ACCORDING to ye olde Google, 'Star Wars' – as it was known before it got an episode number and an extended title in re-release – came out on May 25, 1977. The rest, as they say, is history.
May The First Be...
— Mark Hamill (@HamillHimself) May 1, 2021
oh wait...I'm not doing that again this year
For those who might miss it, here's a screenshot of a previous "May The" Calendar:#Enjoy pic.twitter.com/CXo6NtHjTo
Star Wars Day is on the 4th because fans of that movie were also fans of puns (who isn’t) and appropriated the in-universe phrase “May the Force be with you” into “May the Fourth…”. What started out as an informal in-joke was eventually adopted by Lucasfilm and subsequently by The Walt Disney Company after they purchased the series in a blockbuster US$4 billion (about RM16.47 billion) deal from series creator George Lucas.
That evolution of fan ownership to corporate control, from the brainchild of one nerdy guy to the stewardship and the transition from the occasional movie to a seemingly never-ending firehose of content, is the story of Star Wars and the modern pop culture/entertainment complex.
On a personal level, I’ve been a fan for as long as I can remember. According to my memory – which is hazy at best – Star Wars is the first movie I ever remember seeing. Well, it’s either that or the original animated 'Transformers' movie from 1987 (my mum would say I watched a lot of 'Dumbo', too).
Being born in 1987, I was too late to watch the original films in theatres but thanks to VHS and airings on television I was able to see them over and over again. Mind you, by the time I was five, I’d seen them countless times in the way children liked watching movies and cartoons ad nauseam.
There’s something to be said about how impressionable we all are at that age and watching that much 'Star Wars' probably imprinted the language of the movies into my brain. I can go years without watching the Original Trilogy, yet when I put them on I can just quote lines of dialogue as they happen.
I guess the appeal of the movies has to do with how unlike anything else they were, at least to my knowledge. Here was this big, exciting and fantastical galaxy with spaceships, aliens and lightsabers – things outside my relatively mundane existence.
Of course, there is the story that’s built on the foundations of the hero’s journey that has been told for thousands of years and is instantly recognised by anyone. An unlikely hero is plucked from obscurity and goes on a great adventure, over the course of which he (because it’s usually a dude) learns he has a great destiny to fulfill.
To a bored child, this type of story is instantly appealing. Who doesn’t wish they had a great purpose to ascend to? This is why although all the cool kids wished they were the roguish and cool Han Solo, I always wanted to be the hopelessly earnest Luke Skywalker.
Younger fans than me probably don’t realise that there was a desert of new 'Star Wars' from the mid-1980s up until the late 1990s. We didn’t even know if there would ever be new movies, even though the Original Trilogy was Episodes 4, 5 and 6 of a series.
It was during this period when my fandom was the most intense as I consumed many of the Expanded Universe novels that expanded the universe out from the movies, many of which were gifted to me by an older sister who is also a lifelong Star Wars fan. In hindsight, they probably weren’t the best in terms of literature but they offered more of the escapism that the movies did. And as books they let me dwell in the world and used my imagination a lot more.
When the 'Phantom Menace' came out in 1999 – I, like many around the world, was extremely excited – and although its legacy is mixed at best, I enjoyed it at the time (I was 12). While the story was unsatisfying, the movie did not lack for visual splendour.
However, as the movies continued with 'Attack of the Clone' (2002) and 'Revenge of the Sith' (2005), I grew up, too, and became more cynical. I began to explore other more “serious” movies. I think it’s a natural evolution of one’s tastes that we outgrow our childhood fascinations.
That being said, I have always had a soft spot for 'Star Wars' and would always feel a pang of nostalgia whenever I decided to watch one of the older movies. It was good to enjoy once in a while and not to binge on the escapism.
When Disney bought Star Wars in 2012 – with the promise of new movies – I was excited, very much so. This was already smack dab in the Marvel era, movies that are the 'Star Wars' for this generation of moviegoers. While I’ve seen all the Marvel movies and enjoy them very much, they cannot fill the space that Star Wars did for me.
With the release of 'The Rise of Skywalker' (2019), what was once optimistic has turned sour again as the supposed final movie of a nine picture series, failed to live up to expectations. This is following 'The Last Jedi' (2017), which is the most controversial instalment amongst the fandom with many outright hating it (though it does have equally passionate defenders).
Part of this, at least to me, has to do with the corporate mindset at Disney. While George Lucas only directed the 'A New Hope' (1977) of the Original Trilogy, he was heavily involved in the other two. And despite the failings of the Prequel Trilogy, Lucas directed all the movies and gave them a generally consistent tone and narrative.
Because Disney is a public company with shareholders, it has quarterly and yearly projections to reach and surpass, which means that if there’s a problem with the movies, be it extensive rewrites or other last-minute issues, it cannot be delayed. After all, we are in an era that is all about pushing content to keep the attention of supposedly fickle customers.
I personally enjoyed most of the Disney movies, especially 'The Last Jedi' and 'Rogue One', despite their flaws, even though I knew that something was missing. Maybe it’s just that now I’m an adult watching ostensibly children’s movies and I want more. I wouldn’t say I’m burned out on 'Star Wars', it’s just that I could do with a break now.
Of course, with the incredible success of 'The Mandalorian' on Disney+ and Disney’s subsequent ambitious release calendar of new Star Wars shows and movies, this franchise is here to stay for the long haul. And like a moth to the flame, I will be watching. – The Vibes, May 4, 2021
