Chuck Klosterman suggested that while "movies like Easy Rider and Saturday Night Fever painted living portraits for generations they represented in the present tense, The Empire Strikes Back might be the only example of a movie that set the social aesthetic for a generation coming in the future."
Chuck Klosterman je napisao: "Dok su filmovi poput Easy Rider i Groznice subotnje večeri portretirali generacije sadašnjosti, film Carstvo uzvraća udarac bi mogao biti jedini primjer filma koji predstavlja društvenu estetiku generacija koje tek dolaze."