A peer-reviewed study of Star Wars

he Star Wars franchise, I’ve heard, is one of the most pervasive cultural reference systems in modern America. I don’t believe you can fully understand that unless you grew up never having seen it, watching the films for the first time in your 20s. That’s what I did.

When Luke, alongside Yoda, is trying to use The Force1 to raise a submerged spaceship2 from the swamp3 in The Empire Strikes Back, Yoda famously says “Do or do not. There is no try.” I had no idea that was from Star Wars. Instead, I thought that was an old adage that had always existed from some anonymous source, brought to popula...