@article{Toft-Nielsen_2020, title={Fans feeling a disturbance in the Force. Star Wars and the power of paratexts}, url={https://journals.aau.dk/index.php/ak/article/view/5846}, DOI={10.5278/ojs.academicquarter.vi20.5846}, abstractNote={<p class="p1">Ever since Disney acquired Lucasfilm in 2012, the <em>Star Wars </em>franchise has been widely praised for its updated take on and inclusion of diversity (extending in particular to women), having moved away from its image as purely a boys’ club to include everyone. While this may seem true at first glance if we regard the blockbuster films of the <em>Star Wars </em>franchise, such a sentiment proves to be more problematic when we consider the merchandise accompanying the films. This article starts by reading the gender diversity of the <em>Star Wars </em>franchise as “plastic representation” (Warner 2017), branching out to include Star Wars merchandise as paratexts (Genette 1997, Gray 2010, Scott, 2017). Reading <em>Star Wars </em>toys, action figures and play sets as culturally significant objects and markers of fan identity (Geraghtly 2014), I argue that these paratexts serve to bolster gendered franchising and to work as “fanagagement” (Hills 2010) to promote certain types of fan engagement in <em>Star Wars</em>, while at the same time policing others.</p>}, number={20}, journal={Academic Quarter | Akademisk kvarter}, author={Toft-Nielsen, Claus}, year={2020}, month={jun.}, pages={22–36} }