Through The Eyes Of A Child (Reflections On "Star Wars")...

One month from today, the sixth – and final – installment of the “Star Wars” saga will be released. As we count down to a moment that will hopefully bring some much desired closure to the story, I wanted to take the opportunity to get some things off my chest about the franchise in general and this prequel trilogy in particular.

Not long after my tenth birthday, I remember going to the Merritt Theater on Main Street in Bridgeport, CT where I grew up and seeing the original Star Wars film - "A New Hope" - for the very first time. The lights dimmed. On the screen the old 20th Century Fox fanfare played, followed by the now immortal phrase “A Long Time Ago, In A Galaxy Far, Far Away…” and then…BAM…the now familiar Star Wars logo popped up and shrank as if it had been shot out of a cannon at the rear of the theater. The opening scroll went up the screen and a story began.

It was, in fact, a story that was already somewhere in the middle of the telling. The words made little sense. A “period of Civil War”? “Rebel spies” and “secret plans” for the “ultimate weapon”? And come to think of it, exactly what was “their first victory against the evil Galactic Empire” anyway? We never did find out. But to a 10-year old kid, it was largely irrelevant. Only later, as I got a little older, did I even give any thought to the meaning of the opening scroll. I didn't care. The view of that giant Star Destroyer filling up the entire screen from overhead said it all. This was going to like no other movie anyone had every seen before.

Over two succeeding three-year intervals I waited for the next chapter of the story to arrive - the vastly superior “Empire Strikes Back” and the up and down “Return of the Jedi”. When it was all over, the feeling I had about those films is one that has never quite been duplicated. The Lord of The Rings Trilogy was pretty close. But being an adult who was already very familiar with the story, the comparison is very much apples v. oranges. A whole generation – mostly of boys – held that special feeling in their psyches that would never quite go away.

Now here’s where I start the criticism – not of the new films, but of all the incessant bitching and moaning of people – mostly men – my age who like to go around and trash the prequels as if they are some sort of abomination that bear no resemblance to the masterpieces that they remember. They constantly find fault and point out what they would have done differently. They all forgot that the special feeling that I just mentioned was as much of a result of their original perspective than anything inherently special qualities about the original movies themselves.

When these folks look at “The Phantom Menace” or “Attack of the Clones”, they no longer look at them through a child’s eyes and imagination. Young kids grew up to be cynical and jaded grown-ups. Nothing about these movies meets their standards. Even the titles are held up to ridicule. But I ask you honestly, is “Attack of the Clones” really any more corny a title than “The Empire Strikes Back”? Were the goofy antics of Jar-Jar Binks any sillier than the ridiculous comic relief offered by C-3PO? Perhaps a little, but the kids love it nonetheless.

People my age need to remember that the dialogue of “A New Hope” was almost laughably unbearable. You need look no further than hearing Han Solo respond to Princess Leia’s lament that the danger wasn’t over by saying “It is for me, sister” for an example. My God, how 1970’s is that? Look, I have many criticism’s about the prequels, but I get past them and let myself enjoy the movies with my son, who is now almost as old as I was when I first sat in that theater.

Neither of us can wait to see “Revenge of the Sith”. It will be darker and perhaps scarier than the others – maybe even a little disturbing. But when he and I are sitting in a theater a little more than a month from now, I will consider myself quite lucky that in addition to fulfilling my own desire (and sorrow) to see the final transformation of Anakin Skywalker into the iconic Darth Vader, I will get another chance to see and enjoy it they way that he will.

Through the eyes of a child.

Posted by: Gary at 03:00 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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