This week in "Star Wars Appreciation 101," Julia and Fern try not to lose the plot while watching Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Analyzing the film’s structure, conflicts, and (weird) pacing, they make some surprising discoveries ab...

Welcome to Star Wars Appreciation 101! (#SWA101). In this episode, Fern and Julia explore "What We Do With Star Wars" by reading "The Force Provides" by Justina Ireland (Tales of Light and Life YA High Republic Anthology) thro...

In this episode, Fern and Julia finally explain where they've been and where they (and the podcast) are going. Tl;dr: New season "Star Wars Appreciation 101", coming soon!

Welcome to the first in a series of rambling, casual episodes where Fern and Julia do not hold themselves to pesky things like "academic standards" and "research" and just kind of chat, like you would during your professor's office hours.  ...

Recorded live from the HoloNet News Stage at Star Wars Celebration London,  Fern and Julia explore Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces and the impact of "The Hero's Journey" on Star Wars and mass-media storyt...

Join Julia and Fern for a special Summer School session with in-depth exploration of the themes, story elements, character arcs, and more of the final three episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022).Our Obi-Wan Kenobi Media Recommendat...

In this week’s episode, Fern teaches Julia about fairy tales! Join us as we explore the history of folktale, the rise of the literary fairy tale, the tropes and conventions of the genre, and J.R.R. “Jorts” Tolkien’s most famous essay, “On Fairy...

Join Julia and Fern for a special Summer School session with in-depth exploration of the themes, story elements, character arcs, and more of the first three episodes of Obi-Wan Kenobi (2022). 

In this episode, Julia teaches Fern about serialization! We explore the differences between series and serials, discuss the effects of serialization on storytelling and audience engagement, and consider what it means to be agents of narrative c...

Fern and Julia are back for Star Wars English Class's sophomore year! We're kicking off swenglishclass season two with our first Character Study. Join us as we perform an in-depth exploration of Obi-Wan Kenobi's characterization and character d...

Hey class, it's time for another Star Wars Book Report! In this special bonus episode and second installment in our Book Report series, Julia is joined by fellow Star Wars TikToker, Camila (@boricuawookiee) to discuss the final installment in E...

It's a Star Wars Book Report! In this special bonus episode, Fern and Julia review and discuss the latest adult novel in The High Republic era, The Fallen Star by Claudia Gray. Thank you to Del Rey for an early re...

In the penultimate episode of season one of Star Wars English Class, Julia overcomes her fear of French literary theory to teach Fern about intertextuality. We explore the The Ferdinand de Saussure to Disney Star Wars Canon Pipeline, a...

Happy Holo-ween! (Thanks TikTok User @natethegirl!) Or, Unalive Day? Death Day? In this chaotic and spooky live episode, Fern and Julia discuss all things spooky and scary in a galaxy far, far away including: haunted artifacts in The High R...

It's FACPOV 2: The Empire Strikes Back -- or, wait a minute, nope, we gave this episode a different funny name. In today's episode, Fern and Julia return their discussion of point of view as Fern teaches the class about 1st, 2nd, and 3rd person...

On today's episode, Julia teaches Fern about revenge tragedy and Shakespeare's favorite Star Wars character, Maul. Julia and Fern discuss the elements of a revenge tragedy, Maul's backstory, and the ultimate fate of all revengers. Esse...

In this special "mini" episode, Julia and Fern discuss their recent trip to Disneyland's Star Wars-themed park, Galaxy's Edge.  They discuss the concept of transmedia, specifically how Star Wars exists in multiple forms: movies, TV series,...

In this week's episode, Fern teaches the class about queer coding! Join us as we delve into the history of queer coding and discuss queerbaiting, the Hays Code, and compulsory heterosexuality. Why do so many Star Wars fans think Luke Skywalker ...

This week, Julia teaches Fern about Faustian bargains and deals with the devil! We discuss the plot and themes of Christopher Marlowe's Doctor Faustus,  the Dark Side and Sith apprenticeship, and Sidious's role as Star Wars Satan....

This week, Fern and Julia go back to the basics as Fern teaches the class about story structure! We discuss Freytagian story structure (Freytag's Pyramid: Barely a Triangle™️), traditional vs. experimental structures, and linear and modular sto...

In this week’s episode of Star Wars English Class, Julia teaches Fern about unreliable narrators! But to learn about unreliable narrators, we must first learn about story, plot, and narration (spoiler alert: that’s not the only list of three th...

In this episode, Fern teaches Julia about Camp! Camp is a mode of aestheticism that focuses on exaggeration, artifice, and playfulness. It is, according to Susan Sontag, “the good taste of bad taste,” a way of looking at a text that encourages ...

Welcome to Star Wars English Class! This week, Julia and Fern introduce themselves, discuss the Star Wars English Class curriculum, and tackle a question that’s been on their minds: is Anakin Skywalker a tragic hero? In this lesson, you will le...