Today marks the thirtieth anniversary of the release of Star Wars. And while I wish I could say that I was one of those guys who saw it in the theaters umpteen times, I cannot. After all, I was barely four at the time. I didn’t have the full Star Wars cinematic experience until three years later, when my dad took to me to see The Empire Strikes Back. I was a little bewildered with the plot because somehow I still hadn’t seen the first one (remember, this was back when VCRs and cable TV were still in their “early adopter” phase and my parents hadn’t adopted either). I was sitting in theater, trying to puzzle out exactly who these Rebels were and why the Empire didn’t seem to like them very much. Then the AT-ATs invaded Hoth and I became too enthralled to think much about the backstory.
Since then, the Star Wars films (at least the original trilogy) have served as a kind of mental comfort food. In later years, they were the movies I would put on when I was feeling sick or bored. I fantasized about being able to move objects with my Jedi mind powers. They were second only to my father (who introduced me to Asimov and Tolkien and chess and computers) in terms of awakening my inner geek. So thanks, Mr. Lucas. Your prequels left me a bit cold, but I could watch Episode IV a hundred more times and never get tired of it.
Ah, young whippersnapper! I was eleven when the first one came out–perfect age for developing a movie-going addiction. Still have the Star Wars t-shirt that I insisted on wearing every other day of sixth grade… 😉
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The 2006 Nobel Prize winner for literature, Turkish writer Orhan Pamuk said something similar, about the mental comfort of books.
What literature has to tell, and investigate, he said in a speech, is the whole feeling of standing aside , of being an outsider and the fear of being unimportant, but also the impression that goes together with it of being a person who doesn’t matter.
The shared hurt, wounded pride, the angst because there are chances of being humilated at any time. Anger in all sorts and gradations should be explored in literature too.(e.g. anger against the rich arrogant West)
My feeling of being an outsider, he confesses, is the main reason why I started sitting at a table to write, and by writing finding a completely new world of my own creation, a construction of the mind that appeared capable of making me forget those painful feelings.
Have you seen the trailer yet for the new computer-animated Star Wars TV show, Mark? It’s at the starwars.com site. Looks pretty cool.