Reason Magazine Presents “Libertarian Star Wars”
I know, I know, you hate me bringing politics into things. It’s not like I told Reason magazine to do this. But they did, and I saw it.
Frankly, I expected it to be as awful as most ham-handed, political point-scoring using cultural touchstones usually is. But to my surprise, it turned out actually amusing, whether or not I agree with every position they’re espousing (I don’t.) Frankly, I think we can ALL agree that Darth Sidious and the Empire trample on Civil Rights. Whether you see the Empire as a stand-in for anything else, on whatever side, is up to you.
For what it’s worth, I remember, during George Bush 41’s first war against Saddam Hussein, how The Empire Strikes Back was aired on TV and billed as the story of a freedom-loving coalition against an evil dictatorship…while George Lucas has always said Palpatine was Nixon. There’s flexibility in the tale.
About The Author
Luke Y. Thompson has been writing professionally about movies and pop-culture since 1999, and has also been an actor in some extremely cheap culty and horror movies you will probably never hear much about (he is nonetheless mostly proud of them, as he met his wife on one). As editor of The Robot's Voice since 2012, he can take the blame for the majority of the site's content, all of which he creates because he loves you very, very much. (Although he loves nachos more. Sorry.) Prior to TRV, Luke wrote for publications that include the New Times LA, Los Angeles CityBeat, E! Online, OC Weekly, Geekweek, GeekChicDaily, The L.A. Times, The Village Voice, LA Weekly, and Nerdist