‘I’ve seen the first one over 100 times’: how Star Wars expert who teaches courses on the franchise viewed the movies through a different lens
- On Star Wars Day, the author of ‘Star Wars Multiverse’ Carmelo Esterrich says being gay and Puerto Rican let him see the films differently to some other people
- He thinks the blowback towards the latest trilogy was a generational issue that also had a lot to do with American culture at the time
Doing anything special for Star Wars Day, other than digging out that old, busted lightsaber in your basement for old times’ sake?
Carmelo Esterrich, professor of humanities and cultural studies at Columbia College in Chicago, in the US state of Illinois, knows what he’s doing that day, May 4.
When he’s not teaching or writing, Esterrich is a fitness instructor at a Chicago district park. And on Star Wars Day, “we usually do abdominals to the tune of the John Williams music of ‘The Imperial March’.”
For several years, the 57-year-old has taught courses on the myth, meaning, political implications and fan fiction generated by Star Wars. In his 2021 book Star Wars Multiverse, Esterrich tackles issues of authoritarianism, colonialism, xenophobia, sexuality and gender norms, as well as the politics of language.
We talk to him about his book and the Star Wars franchise today.
