Star Wars on Trial by Keith R. A. DeCandido, David Brin, Tanya Huff, Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Matthew Woodring Stover

seriously claimed that the "Hero's Journey" or the "monomyth" is the "only human way to tell a story." Campbell's work is descriptive, not prescriptive, and to pretend that he is somehow responsible for what some unnamed and possibly entirely invented "romantics" have supposedly said is a shoddy con game.
    Joseph Campbell's primary work, The Masks of God, is precisely about enumerating the different ways in which myth is used in human culture, and the differing implications of the various elements, the differing aspects of human psychology that he believed the specific elements seemed to represent, and-only in the final volume, Creative Mythology-the ways in which mythic tropes continue to penetrate twentieth-century culture, and how they might be deliberately used by artists, and by others. Far from glamorizing feudal power structures or glorifying heroes, he was an acute observer and a voluminous synthesizer (which was all he actually claimed to be), as well as a very fine writer and, in worldview, something of a Hinayana Buddhist.

    There are plenty of aspects in Campbell's work that are open to criticism (e.g., if I recall correctly, I found his extensive disquisition on the use of pig symbolism from The Odyssey through Finnegan's Wake to be a bit suspect), but the ones Opposing Counsel has chosen don't happen to be among them.
    Aristotle, however, I will not waste words to defend. Aristotle is the most easily refutable philosopher in history; no other man has been so consistently wrong on so many points, with the possible exception of Samuel Johnson.
    And, of course, Opposing Counsel.
4) One can hardly hold the Saga accountable for teaching that the "skilled and worthy warrior must cut off all attachments, etc." because this is explicitly defined in the Saga as the primary error of the Prequel-Era Jedi.
    With apologies to Opposing Counsel, he simply missed the boat here. That's all there is to it. Not only is that "cutting off all attachment" business defined as exactly what drives Anakin Skywalker to become Darth Vader, but it's precisely the error that Yoda is determined to correct by allowing Luke and Leia to be raised by real families, rather than trained as Jedi from infancy by him and Obi-Wan: so that they will know a family's love, and be connected to the reality of society in ways that the Prequel-Era Jedi could never be.
    Sorry.
    In all fairness, though, Opposing Counsel should have known better. After all, one of the most skilled and effective warriors in the Original Trilogy is Han Solo-who becomes more effective as he allows himself to become more and more emotionally engaged with his companions.
How much more obvious does it have to be?

    5) How good-looking a character is bears no actual relation to whether or not he's a Good Guy.
    Three words: Jar jar Binks.
    Not to mention Boss Nass. Admiral Ackbar. Kit Fisto. Saesee Tiin. Eeth Koth. Plo Koon. Dex from the Diner. How much longer do I have to go on?
    Not to mention that Vader himself is only nasty-looking without the armor. It's worth noting that on my Great Friggin' Gonzo Revenge of the Sith Tour, it was not uncommon for women from the crowd to request photographs not with me, but with whatever member of the 501st Stormtrooper Legion (wonderful fans doing volunteer work to help promote the book, and the Saga, along with raising money for various children's charities) happened to be wearing the Vader armor that day. It was also not uncommon for these women to burst into tears because they were so in love with him.... Hey, diff'rent strokes, it takes all kinds, whatever-but you see what I mean.
    6) Jedi Hell? Excuse my bleeding ears?
    Far from being the fairy-tale Manichaean silliness Opposing Counsel pretends to believe it should be, the redemption at the end of Return of theJedi is not Vader's, but Luke's-and the Galaxy's. Luke has renounced violence in the name of love; it is this which turns the tide, and produces the final victory to save the