Star Wars, Imperialism, and Post-Conflict Societies

School of International Service professor Patrick Thaddeus Jackson joins Big World to discuss imperialism, post-conflict societies, and the parallels between the Star Wars universe and our own.

Jackson, the chair of the SIS Department of Global Inquiry, begins the discussion by describing how the original movie trilogy depicts the struggles of organizing a resistance movement (5:26). He also discusses how Star Wars shows such as Andor explore the lived experiences of everyday citizens under autocratic rule (7:22) and explains how the show depicts bureaucratic corruption within regimes (9:31).

How do Star Wars shows like Ahsoka and The Mandalorian portray post-conflict societies? (18:09) How do the power struggles we see after the fall of the Empire mirror those in our world? (26:20) Jackson answers these questions and discusses how rebuilding the galaxy has mirrored real-world state-building after the fall of a regime (29:46). To close out the discussion, Jackson discusses how Ahsoka and The Mandalorian explore the impact of imperialism and post-conflict society on individuals and how conflict and trauma shape one’s journey (32:26).

In the “Take 5” segment (21:49) of this episode, Jackson ranks his top five lightsaber combat sequences from the Star Wars shows and movies.