BLACKSBURG, Va. – The force is strong for a historian at Virginia Tech who says he can predict some of the outcomes of ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi,’ which opens in theaters Thursday night.
As a specialist in mid-evil history, professor Matthew Gabriele says there are many similarities between the Star Wars series and the historical patterns that repeat in medieval history. He says he looks forward to the continuation of the story's overall structure that revolves around a hero's journey, and other cyclical events that go back many years in history.
“I think it will be very similar to ‘The Empire Strikes Back,’ because that's where the spot that the story is in. You see good the guys struggling with the bad guys in some of the same kind of ways. I think that really speaks to us, and it has been with us for a really long time, back into the middle ages and beyond,” Gabriele said.
‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ officially opens in theaters nationwide Friday.