“Your Focus Determines Your Reality”: Star Wars, Canonicity, and Burning Down the Jedi Tree
Star Wars fans were enraged at Disney’s rejection of the Extended Universe of Star Wars, which included officially sanctioned novels, comics, and other tie-in narratives. Leland Chee is the keeper of the Holocron, the repository of all Star Wars lore, and he once said that so long as he is the keeper of the Holocron, there will never be a Star Wars reboot. How is it that a narrative about rebellion against an oppressive regime is so invested in controlling the way that story is mediated, and even stranger, why do its fans adhere to this control? Why are we so devoted to “the original version” that we can’t imagine any other, and if we do, we must relegate it to the status of “non-canonical”? This talk explores the nature of narrative canonicity and adaptation, particularly within the universe of George Lucas’s Star Wars franchise, but with broad application to other transmedia storyworlds such as the Marvel and DC Universes, the Harry Potter franchise, and others.
Dr Mike Perschon
Mike Perschon is a scholar of science fiction, fantasy, and horror and an assistant professor of English at MacEwan University. His steampunk research has taken him as far abroad as Sweden, and to audiences as diverse as a roomful of astronauts and physicists. He has published a number of articles, both scholarly and popular on speculative fiction, and speaks regularly at conferences and conventions about the academic study of all things geek. His first book, Steampunk FAQ, is due out this fall from Applause Books.
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