On the 13th November 2009, almost 32 years after the legendary Star Wars film was first released in the UK on 27th December 1977, A good friend (who shall remain anonymous) came to my house to watch the Original Holy Trilogy: A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi for the first ever time.
He is the same age as me (31) and I’m sure he watched the same TV channels as me at Christmas in the 80’s and 90’s when Star Wars was played religiously each year and families crowded round the TV to watch them as they became a part of tradition.
He must have heard about Star Wars in the 80’s but for some reason he never sat down and watched them or even played with the Star Wars toys, which were probably found in almost every home back then.
I know some of his friends and they all have seen Star Wars and so he wasn’t influenced by peer pressure to see them, so what happened?
I personally can’t imagine my life without Star Wars, the good and the bad, and it’s Star Wars that brought me close to my friends when i was a kid. I’m still very close with these friends even today and we still talk about watching the films, the toys or of the times we had role playing Star Wars, I had a black dog when I was a kid who took on the role of Darth Vader that chased me (Han) and my friend Paul (Luke) around the house and garden and those are some of my favorite childhood memories.
How someone has gone their entire life without witnessing these films is quite a shocking thing to hear, he has however seen the travesty that was Episode 1 and i can understand why he didn’t see any Star Wars films from that point, but what happened previously.
He did say when he saw Episode 1 that he was going to watch them in sequence but I’m glad this has been brought to an end!
I thought i would look into what he did know about Star Wars so I asked him what he knows about it, he said just five things (even though he has seen episode 1 which can’t have registered that much)
Darth Vader
Luke Skywalker
Princess Leia
Millennium Falcon
X-Wing
Quite a predictable selection i suppose as peers or popular culture have referenced Star Wars in one way or another over the years and it’s actually impossible to avoid, Like in Friends, Family Guy, The Simpsons, used by comics, sampled in music, mocked in adverts, shown in magazines, heard from work colleagues, friends, friends of friends, family, it’s endless and a phenomenon that has never been matched and i presume everyone has heard of Star Wars in one way or another.
I told a few friends what i was doing with this friend and the similar response was WHAT, HE’S NEVER SEEN STAR WARS!!! and generally that will be the response of a majority of film fans, but my friend isn’t a film fan, he chooses other things in life which is fair enough and i fully respect that, but still, never seen Star Wars, it’s quite a statement.
But the revelations grew, he also shockingly revealed that he has also never seen any Indiana Jones films, None of them! these along with the Star Wars films are surely classic films that I, and almost everyone I’ve ever met in my life have seen, not necessary out of choice but because they are movies you see as a child, as a teenager, as an adult or as a parent.
I asked him why he hadn’t seen the classic Star Wars films in his life and he told me that he never felt the need to, his parents never encouraged him to watch them or offered to buy the toys, so admirably they refused to bow to the imaginable immense pressure to buy these toys for their children in the late 70’s to mid 80’s, he did however own transformers and He-Man toys so he wasn’t a kid who was without the joy of toys, maybe it’s just one of those things that passed him by.
So after over 6 hours of Light sabers, the force, Ewoks, rebel scum, blasters, Death Stars, Storm troopers, Tie Fighters, AT-AT Walkers, shooting first, John Williams genius and all other roll of the tongue Star Wars magic, we finished watching the classic trilogy, during it he showed no signs of real emotion or enjoyment but had quite a philosophical look in his face and the words he used to describe them all were, “brilliant”. He explained it was better than he thought it was going to be and it was fantastically made, especially for it’s time but he said he would never likely watch them again which is understandable, it’s not going to have an influence at his age as it did when seeing it as a kid, but he is glad he did it which is a great thing to hear and my purpose of this experience.
He said he hated Han Solo…..these words brought a gasp to the others in attendance, he said he was a horrible person, selfish and i suppose he is right, this is Han Solo’s character, but as kids we grew up with Han Solo being the coolest character, iconic and someone most boys wanted to be when we re-created Star Wars in the playground or with our Kenner replica’s and we didn’t see that side to him so to us “The Star Wars Generation” we looked through those flaws and just loved him, he flew the coolest ship every created, had the best lines in the film and was our hero and of our mothers really loved him.
He of course loved the sound and the music and of course who wouldn’t, it’s the perfect accompaniment to the film and without it would never have been as successful.
He really appreciated that Luke had to learn and train to become a Jedi and said films today tend to just let the main character have/find the powers and save the day without having to prove they are ready, he really appreciated the progression in Luke’s and all the other characters stories throughout the three films and really felt they all had a real depth which is a great point, It’s what separates Star Wars from other films, the characters are so perfectly brought to life and their story is the quintessential version of the tale of good vs Evil.
He also talked about his theory of the political side to Star Wars and interestingly kind of compared the characters to countries, Luke Skywalker is America and what America wants to be, the good guy of the universe and all that’s good and Darth Vader is the bad of the world. I don’t personally believe in this, but as a grown up seeing it for the first time i suppose you want to see beyond the meaning of the film and try to make political references or find the true meaning of what the story is trying to say. But for me it’s a simple story that that was inspired by George Lucas love of the genre and brought to the big screen in a truly devoted way that’s not been bettered since.
Another thing he pointed out was that Princess Leia was the only woman who made an appearance in the films and he is quite right, there were the odd roles like Mon Mothma and a few extras but Leia was the only woman to have a major role, in his opinion she’s not that attractive but due to her being the sole woman in a notable role in Star Wars he bet that she would have been top of most men/boys wish list, fair point but he did say that the slave outfit was one of the most sexiest things he had ever seen, SO SAY WE ALL!
So to round up it was a really interesting experience for all, I was fascinated that someone had never seen Star Wars and i wanted to know what their reaction to seeing it for the first time would be. Obviously there is no answer as to why, it’s a choice in life and one that seems so alien that it shocked me, so i felt the need to show them to him as it seemed the thing to do as it’s one of those things in life i feel you should be able to say you’ve done in life
Even today you make new friendships in life and it’s likely that the conversation will eventually lead to Star Wars, and now of course we were so spoiled with the three amazing original films that they were tainted a bit with the abomination of the new trilogy and so it gave another angle to discuss Star Wars but in the end it will always be known as one of the most popular and phenomenal success in film of all time, how many of you clicked on this post because it had the Star Wars Logo? it’s a magical, life shaping film.
And now some of the best of Star Wars comedy, It’s an endless source of enjoyment.
Clerks do the Death Star
Eddie Izzard does the Death Star Canteen
Kevin Spacey does Star Wars – Genius!
Dead Ringers – Obi Wan buys a car
