Rogue One: A US Imperialism Story

Among the most prominent cinematic franchises, the Star Wars universe has shaped popular culture in the United States for over forty years. This essay analyzes one of the newest additions to this lineage, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, and the ways the film moves the original Star Wars from the purely fantastical to the contemporary, political climate. Given Rogue One's chronological position between the original and prequel Star Wars trilogies, the film acts as a bridge between the two. Rogue One connects the overt politics of the prequel trilogy with the covert, yet still present, politics of the original trilogy. Ultimately, Rogue One mirrors contemporary conflicts and crises in the geopolitical sphere and moves the original Star Wars films into this territory, creating a potential rhetorical crossroad for renewed cultural readings.