Much to my own shock, I actually have a few minutes to spend on something other than work, and so I have chosen to indulge by 'blogging' about how cool 'Star Wars' is. Tragic, isn't it? Oh well... my thoughts on the current state of the presidential race will have to wait...
I'd like to challenge you (by 'you' I mean the four people who read this blog regularly) to think about your life before 'Star Wars' (later appropriately re-released as 'Star Wars - Episode 4: A New Hope'). Seriously... think about it for a moment. Think about the period in your life when there simply wasn't anything called 'Star Wars.'
Now think about your life AFTER seeing it for the first time.
It changed you a little bit, didn't it? It got you excited... it rallied your imagination...
Now, maybe you're one of those people who believes that every sequel/prequel after 'The Empire Strikes Back' was a dud (I have yet to hear someone denounce 'Empire' as anything other than sheer genius... so we shan't bother speculating on the possibility that someone out there feels that way)... I'm not out to argue your opinions of the other movies, comics, cartoons, the 'Holiday Special' or any other of the branches of the 'Star Wars' franchise. You are entitled to your opinions and I respect that.
But what you MUST admit is that 'Star Wars' is really friggin' cool.
Even if you loved the first movie but HATED all of the others, the reason you probably hate them is because the first one was so friggin' cool that it ALTERED you... you had been brought into this whole new fantastical world and it got you excited about a bunch of people, creatures, planets, weapons and stuff that AREN'T REAL.
Now take a moment and think about how amazing that is.
Real life can't be beat. Real life is awesome. Real life is filled with so much adventure and drama that there really is no 'need' for fiction at all. Thus, the fact that something that is utterly made-up (and on many levels absurd) can affect anyone to the degree that 'Star Wars' has is nothing short of astonishing.
'Star Wars' inspired me to draw a lot as a child (see the above illustration - drawn in kindergarden, this is a scan of an actual 'ditto' of the original)... this led me to get into animation... this led me to come to L.A. where I met the love of my life and got married... y'see what I mean by 'Star Wars' having an 'affect'? There are probably only a small handful of stimuli that have had a truly profound influence on where I have steered my life's course (among them, of course, are less whimsical elements like family, friends, religion, etc.). I'm sorry if I'm beating this point into the ground, but the fact that a wonky little film about robots and space-ships can have such a great influence is, to me, incredibly cool.
And, if you will forgive my presumption here, I don't think I'm the only one in the past 30-something years who was affected in such a way by it.
An undeniable, traceable, permanent affect... that's GOT to put 'Star Wars' in the category of "great art" doesn't it?
And, yes, it's become a gajillion-dollar franchise and all that... some of it is good, some of it is horrible... but it doesn't erase the original affect. Not for me anyway.
My point is, 'Star Wars' is really, really, really cool.
P.S. I wrote this while sipping ice-water out of a vintage 1977 Coca-Cola/Burger King glass (thanks, Leigh!) with Chewbacca on it.
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