Familiarity is the Path to the Dark Side

Domesticating Political Problems with Star Wars

Authors

  • Christina Knopf

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.12794/journals.ujds.v3i1.215

Keywords:

satire, political cartoons, parody, rhetoric, metaphor

Abstract

This paper considers depictions of politicians as servants of the Dark Side in political cartoons and political satire comic books from 2015-2020. Particular attention is given to images of Donald Trump as Darth Vader. The use of such pop culture references provides what Morris (1993) called “domestication” – the conversion of abstract ideas into concrete ones, unfamiliar people to familiar ones, and/or distant events to close ones.  Guided by the interaction view of metaphor offered by the philosopher Max Black, this paper will discuss how different audiences may decode Dark Side allusions in political satire differently and, significantly, how the domestication of public figures like Donald Trump as Darth Vader and Darth Sidious may result in greater public acceptance of egregious political acts.

Realizing Resistance Two logo features the stylized letters "RRII" and an image of our nonbinary droid mascot, RiRi. They have a cat-like head, a humanoid torso and arms, and one large wheel for mobility.

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Published

2023-05-01

How to Cite

Knopf, C. (2023). Familiarity is the Path to the Dark Side: Domesticating Political Problems with Star Wars. Unbound: A Journal of Digital Scholarship, 3(1), 24–31. https://doi.org/10.12794/journals.ujds.v3i1.215

Issue

Vol. 3 No. 1 (2023): Realizing Resistance Episode II: Uncharted Galaxies

Section

Proceedings

License

Copyright (c) 2023 Christina Knopf

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