Star Wars English Class

This week in "Star Wars Appreciation 101," Julia and Fern try not to lose the plot while watching Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Analyzing the film’s structure, conflicts, and (weird) pacing, they make some surprising discoveries about the story we think we know. Spoiler Alert: However long you think the Death Star sequence is, no it’s not. 

On the Syllabus this Week:

• Lucas, George, director. Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Twentieth Century Fox, 1977. 
• Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature: Shorter 14th Edition. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2022. 

Additional Sources:

• Campbell, Joseph. The Hero With a Thousand Faces (The Collected Works of Jospeh Campbell). New World Library, 3rd ed., 2008. 

Next Class:

• Narration and POV (Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back)

Social Media:
@swenglishclass on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram
Julia is on TikTok @juliachristine77
Fern is on TikTok @alwaysfern

Business inquiries: [email protected]

Logo by Jacob David Earl (@jacobdavidearl)
Music by ZapSplat.com

Welcome to Star Wars Appreciation 101! (#SWA101). In this episode, Fern and Julia explore "What We Do With Star Wars" by reading "The Force Provides" by Justina Ireland (Tales of Light and Life YA High Republic Anthology) through three main "principles" that challenge how we engage with stories.

On the Syllabus Today:

• "The Force Provides" by Justina Ireland. Tales of Light and Life. Disney Lucasfilm Press, 2023, pp. 181-214. 
• Mays, Kelly J. The Norton Introduction to Literature: Shorter 14th Edition. W. W. Norton & Company, Inc, 2022. 

Additional Sources:

• Bernheimer, Kate. “Fairy Tale is Form, Form is Fairy Tale.” The Writer's Notebook: Craft Essays from Tin House. Tin House Books, 2009.
• Madden, T Kira.   “Against Catharsis: Writing Is Not Therapy.” Literary Hub, 1 Apr. 2019, lithub.com/against-catharsis-writing-is-not-therapy/. 

Social Media:
@swenglishclass on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram
Julia is on TikTok @juliachristine77
Fern is on TikTok @alwaysfern

Business inquiries: [email protected]

Logo by Jacob David Earl (@jacobdavidearl)
Music by ZapSplat.com

In this episode, Fern and Julia finally explain where they've been and where they (and the podcast) are going.

Tl;dr: New season "Star Wars Appreciation 101", coming soon!

Social Media:
@swenglishclass on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram
Julia is on TikTok @juliachristine77
Fern is on TikTok @alwaysfern

Business inquiries: [email protected]

Logo by Jacob David Earl (@jacobdavidearl)
Music by ZapSplat.com

Welcome to the first in a series of rambling, casual episodes where Fern and Julia do not hold themselves to pesky things like "academic standards" and "research" and just kind of chat, like you would during your professor's office hours.  

Points of Interest:
-Julia's Broken Brain
-Sometimes, Star Wars is Book
-SWCC London Live Episode THANK YOU!!
-Talking Back to Our Own Podcast
-This is a Pro Union Podcast
-You Can Podcast from the Woods

Social Media:
@swenglishclass on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram
Julia is on TikTok @juliachristine77
Fern is on TikTok @alwaysfern

Business inquiries: [email protected]

Logo by Jacob David Earl (@jacobdavidearl)
Music by ZapSplat.com

Recorded live from the HoloNet News Stage at Star Wars Celebration London,  Fern and Julia explore Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces and the impact of "The Hero's Journey" on Star Wars and mass-media storytelling in general.  

(Psst...the audio isn't great in this one because Julia forgot she saved the audio we recorded with the nice microphone to her external hard drive...which is currently 2000 miles away from her. We'll upload the improved audio as soon as we can).  

Points of Interest: The KCU (Korkie Cinematic Universe), Joseph Campbell's Whole Deal, Audience Participation,  Archetypal Set Points, and Ending Early to Get to the High Republic Panel.  
 
Huge thanks to the incredible and multi-talented @jacobdavidearl for our new logo!

Social Media:
@swenglishclass on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram
Julia is on TikTok @juliachristine77
Fern is on TikTok @alwaysfern

Business inquiries: [email protected]

Logo by Jacob David Earl (@jacobdavidearl)
Music by ZapSplat.com

Join Julia and Fern for a special Summer School session with in-depth exploration of the themes, story elements, character arcs, and more of the final three episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022).

Our Obi-Wan Kenobi Media Recommendations for Further Reading:
Brotherhood by Mike Chen
Padawan by Kiersten White
Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022) comic mini-series

Social Media:
@swenglishclass on Twitter and TikTok
Julia is on TikTok @juliachristine77
Fern is on TikTok @alwaysfern

Business inquiries: [email protected]
Music by ZapSplat.com

Social Media:
@swenglishclass on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram
Julia is on TikTok @juliachristine77
Fern is on TikTok @alwaysfern

Business inquiries: [email protected]

Logo by Jacob David Earl (@jacobdavidearl)
Music by ZapSplat.com

In this week’s episode, Fern teaches Julia about fairy tales! Join us as we explore the history of folktale, the rise of the literary fairy tale, the tropes and conventions of the genre, and J.R.R. “Jorts” Tolkien’s most famous essay, “On Fairy Stories.” How does our understanding of Star Wars shift and develop when we consider it in the context of this literary tradition? What do fairy tales and stories like Star Wars “offer” us in our adult lives? And will Hank Green finally admit that Star Wars is more fantasy than science fiction?

Points of Interest: There is Only One Step and it is Crab, Jorts Tolkien, Snow White’s Jazz Party, Ezra Pound’s Little Fascist Podcast, Special Babies, Julia and Hank Green’s TikTok Beef

Social Media:
@swenglishclass on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram
Julia is on TikTok @juliachristine77
Fern is on TikTok @alwaysfern

Business inquiries: [email protected]

Logo by Jacob David Earl (@jacobdavidearl)
Music by ZapSplat.com

Join Julia and Fern for a special Summer School session with in-depth exploration of the themes, story elements, character arcs, and more of the first three episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022). 

Social Media:
@swenglishclass on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram
Julia is on TikTok @juliachristine77
Fern is on TikTok @alwaysfern

Business inquiries: [email protected]

Logo by Jacob David Earl (@jacobdavidearl)
Music by ZapSplat.com

In this episode, Julia teaches Fern about serialization! We explore the differences between series and serials, discuss the effects of serialization on storytelling and audience engagement, and consider what it means to be agents of narrative continuation as members of the Star Wars fandom. How does serialization determine story structure? Is Star Wars broken (on purpose)? And was George Lucas right when he said that Star Wars is like poetry? 

On the syllabus:

• Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008-2020)
• Star Wars: A New Hope (1977)
• Star Wars Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker (2019)
• Kelleter, Frank. “Five Ways of Looking at Popular Seriality.” Media of Serial Narrative, edited by Frank Kelleter, Ohio State University Press, 2017, pp. 7–34.
• O’Sullivan, Sean. “Broken on Purpose: Poetry, Serial Television, and the Season.” Storyworlds: A Journal of Narrative Studies, vol. 2, 2010, pp. 59–77. 
• Hayward, Jennifer. Consuming Pleasures: Active Audiences and Serial Fictions from Dickens to Soap Opera. 1st ed., University Press of Kentucky, 1997.

Social Media:
@swenglishclass on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram
Julia is on TikTok @juliachristine77
Fern is on TikTok @alwaysfern

Business inquiries: [email protected]

Logo by Jacob David Earl (@jacobdavidearl)
Music by ZapSplat.com

Fern and Julia are back for Star Wars English Class's sophomore year! We're kicking off swenglishclass season two with our first Character Study. Join us as we perform an in-depth exploration of Obi-Wan Kenobi's characterization and character development within both Canon and Legends materials. How does Obi-Wan's narrative purpose shift between the Original Trilogy and the Prequels? Which Legends story beats inform Obi-Wan's Canon characterization? And what exactly is a character, anyway?

On the syllabus:

• Uri Mangolin. “Character.” The Cambridge Companion to Narrative, edited by David Herman, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007, pp. 66–79. Cambridge Companions to Literature.
• Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope  (1977)
• Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace (1999)
• Jedi Apprentice (series) by Jude Watson (1999-2002)

TIMESTAMPS
(01:18) Introductory Shenanigans

(11:10) Is Lego Star Wars Camp?

(17:18) Our Obi-Wan Kenobi Histories

(23:23) Character and Characterization

(36:07)  Obi-Wan in the Original Trilogy

(47:02) Obi-Wan in the Prequel Trilogy

(1:32:05) Obi-Wan's Literary Lineage

(1:38:00) What We Talk About When We Talk About Obi-Wan

(2:02:54) Concluding Shenanigans

Social Media:
@swenglishclass on Twitter, TikTok, and Instagram
Julia is on TikTok @juliachristine77
Fern is on TikTok @alwaysfern

Business inquiries: [email protected]

Logo by Jacob David Earl (@jacobdavidearl)
Music by ZapSplat.com