Rogue One and the Paschal Mystery

As this year’s holy week and Triduum celebrations commence, I’d like to repost an article I wrote for another blog in 2017, soon after the release of a film that is often named as the best of the new Star Wars films: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016). Not only is this film in need of further attention here on Liturgy and Life, but the timing is good too: in the Great Paschal Triduum, Catholics celebrate the Paschal Mystery of Christ in a prolonged, three-day liturgy that begins on Holy Thursday, moves through the triumph of the cross on Good Friday and concludes at the Easter Vigil on Holy Saturday with the initiation of new members and a festive celebration of the Resurrection. A liturgist friend calls this three-day season (the shortest in the Church year) “Paschal-palooza,” and rightly so. During the Triduum, we Catholics perform the symbolically richest, most lavish rituals we have to glorify a God who saves us by sending his own son to show us what conformity to God’s will really means (spoiler alert: it’s death). Yet death does not have the last word, and we are sanctified by the saving power of Christ’s humility “to the point of death, even death on a Cross” (Phil. 2:8).

Rogue One always struck me as a film with a lot to teach us everyday people about the Paschal Mystery: the loving self-sacrifice that brings new life and new hope. In a 2023 “Actors on Actors” interview between Star Wars stars Hayden Christensen (Anakin Skywalker, Darth Vader) and Diego Luna (Cassian Andor), Luna reflects that what makes Rogue One (and its excellent, must-watch Disney+ spin-off Andor) special is there are no Jedi—the magic is absent from this corner of the galaxy far, far away. The ordinary people of these stories must rely on themselves—and only themselves—to solve galactic problems. They are, Luna said, “simple, regular people doing extraordinary things.” Christ’s ultimate actions are meant to inspire and guide us in the same way: he was one of us—our brother, our friend. Being more like Christ does not mean learning magic or developing superpowers. It means learning to listen to and follow the will of God. Any simple, ordinary person can do it, but one must have faith, hope and—above all—love. These three gifts are exemplified by characters in Rogue One.

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Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away is here – so let’s celebrate!

The second of two collections of scholarly essays I’ve co-edited with Dr. Amy H. Sturgis is now released: Star Wars: Essays Exploring a Galaxy Far, Far Away was published in July by Vernon Press and is now available in hardcover and e-book formats! (See below for purchasing info and a discount code.) The first of our co-edited collections was released in May: a “twin” volume to this one, dedicated to Star Trek (check out my blog announcement with all the details on that volume by clicking here.) And importantly, you’re invited to some fabulous, virtual book launch events to celebrate! See below for all the details.

About the book

The book is a collection of ten essays exploring Star Wars from many different angles: from the evolution of how Twi’leks are treated in the franchise (and what that says about Star Wars‘ relationship to “the Other”) to how Star Wars and Harry Potter use similar storytelling devices to set their heroes on their destined paths, to the invented languages of Star Wars, to the way Star Wars tie-in media (books, comics, etc.) has developed over time and why that’s important. These essays are engaging, insightful, accessible, and as up-to-date as we could possibly make them, with significant treatments of new shows like Andor and The Book of Boba Fett. It also contains a beautiful foreword written by Ian Doescher, author of the Shakespearean Star Wars adaptations (which are brilliant, in case you’ve never read them).

I’m particularly excited about this book’s release because not only was I the lead editor for it, I also have a chapter in the book on a topic I am very passionate about: the influence of an obscure, 1964 art-house film, Arthur Lipsett’s 21-87, on Star Wars. In my chapter, I demonstrate how the central message of Lipsett’s film–a dire warning about the encroachment of technology on humanity’s ability to connect with nature, each other and the divine–becomes a central concern in all eras of Star Wars storytelling, from A New Hope to The Bad Batch and Andor (especially Andor!). Check back on the blog for more posts about Lipsett’s work and its importance to Star Wars that follow on from my chapter in the book.

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Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier is here!

For the last two years, I have had my head down on some big editing projects. In 2021, I received invitations to submit a few book proposals to academic publishers, and now I’m happy to say that 2023 promises to be a big year for publications for me.

And the first resulting book has now arrived! My good friend, teacher and one of my partners in editing, Amy H. Sturgis (visit her website here) and I are proud to announce that our first co-edited volume, Star Trek: Essays Exploring the Final Frontier is now published by Vernon Press! The book is available at the publisher’s website here, on Amazon, and other places academic books are sold.

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The Invisibility Cloak and the Incarnation

Christmas in the Harry Potter saga is always special. In an already magical world, the Christmas scenes in Potter (always snowy!) bring a heightened sense of magic to the story, bordering on the religious. It’s telling that the story finally drops its first and only overt references to religion—two Christian scripture passages—on Christmas in the Godric’s Hollow churchyard scene in Deathly Hallows. Each and every Christmas, Harry somehow gets a glimpse of the type of hero he must become to solve the problem at hand, and that problem is always Voldemort: the problem of sin and death itself. Funnily enough, Christmas, in the Christian sense of salvation history, also manifests the hopeful beginnings of the solution to the problem of sin and death. This is no coincidence. At Christmas, Harry often receives important gifts to help him in his quest, just as humanity received the gift of Jesus Christ, the light of the world, to help and guide us on the way to eternal life. The gifts and lessons Harry receives every Christmas show him that his own heroism must be patterned after this same Christ in his incarnation: God who becomes human, to show us that true honor, true heroism and true godliness lie in humility and loving friendship. 

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New Podcast Introduces “Hidden Figure” Fr. Clarence Rivers

Fall is my favorite time of year, but this Fall is extra special, as it marks the release of a project that has been a long time in the making: a new podcast exploring the life, legacy and my own brief, personal encounter with Black Catholic priest, composer and liturgical pioneer, Fr. Clarence Joseph Rivers. Since November is Black Catholic History Month, there’s no better time for this launch.

From the official press release:

“The podcast seeks to introduce Fr. Rivers to Catholics of any color who have never heard of Rivers or the profound impact he made on the way Catholic worship looks and sounds today. 

“Created and co-hosted by Emily Strand (of the podcasts Beyond the Words and Potterversity), Meet Father Rivers seeks out individuals who knew Rivers at all stages of his career—from the youthful optimism of his early years to the disillusionment and isolation he seemed to experience toward the end of his life. Strand and guests dialogically uncover hidden truths of Rivers’ (and their own) personal history, revealing both the gift of Blackness and the impact of racism and oppression—historical and ongoing—in the American Catholic Church.

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Writing Well

As a writer, I spend a lot of time editing other people’s work. As a college instructor, that means commenting on student papers with the goal of eliciting stronger, clearer, better supported and thus more effective writing. But I also review and edit the work of adults writing in professional settings. Regardless of the writer’s age or place in life, I see many of the same mistakes and weaknesses. 

I’ve been asked a few times recently if I would articulate some basic advice for the benefit of those who’d like to strengthen their writing (especially those who will face my own red pen at some point in the process). So here we go. I’ll aim this toward prose writers (academic and non-academic), although some of the principles will apply for fiction and perhaps even poetry. And I’ll try to keep it succinct, in the interests of proactively following my own advice:

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In the Belly of the Beast

In case you missed it, a brief, post-credit epilogue to the finale of season two of The Mandalorian on Disney+ teased a new Star Wars TV show, to be released in December of this year: The Book of Boba Fett. It’s a curious title for a television show, and for Star Wars, and for a show about Boba Fett. We don’t typically associate books with the Star Wars universe; datapads and holocrons yes, but books, when they appear, are antiquated Jedi accouterment, not things of bounty hunters.

A still from the teaser for The Book of Boba Fett. Image property of Lucasfilm/Disney.

I have a confession to make. Mass this past Sunday included a reading from the book of the prophet Jonah, and in the quiet space after the homily, my mind churned with thematic possibilities for Boba Fett, undoubtedly while I should have been praying. Whoops. But Star Wars has a penchant for incorporating Biblical themes into its narratives, increasingly so under Dave Filoni, whose creative hand shapes Star Wars television. For example, in Star Wars: Rebels, Biblical names like Kanan and Ezra orient audiences to their respective characters: an exiled, wayward Jedi and the prophetic Padawan who brings him home. Thus supposing Biblical imagery will inform The Book of Boba Fett is no great stretch (or sin, I hope); the show’s enigmatic title already lends a scriptural gravitas. And it doesn’t take a scripture scholar to align Boba Fett with the prophet Jonah, with whom he shares the strange experience of misadventuring himself into the belly of a great beast. And yet both are spared.

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New Video: Eucharistic Themes in the Potter Saga

This past weekend, over 100 Potter scholars from all over the world attended the 9th annual Harry Potter Academic Conference, hosted by Chestnut Hill College. The conference was a great success by all accounts, and now that it’s complete, I thought I’d share my conference offering: a digital paper on the way all the many food images in Harry Potter point to the Eucharist. Please enjoy this with a hot glass of butterbeer! (And if you have a recipe you like better, please post in the comments.)

Emily’s conference talk for the 2020 Harry Potter Academic Conference at Chestnut Hill College

Hope to see you (digitally or otherwise) at next year’s Chestnut Hill Harry Potter Academic Conference. Until then, let’s all try to manage the mischief, shall we?