Just about everything in the new Star Wars film, The Force Awakens, is hard to believe, I mean, at least in terms of consistency. The plot is full of holes, but older Star Wars fans are willing to suspend disbelief for that warm and fuzzy feeling of childhood regression. Myself included. But in our modern day screen culture that is the US, where we sell wars and elections like toothpaste, I suppose suspension of disbelief is a daily occurrence.
People want to believe. The corporate culture produces “just war” narratives to satisfy an insatiable appetite for violence, exactly what Star Wars delivers, except this time, I would argue, it’s been turned upside down in the service of a real empire: The US Empire.