I had the pleasure of seeing an early screening of Star Wars: The Force Awakens yesterday. Without spoilers, here are a few observations about the movie.
First off, I loved it. J. J. Abrams has absorbed the original movies, left behind the bantha fodder, and reshaped what was glorious and good into something gleaming and new yet recognizably part of the series, like R2-D2 at the award ceremony on Yavin IV. The movie is also more diverse and inclusive than the previous ones in terms of both gender and race, including, but not limited to, several of the leads (a Black man, a White woman, and a Guatemalan American immigrant man).
Finally, without giving too much away, there is an organization in the movie that clearly evokes Nazi Germany—even more clearly than the name “stormtrooper” did in the earlier films. The events echo what happened to a defeated Germany after World War I, when the country was susceptible to a strong leader promising a brutal sort of pride and hope. Our heroes struggle to defeat them.
Combine this with the recent series on Amazon, The Man in the High Castle, an alternate history in which the Nazis won World War II. Despite the series’ inexcusable marketing campaign, in which they plastered New York City subway cars with Nazi symbols, the show itself was thought-provoking and well done. Add in the success of dystopian young adult series like The Hunger Games.
Does this indicate a trend of Nazi- or totalitarian-themed shows? What does it mean, coming at a time when a leading presidential candidate has said he would require all Muslims to register and has said he would “take out” not just terrorists, but their families? When hate crimes continue and attempts at cross-cultural education are met with outrage and scorn? Is this a warning to pay attention, lest we slip into totalitarianism ourselves?
Perhaps we don’t always get shows that merely entertain us. Perhaps we get the shows we need.