Just for fun: The Empire Strikes Back (or TESB) is not my favourite movie of the original trilogy. That's reserved for Return of the Jedi - yes, the one with the talking teddy bears (what does that make Chewbacca, a lanky dog-man?). All that said, it has no effect on my appreciation of this book.

The book is a thought provoking reappraisal of TESB through today's lense - that is to say, it asks what the place is of women and people of colour in the film. Quite methodically Harrison works through the film itself, but also through the production of the film, and how it was reviewed at release. While it is no surprise that women and POC are consistently sidelined, and Harrison doesn't want to take anything away from the film's place as "the people's Star Wars", it is still an eyeopening read, and an interesting take on the film.

Not the analysis I was looking for.

Towards the end of the book, Harrison writes that “every time you think you see the film in its entirety and fix its meaning, the light shifts and casts a shadow and Empire appears different again”. I think this true, though I didn’t get a sense of it from her writing. I was hoping for a short book which surveyed some of the different dimensions to the movie’s enduring appeal, from a fan’s view. Instead, analysis is fairly superficial and one-note. I concede that the representation of women and minorities is a very significant discussion point, but it doesn’t need so much coverage as it gets here, to the detriment of any other more original takes.

The book provides a brief overview of the story’s film, from conception through production and release to reception. I was not particularly engaged by the writing and, on the topic of what makes Empire great, reached the last page no more enlightened than I was to begin with.