered Star Wars references may boggle less invested fans, yet Brooker's obvious dedication to his project makes Using the Force a must for fans and a necessary read for students of popular culture.