Using the Force is a cultural study of
Star Wars fans, how they relate to the films, how they deal with Lucas and the Expanded Universe, and how they relate to each other. Brooker is an Assistant Professor in Communications at Richmond, the American International University in London and a long-time
Star Wars fan. As such,
Using the Force is an interesting mix of pop-culture, academia, and memoir. The result is an engaging read.
Using the Force is organized into ten chapters with titles such as Star Wars and Everyday Life, Watching Star Wars Together, Watching Star Wars Alone, Canon, and Star Wars Chicks. Using the Force describes how Star Wars has become a cultural touchstone, referenced in other media and as a shared reference between fans no matter where and when they may meet.
Brooker did an extensive job of investigating Star Wars web sites, particularly TheForce.net. He spends a good deal of time analyzing how fans have made Star Wars their own through fan fic, fan films, and message boards. One chapter is devoted to homoerotic slash fan fic and other interpretations of the Star Wars Universe as featured on The Sith Academy and other web sites that go in directions beyond the original movies. Curiously enough, most slash fiction is apparently written by women who are interested in exploring relationships between men.
There are, however, some methodological problems with the book. Some of Brooker’s analysis is based on e-mail correspondence with participants on TheForce.net’s boards. However, he limited the correspondents to the first one hundred people who responded to an announcement posted for one hour. This is hardly a way to generate a random sample. More problematic is that this method apparently skewed the geographic distribution of the correspondents, and Brooker shows no concern or interest in having a global distribution of correspondents, nor does he discuss Star Wars as a worldwide phenomena uniting fans of diverse languages and cultures in their passionate enjoyment of Star Wars.
A second problem occurs in Brooker’s chapter on Watching Star Wars Together. His analysis of group viewings is based solely on one viewing of The Empire Strikes Back by a single group of English fans. This, again, hardly provides a representative sample upon which to base his analysis.
Also, while Brooker relies heavily on The Star Wars Encyclopedia, particularly in discussing what is accepted as “canon,” he totally ignores Bill Slavicsek’s Guide to the Star Wars Universe.
More importantly, for our purposes, Brooker totally avoids any discussion of roleplaying or the Expanded Universe materials generated through the games. This is particularly egregious because he quotes correspondence with an employee of West End Games on another subject. The result of this oversight is that his discussions of what is considered canon and how fans build upon the films and Expanded Universe materials in developing their own stories do not include any analysis of commercial or web published roleplaying materials.
Nevertheless, Using the Force is a captivating and in depth examination of the Star Wars fan community. It also includes an extensive bibliography and index.
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