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The central objective of the present course is to identify the main traits of the metanarrative of contemporary America by means of a critical reading of George Lucas's Star Wars. The two-partite series of films (episodes IV through VI and episodes I-III) is subjected to a hermeneutic process involving the location of the films in the context of American cultural history and the recognition of the applicability of methodological tools of Cultural Studies for the purpose of their interpretation. Star Wars, read as a text set in the context of important transformations of American Culture of the years 1970-2000 and rooted in philosophical, social and political discourses of the previous historical periods, provides an excellent starting point for the debate on:

Logos and Logocentrism
Language and Metanarrative
Voluntary Suspension of Disbelief in the Context of the Real
SF and Fairy-Tale
Discourses of Identity and Discourses of Power
Evolution of the Concept of America From Early Colonial Period to Contemporary Projects
Cultural Transformations of the Post-War America
Art and Corporate Business
(An)Aesthetics and Ethics
Canon and Canonization