Fog City Comic Con isn’t just a celebration of comic books and pop culture, it’s also about education and Socratic debate, arriving at universal truths at the core of the human condition. Which is why they have a panel of experts to draw the parallels between Star Wars and the works of William Shakespeare.
Over the last three years Fog City Comic Con has grown from a 3-hour event to a day event that welcomes more than 2000 people each year. The open-access, community-led program is hosted by the Saint John Free Public Library in the city’s Market Square.
Adam Masson, chief among the library’s Fog City Comic Con organizing committee, has been develop & plan the programming and activities for the event, in particular a panel of aficionados well versed in the tropes of both the literary and film classics.
Finding their inspiration in the books of William Shakespeare’s Star Wars by Ian Doescher, which re-imagines all of the Star Wars movies as Shakespearean plays, the panel has plenty of material to draw parallels between the two.
“It was an idea that originated back in 2015 at a separate library event called ‘Star Wars Reads Day’, where Loyalist City Shakespeare players had ‘staged readings’ of some of the scenes from the first book, Verily: A New Hope,” says Masson.
The panel will explore the similarity of themes and plot devices common to the two works, dangerously dissecting the canon (and possibly the Expanded Universe), risking life and limb in front of an audience of rabid fans.
“I won’t admit to being a Shakespeare scholar or anything,” laughs Masson, “but, I think there are some common threads between some of his more famous works and Star Wars.
“It’s not a direct link, but the family drama in Hamlet is reflected in the fact that Luke’s father was ‘killed’ by Darth Vader, as told by Ben Kenobi; and then when Darth Vader is revealed as Luke’s father, it plays on the whole ‘secret identity’ trope that Shakespeare uses in a couple of different instances (like the whole plot of Twelfth Night). The use of ‘Force’ ghosts in Star Wars serves a similar purpose to the ghosts that Shakespeare uses in his works.
“I don’t think Lucas was a Shakespearean scholar necessarily, but I think he was obviously interested in storytelling in general, and what playwright or screenwriter isn’t influenced by Shakespeare in some way? It’s kind of like how everyone is influenced by The Beatles, in one way or another.”
The experts Masson has assembled features panelists knowledgeable in either one, or both subject matters, with James McClure and Jason Robertson holding up the end for Star Wars, and Loyalist City Shakespeare’s Sarah Rankin (and a Star Wars fan, herself) representing the theatrical side of things.
To keep things moving along smoothly, they’re also joined by moderator and referee Dr. Madeley of the University of New Brunswick, Saint John.
“I think it will be interesting to see Star Wars framed in a different light, and the same with Shakespeare,” says Masson. “I know that part of the goal of the William Shakespeare’s Star Wars books was to make Shakespeare more accessible to a wider audience, and I think the similarities between them definitely helps.”
The Fog City Comic Con takes place at the Saint John Free Public Library on Saturday, May 4 from 1pm-4pm and Sunday, May 5 from 10am-4pm.