Beltway Banthas: Star Wars, Politics & More

This week on Beltway Banthas, author Michael Harris joins the show to preview his upcoming book, "Welcome to the Rebellion: A new hope in radical politics. Michael and Stephen discuss how Star Wars can inspire a young, new-left movement to confront the most pressing issues of the day for progressives: capitalism, income inequality, climate, nationalism and more.

Welcome back for another great show! This week Riley Blanton of The Star Wars Report and Mouse & Castle joins the show for a whirlwind of political chatter about a galaxy, far, far away. If you noticed the international controversy surrounding the NBA and their handling of political statements about the Hong Kong protests, this issue extends far beyond pro basketball. Disney actively makes some of the same calculations and accommodations for the Chinese Communist Party.

During The Clone Wars a young Jedi turned against the war and Jedi Order's involvement in it. Convinced she had no other way to send a message of disaffection, Barriss Offee bombed the Jedi Temple and framed another Jedi for the act of terror. She was right about the war, and the Jedi, but did something very wrong. This week Danielle Adams, progressive and climate activist, joins the show as guest host to take us into the story of Barriss Offee and why it matters.

Hold on to something! This week we've got a bonus episode of Beltway Banthas, a conversation with Glenn Beck, radio show host and founder of Blaze Media. Stephen Kent met up with Glenn at FreedomFest in Las Vegas to talk about his earliest memories with Star Wars, lessons on the political power of fear, generational change and the evolution (plus consistency) of Star Wars' message.

The week on Beltway Banthas, in a 90-minute marathon run, we cover a lot of ground on Star Wars, politics and religion. In the main segment Stephen Kent is joined by Matthew Neugebauer to analyze Star Wars fandom and its troubles over the decades. A video from Wisecrack serves as the starting point for an analogy of fandom by understanding Protestant Reformation and the concept of a 'legitimation crisis'.

Welcome back Banthas! The Beltway Banthas podcast has returned with regular shows now through 2020. Starting off this new season of Star Wars & politics chatter, Stephen Kent is joined by guest host Nick DiColandrea for a dive into the political conscience of Padme Amidala. In Revenge of the Sith, she opens up to Anakin about her uncertainty with the Republic's democratic virtue. What got Padme to the point of questioning her entire political position and that of the "democracy" she has served?

Hello Banthas! Since it's launch in 2015 during the heat of the presidential primaries for 2016, Beltway Banthas has been a proud home of political discourse within Star Wars fandom. We've featured prominent politicians, journalists and political operatives on the show to explore how Star Wars impacted their worldview and careers. 70 official episodes and well over 120 episodes including interviews and bonus content.

Star Wars deals very directly with questions of justice and injustice. Mohammad Shakibnia wrote an article for ElevenThirtyEight on the messages of social, racial and economic justice than can be derived from the Clone Wars animated series. He joins the podcast this month to co-pilot the show and discuss these themes with host Stephen Kent.

This week on Beltway Banthas, Robby Soave of Reason Magazine joins the show to talk the politics of Episode I: The Phantom Menace. We cover trade disputes, slavery on Tatooine, the aloof Jedi Order and Vladimir Putin.

This week on Beltway Banthas, a discussion of the prequel trilogy as George Lucas' broadside against the neoliberal world order and capitalism. Stephen is joined by his brother, Michael Kent of the Toxic Schlock horror movie podcast to discuss and debate Lucas' critique of neoliberalism since the 1980's and how well he executed his analysis in Star Wars.  Michael and Stephen also chat about the role horror played in Star Wars early on, old Star Wars horror novels and the battle between Netflix and the Academy establishment.  -- -- -- -- --- -- -- -- -- - Read the discussion piece at Making Star Wars on neoliberalism in Star Wars here Follow guest Michael Kent on Twitter @Mikeyago_go and @ToxicSchlock

Dr. Andrea Letamendi (Lattes with Leia, The Arkham Sessions) joins Swara as they discuss not only one of the central themes of Star Wars, but also redemption and the grievance of galactic victims, both individual and galaxy wide. Does the franchise do a good job of exploring trauma of aggrieved parties like Rey, Luke, and Leia? What causes villains like Darth Vader and Kylo Ren to commit egregious actions, and how can they repent and atone?

Jar Jar Binks changed the course of galactic history during the Star Wars prequel trilogy. Love him or hate him, this bumbling alien is important. This week we review Jar Jar Binks rise and fall in politics, the impact he made and what we as citizens in a republic can learn from his story.

Rogue One contains a powerful message about engaging in the world around you. Jyn Erso accepted oppression as a status quo while Cassian Andor was raised in the fight for freedom. On this weeks show we are joined by Kate Sanchez of But Why Tho? for a discussion of Cassion Andor's complex, the midterm elections and why people get involved in politics.  We also react to news of a new Cassian Andor series coming on Disney Plus, assess the "blue wave" and offer some Bantha Fodder as usual. Thanks to Kate Sanchez for joining us this week and offering her perspective on Star Wars and politics. 

Were the Jedi sincere in their pursuit of balancing the Force? Luke Skywalker didn't seem to think so in The Last Jedi when describing the Jedi Order to an impressionable Rey. He sees balance as allowing for light and dark to co-exist, compliment and challenge the other. How far can one take this before people get hurt?  In this episode, Swara and Stephen discuss the wildly varied outcome of the 2018 midterm election. It was a purple spatter more than a blue wave. Is there something Star Wars can teach about why this is good for society? Hopefully, we will come to an answer you can appreciate.  Connect with Us Join us now on our Discord channel to keep this episodes' conversation going at: https://discord.gg/zYc9uYn. Please share our show with a friend, review us on iTunes and shoot us some feedback. We grow in quality every time someone reaches out to tell us what they liked. We want to hear from you! You can send us your thoughts on the show and topics at BeltwayBanthas@gmail.com.

Star Wars author Chuck Wendig was fired by Marvel and taken off the future Star Wars comics. He presumably won't be used by LucasFilm and Disney for books in the future. Wendig is notably the author of the Aftermath series and is known for his aggressive political rhetoric on Twitter. Marvel fired him, citing the Tweets as vulgar and out of step with their expectations. Is there merit to this move by Marvel and what is the best defense of Wendig? We'll get into it.

Are Russian bots behind the divide around The Last Jedi? Stephen chatted with researcher Morten Bay to discuss the results of his study on Twitter reaction to the film. Swara and Stephen discuss whether or not Russian bots and trolls amplified the negative reaction to the film.

Welcome back to Beltway Banthas and brace yourself for a ride through hyperspace in higher quality audio with host, Stephen Kent. The show had some hiccups this week with the whole team migrating to new homes and getting unpacked, but Stephen found a closet and an article in SyFyWire about Star Wars politics to review.  Ana Marie Cox and Cher Martinetti sounded off on how RD-D2 and other characters would vote in a piece titled "SPACE THE NATION: R2-D2 IS A LIBERTARIAN".

Welcome back to Beltway Banthas! Swara and Stephen are BOTH moving this week to new homes and this was as good a time as any to share some audio from the summer. Stephen met up with New York Times op-ed columnist Ross Douthat for a discussion on Star Wars and politics. It's a well rounded conversation with a lot of focus on Star Wars strengths AND weaknesses. We hope you enjoy and aren't distracted by the ambient noise of the conference.

Bethany Lacina is an associate professor of political science at the University of Rochester and she took a dive into "Star Wars Twitter" to get a better understanding of fandom and why it's so toxic.  She looked at the vitriol surround Kelly Marie Tran and wrote "How common is such harassment? In my research, I have investigated this phenomenon on Twitter, where offensive language and hate speech have a modest but clear presence — not because of automated accounts (“bots”) but because of humans.

Hello Banthas! Swara and Stephen are back for Episode 60 to with some exclusive audio from Dragon Con 2018, a great panel on Crime & Politics in Star Wars. We also riff on the bombshell anonymous op-ed in the New York Times by a member of the Trump administration about the work being done on the inside to restrain his worst impulses from the inside. Is there a Star Wars tie-in? You bet there is!