Star Wars Series Research Articles

The droids in The Mandalorian and The Book of Boba Fett are not wild enough for the real world.

The mechanically complex robots in the latest Star Wars series are wildly creative, but not wild enough to match real robots.

HOW STAR WARS ILLUMINATES CONSTITUTIONAL LAW

Human beings often see coherence and planned design when neither exists. This is so in movies, literature, history, economics, and psychoanalysis – and constitutional law. Contrary to the repeated claims of George Lucas, its principal author, the Star Wars series was hardly planned in advance; it involved a great deal of improvisation and surprise, even to Lucas himself. Serendipity and happenstance, sometimes in the forms of eruptions of new thinking, play a pervasive and overlooked role in the creative imagination, certainly in single authored works, and even more in multi-authored ones extending over time. Serendipity imposes serious demands on the search for coherence in art, literature, history, and law. That search leads many people (including Lucas) to misdescribe the nature of their own creativity and authorship. The misdescription appears to respond to a serious human need for sense-making and pattern-finding, but it is a significant obstacle to understanding and critical reflection. Whether Jedi or Sith, many authors of constitutional law are a lot like the author of Star Wars, disguising the essential nature of their own creative processes.

How Star Wars Illuminates Constitutional Law

Human beings often see coherence and planned design when neither exists. This is so in movies, literature, history, economics, and psychoanalysis – and constitutional law. Contrary to the repeated claims of George Lucas, its principal author, the Star Wars series was hardly planned in advance; it involved a great deal of improvisation and surprise, even to Lucas himself. Serendipity and happenstance, sometimes in the forms of eruptions of new thinking, play a pervasive and overlooked role in the creative imagination, certainly in single-authored works, and even more in multi-authored ones extending over time. Serendipity imposes serious demands on the search for coherence in art, literature, history, and law. That search leads many people (including Lucas) to misdescribe the nature of their own creativity and authorship. The misdescription appears to respond to a serious human need for sense-making and pattern-finding, but it is a significant obstacle to understanding and critical reflection. Whether Jedi or Sith, many authors of constitutional law are a lot like the author of Star Wars, disguising the essential nature of their own creative processes.

Infection Control in a Far Far Away Galaxy: New and Alternative Learning Tool from Popular Culture to Improve the Antimicrobial Stewardship.

Dear Editor, Infection control still represents one of the most important issue in clinical practice, particularly in critically-ill patients. Indeed, it has to be considered as a mandatory approach in clinical practice for all healthcare workers, nonetheless it is one of the most difficult to learn and to apply. A good and significant methodology to acquire a state of mind focused on infection control during clinical practice should start early during the training of healthcare workers and should be carefully managed, likely using all possible and available learning tools. It should also involve patients and their relatives, aiming to minimize possible infection spread. Previously case studies from popular culture have been proposed as teaching tool for medical student, but possibly also for all those individuals having relation with healthcare facilities. More recently Star Wars series has been used as learning tool to focus on pathophysiology of the lung according to one of the most important character of Star Wars series, Darth Vader. Indeed Star Wars and related imaginary world holds some other important learning suggestions to emphasize another important feature of the tragic story of this popular character, or else the infection control after severe skin burn in one of its most popular character.[1] Infection still remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality following burns,[2] being related to poor wound healing and increased risk of scarring which may have a negative prognosis and functional impact on the patient.[2] Survival following burn improves with an early wound debridement surgery and skin replacement aiming to remove the source of wound infection and restore skin integrity with particular attention to aseptic condition.[3] Critical factors previously being correlated to increased risk of developing burn wound infection (BWI) include age, percentage of total body surface area (TBSA), presence of full-thickness burns, and presence of an inhalation injury that may contribute to tissue hypoxia reducing wound strength after healing and increasing the risk of infection.[4] Among these comorbidities, fungal infection may have an important role on prognosis if not treated with an accurate clinical approach.[5] In the specific case related to Star Wars series, Anakin Skywalker (the real name of Darth Vader before its evil change) during Star Wars Episode III, after a saber duel with his Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi suffers traumatic amputations of both lower limbs and his left upper limb with burns, several wounds on the head and on the face with volcanic gas inhalation. All these events, according to reported literature data could clearly predispose to infections, with related increase in mortality.[4,6] Nevertheless, in the above mentioned episode, in a relatively few time, the protagonist is assisted with a medical capsule and shortly after the rescue, he is taken in a surgical operative room. In this aseptic environment a quickly wound debridement surgery and skin replacement is performed by medical robots and finally a whole-body suit is dressed, with possibly some healing property for the skin and lung injury from volcanic gas, with a final surgical and clinical success.[1] In the Episode IV of the movie series, 22 years later,we find Darth Vader (Anakin Skywalker) still dressing whole-body suit and most importantly still alive even if affected by chronic pulmonary disease. From a medical point of view, our villain not only may be considered an example of learning tool to underline some important aspect of acute and chronic respiratory failure,[6] but also an important model of the efficacy of anearly wound debridement surgery and skin replacement to minimize infection morbidities,with a long survival. Mainly, we think that there are two key factors in this “medical history”: The use of asterile medical capsule on the site ofthe traumatic event that could be considered as a correct aseptic approach (hand hygiene, appropriated devices use) to critically-ill patients after a traumatic event, Early surgical approach in aseptic and possibly hyperbaric chamber, to be considered as accurate and specific methodology to remove source of infection in aseptic conditions. Both these two elements strongly suggest that standard hygiene precautions and a rigorous specialist approaches are fundamental methodologies to minimize risk of the infection and to ensure good prognosis of the patients in a far far away galaxy as on the Earth. Despite it would seem controversial, the use of a such kind of approach to infection control training, may help healthcare workers to target both automatic associative learning processes and conscious decision making, in addition to ensuring good knowledge of all possible measure to prevent infections, as recently suggested.[6] In conclusion, Star Wars, as any other subjects from popular culture should be considered as a really valuable approach and an alternative as well as entertaining platform for a plenary discussion with medical students on one of the most important topic in current medical practice: Infection control.

Star Wars franchise, fan edits, and Lucasfilm

Fan edits assert that fan authority is on par with that of a work's original creator; this authority is generated not only through the argument, but through the structure of the text itself. Fan edits adhere to classical filmmaking techniques, creating coherent plots and editing for continuity. These recut texts are emblematic of current ownership debates; they are the read/write culture brought to fandom. The Star Wars series of films are among the most frequently recut texts and are my focus here.

Association for Academic Surgery Presidential Address Episode VI: The Return of the Surgeon

As a young boy growing up in rural Wisconsin, 1977 was a special year. In that year, the original STAR WARS movie was released. I must have watched it five to six times that year. Since then a total of six episodes have been filmed, which detail the struggles of the good Jedi Knights against the evil Empire. During this address, I want to illustrate the similarities between the Jedi Knight in the Star Wars series and modern day surgeons. As the Jedi utilized high tech light sabers to battle against the evil Dark Sith, surgeons utilize high tech laparoscopes and robots to battle against evil human diseases and pathology (Fig. 1).

Death Star, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Globalization

Death Star, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Globalization Darren Jorgensen (bio) In the original Star Wars series (1977-1983), the destruction of the Death Star takes place twice.1 This battle station, made of metal and as big as a moon, is blown up by rebels in Star Wars (1977) only to be rebuilt in Return of the Jedi (1983), before being destroyed once again. It is built and built again so that a malevolent Empire might dominate the galaxy, but its recurrence only ever presages its end. Its reappearances suggest that the Death Star is stronger than the narratives that want to kill it, yet not strong enough to come to its proper place in the galaxy. Like a ghost haunting the scene of its own murder, it holds within itself something unresolved that returns it to being, without the materiality of a life that would allow it to do so. Its indeterminate status is a source of anxiety for its commanders, who in both films declare that it is near completion or has just been completed, only to witness its sudden demise. The persistent becoming of the Death Star testifies to the dynamism of its image, to the way in which it exceeds the narrative that wants to contain it. It is Vivian Sobchack's argument that the poetics of such images precede and constitute the narratives of science fiction films rather than the other way around (125). Sobchack derives her poetics of cinematic images from Gaston Bachelard's Poetics of Space (1964), a book that argues for images of "pure sublimation; of a sublimation which sublimates nothing, which is relieved of the burden of passion, and freed from the pressure of desire" (xxix). For Bachelard, the signification of the image, the way its meanings are constituted by social and cultural life, turns away from the essential mystery that animates it. It is, however, to unravel the dynamism of the Death Star that I want to turn to its significations, for the operation of one is not predicated on the exclusion [End Page 206] of the other. The significations of an image echo, that is hear and respond, to its dynamism. The Death Star rotates not only through the Star Wars series but beyond it, into a popular American culture that refers to it as its own. When George W. Bush campaigned for the Republican Presidential nomination in 2000, his reformist opponent John McCain claimed that "I'm Luke Skywalker trying to get out of the Death Star" (qtd. in Cutler par. 1). He was referring to the need to change America from within its most coveted institution, the Death Star a metaphor for the country's conglomeration of political, economic, and military power. Films such as Clerks (1994), Slackers (2002), and Enron: Smartest Guys in the Room (2005) also refer to the Death Star, testifying to the transsubjectivity of the image amongst a generation of young white American males who speak its name. Their rearticulation of the Death Star is both metaphor and reverberation, as the planetoid stands in for America and transforms their world into its metal fantasy and back again. The demography of this transsubjectivity and its variations becomes a means of imagining one's place in this country's version of late capitalism, yet the image cannot be reduced to its sublimation of this place. Its significance is not its immanence; its variations do not explain its poetic power. A distinction between the significations of the Death Star and its reverberation can be drawn between the two orders of films here, those in the Star Wars series and those without. In the series, the planetoid's cycle of emergence and demise describes its dynamism, its movement more like the cadence of poetry than the unveilings of narrative significance. This dynamism also takes place in Clerks, Slackers, and Enron, as young white American men speak of the Death Star and, in doing so, occupy the space of its immanent power. This is what Bachelard means by the transsubjectivity of the poetic image, as the speaker calls forth its emergence from the void. Yet this shift out of the Star Wars series...

J-Horror: New Media's Impact on Contemporary Japanese Horror Cinema

Les récents films d’épouvante japonais, connus collectivement sous le terme de « J-Horror », exemplifient le phénomène de la dispersion transnationale d’un cinéma digital multî-médiatîque qui est, paradoxalement, déterminé par des contingences culturelles, industrielles et économiques régionales. Le potentiel véritable du cinéma digital ne se retrouve pas dans les effets spéciaux générés par ordinateur qui apparaissent dans la série Star Wars, mais plutôt dans les mouvements régionaux, comme le « J-Horror », qui renversent le courant traditionel des capitaux et de la culture, c’est-à-dire, le monopole hollywoodien. Ce phénomène n’est pas nouveau dans l’histoire du cinéma. Ce qui le rend unique est le déploiement vernaculaire de sa spécificité médiatique, temporelle et régionale.

Electronic arts game design program at USC CNTV

ELECTRONIC ARTS ANNOUNCES MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR GIFT TO USC SCHOOL OF CINEMA-TELEVISION'S INTERACTIVE MEDIA DIVISIONFunds Will Expand School's Global Leadership in Computer Game Research and EducationPress release belowELECTRONIC ARTS ANNOUNCES MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR GIFT TO USC SCHOOL OF CINEMA-TELEVISION'S INTERACTIVE MEDIA DIVISIONFunds Will Expand School's Global Leadership in Computer Game Research and EducationFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEREDWOOD CITY, Calif., March 22, 2004, 2004 - Electronic Arts (EA) (Nasdaq: ERTS) announced today that it has made a multi-million dollar donation to the USC School of Cinema-Television (USC-CNTV) to advance interactive media education and create a launch pad for the next generation of interactive entertainment. The contribution, part of EA's global educational and talent development effort, will fund two new facets of USC-CNTV's Division of Interactive Media: the Electronic Arts Interactive Entertainment Program and the Electronic Arts Endowed Faculty Chair. The EA Interactive Entertainment Program is a 3-year Master of Fine Arts degree program. The program will help forward USC-CNTV's goal to educate the next generation of high-level gaming design and visionary thinkers in what will be one of the 21st Century's primary entertainment media."The School's rich storytelling tradition and long-standing commitment to technological experimentation make it an ideal partner for EA," said Don Mattrick, President, Electronic Arts Worldwide Studios. "This is an excellent opportunity for EA to invest in the future of the industry by providing today's students with the skills and knowledge they will need to push technology and entertainment forward." Mattrick, the newest appointee to the School's Board of Councilors, will be part of a high-profile team - the ranks of which include entertainment giants Jeffrey Katzenberg, George Lucas, Steven Spielberg, John Wells, and Robert Zemeckis - that will work to ensure that interactive media studies at USC continues to move confidently in the direction of growth and innovation."This gift clearly demonstrates EA's commitment to expanding the frontiers of game design, and to developing a well rounded, highly skilled, and forward-thinking talent base overall," said Elizabeth M. Daley, Dean, USC School of Cinema-Television. "The School's position as an international academic leader is further solidified by its relationship with the world's number-one interactive entertainment developer - a partnership that will set new standards of excellence in a field that is truly changing global culture."The EA gift will fuel the growth of the School's Interactive Media Division's gaming component, and enable the Division, headed by Scott Fisher, to define and expand this nascent, multi-faceted field. With the aid of these funds, the School will grow its efforts to graduate students who are visionary thinkers, but who also have a deep understanding of the crafts and skills required to produce quality content for a diverse media array. Specifically, the Electronic Arts Interactive Entertainment Program will spawn the creation of a curriculum and research lab to explore the boundaries of interactive entertainment and to study the emerging discipline of game development. The gift will enable the creation of an intra-USC gaming community that will bring together creative and technical expertise in cinema-television, the arts, and technical sciences, and will provide students with invaluable real-world experience through internships and work-study programs at EA, including its newest Los Angeles campus.The Electronic Arts Chair will enable the Division to meet the intensifying demand for talented game developers who are solidly grounded in story and content. The endowed funds to support faculty specializing in game development elevates the field into the ranks of other professions, such as law and engineering, worthy of scholarly study and specialized training."It's astonishing how quickly games have become an essential part of the entertainment arts, and there is no better place than USC to nurture the creative and conceptual thinkers who will take the medium to places we can only imagine," said USC alumnus George Lucas, a longtime supporter of the School of Cinema-Television, the founder of game-design studio LucasArts and the filmmaker behind the Star Wars series. "USC is a major force in cinema education, and thanks to Electronic Arts, it can become a leader in interactive arts education as well.""To create the next generation of entertainment, we need the next generation of talent," said Rusty Rueff, Executive Vice President of Human Resources, Electronic Arts. "Melding storytelling, art, music, game design, and technology has become so complex that it is imperative for tomorrow's designers and producers to acquire an education with both depth and breadth in order to achieve success in our ever-growing industry.""Our new development studio in Playa Del Rey and this investment reflect EA's long term commitment to Los Angeles and Southern California," said John Batter, Vice President and General Manager, Electronic Arts Los Angeles. "We are proud to be expanding our presence within the region by fostering creativity through education and by stimulating current and future growth within the entertainment industry."

Field Trip to a Galaxy Far, Far Away

The fictional worlds of the Star Wars universe can be effectively used as teaching examples in planetary science. Because of the immense popularity of the Star Wars series, most students are already familiar with the movies and the worlds featured in them. Using fictional planets as teaching tools provides a context in which there are no right or wrong answers and no authoritative textbooks to consult, only the geological evidence present in images. This encourages students to think critically and produce their own arguments rather than simply looking up answers. Because the methods of planetary geology are strongly dependent on image interpretation and comparative planetology, surprisingly complex arguments can be made regarding the geologic history of fictional planets. We discuss here the planets Hoth, Tatooine, and Naboo from the Star Wars movies as examples, but this approach can be used for any planet from any science-fiction series.