If you would like to buy your own copy of The Empire Strikes Back, go to the Bloomsbury website and use code pod35 followed your respective country code, US, UK, CA, AU, depending on where you are located.

Rebecca Harrison is a Lecturer in Film and Television at the University of Glasgow, UK and author of our BFI Film Classics book on The Empire Strikes Back. In part one of this episode, we contextualize the film in its time to discuss its political theme and the ways the original trilogy revolutionized special effects practices. Then, we take a step back to talk about the industry at large, including how franchises or big movie sensations deal with diversity, the ways that the most recent trilogy deals with nostalgia and how this connects to the current Hollywood trend of remakes, and much more. Take a listen.