Cass R. Sunstein, Columnist

'Star Wars' Is Really About Feminism. And Jefferson. And Jesus.

Whatever you're into, it's there.

May 31, 2016 at 3:30 PM UTC

Cass R. Sunstein is a former Bloomberg Opinion columnist. He is the author of “The Cost-Benefit Revolution” and a co-author of “Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth and Happiness.”

Jesus figure.
Photographer: MJ Kim/Getty Images

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Thirty-nine years ago, on May 25, 1977, a movie was released with a somewhat ridiculous name: "Star Wars." (It’s now called "Episode IV: A New Hope.") Almost no one thought that it would do well, and nobody could have predicted it would become the defining saga of our era. How did it manage to do that?

One answer is that like a great novel or poem, Star Wars doesn’t tell you what to think. You can understand it in different, even contradictory ways. Here are six of those ways.