Over the course of six films spanning 28 years, writer-director George Lucas used the science-fiction genre to reflect on the human condition via influences from art, history, philosophy, anthropology, and particularly from the legacy of film itself. Dismantling Empire looks at the Star Wars prequel trilogy not only as science-fiction, but as the work of a mature artist intent on addressing challenging ideas about politics, spirituality, relationships and other existential issues in a genre - and in an era - that has little patience for his classical sensibility.