The shelves are lined with Star Wars merchandise and apparel. Some project that 5,000,000,000 dollars is a reasonable sales estimate for the franchise owned by Disney. Box office sales are projected at 1,600,000,000 dollars worldwide.
A recent visit to the local Target and Sams Club revealed a very one sided representation of merchandise. There were a few rebels here and there (only the bots and Chewbacca) amongst a phantasmagoria of idols devoted to the dark side of the force.
If American commerce is any indication, the power of the dark side is the far more attractive side of the force based upon this visit to non-local local stores. Corporate ideals, clearly represented by the Empire, are embedded in the fabric of American culture and it is disturbing to see little to no representation of the heroes.
To elaborate on one example. In the first three Star Wars, the light sabers of both good and evil were on a level playing field (it was all about how you used it). They were similar looking, phallic and were of two colors. Red for evil and blue for good. The three more recent Star Wars introduced more colors and the Sith, who wielded two red light sabers. Quite unfair, like our current economic conditions, but very cool. The newest Star Wars villain, Kylo Ren, wields a bad-ass red light saber with a glowing cross-guard. It looks like a Medieval sword, perhaps to keep the serfs in line. Meanwhile, whoever the hero on the “good side” is, he wields a plain light saber, based upon the very, very, very few images of the rebels that are available online (try a google image search). The female lead for the rebels is imaged holding a stick..no, a staff.
The connection between the dark side of the force and material wealth is becoming more clear and explicit; the villain owns the newest and coolest technology and the hero simply does not. Something, that at the very least, young males have been fed from computer nerd to hover-board bully to corporate dicks driving benz's to greedy billionaires trying to own the known universe through techno-subjugation.
One could argue conversely that the newest Star Wars is in line with the modern condition and the latest forms of cinematic storytelling. There are no truly good or bad guys and it appears that “The Force Awakens” will certainly explore this as trailers have presented a Stormtroopers face for the first time (no it is not a rebel in disguise). This modern form of storytelling may hold as the film has not been released, but a quick look at the Disney website reveals what may be truly valued.
The official online Disney Star Wars store links to the clothes section. The nine most popular items are represented by the dark side. Kylo Ren, Storm-troopers, Vader and the like. The next six of nine (10 - 18) are Empire paraphernalia as well. Two of the three that are aligned with the Rebels are Chewbacca gear and one vintage t-shirt (again no heroes). A whopping fifteen of the eighteen most popular items represent the dark side of the force and zero items in this list are heroes (the Joseph Campbell type) in “The Force Awakens”.
At which point in the feedback loop does the overwhelming consensus of Empire merchandise reside? Is it possibly the corporate culture pushing values upon the fans and impressionable youngsters or are the merchandisers simply supplying the demand that identifies with “the bad guys”?