The first thing I saw on the silver screen was the opening 20 minutes of Star Wars. It must have been a kid's Christmas party at my mum's work. I got a cap rifle too. But I couldn't understand why we couldn't see more of the robots in the desert. Given we didn't have VCRs in those days it was a while before I caught up. But the next two films, like many kids my age, were a bolt from the blue, each one a coming-of-age milestone. Fast forward to the first prequel and my work hired out the cinema so staff and family could see it; we were all so excited at new Star Wars ( I was working in a software/web company).
Nowadays it's no longer weird to like SF and superheroes. It's weirder not to. But this post isn't a lament about the mainstream adoption of these things. (The future arrived and no-one is creating any compelling new ones). Although it may be a consequence of it. You see Star Wars is part of the everyday. There are jokes on Friends about it, it's in the coffee, it's in the air. Jedi have infiltrated the Census. Star Wars is part of the consensus. Almost every weekend, if you haven't succumbed to buying the latest HD version, one of the films is showing on ITV2. You can buy related tat of any kind from HMV. It matters little to me if Disney now owns the new future of the franchise.
And that's the rub. I'm just not interested any more. I don't want to watch the films, again. Maybe the sequels quality was poor, or I was an adult. But I think it comes down to the fact the myth, the story, has become worn down through repetition. The symbols have lost their meaning. Just like vampires aren't scary threats now, they're just para-humans who have a particular diet which can be easily substituted. Star Wars has figuratively and literally been airbrushed into a empty spectacle. The Greek myths still have resonance after millennia. Star Wars lost its in less than 40 years. Star Wars is dead and the other franchises are next.
Nowadays it's no longer weird to like SF and superheroes. It's weirder not to. But this post isn't a lament about the mainstream adoption of these things. (The future arrived and no-one is creating any compelling new ones). Although it may be a consequence of it. You see Star Wars is part of the everyday. There are jokes on Friends about it, it's in the coffee, it's in the air. Jedi have infiltrated the Census. Star Wars is part of the consensus. Almost every weekend, if you haven't succumbed to buying the latest HD version, one of the films is showing on ITV2. You can buy related tat of any kind from HMV. It matters little to me if Disney now owns the new future of the franchise.
And that's the rub. I'm just not interested any more. I don't want to watch the films, again. Maybe the sequels quality was poor, or I was an adult. But I think it comes down to the fact the myth, the story, has become worn down through repetition. The symbols have lost their meaning. Just like vampires aren't scary threats now, they're just para-humans who have a particular diet which can be easily substituted. Star Wars has figuratively and literally been airbrushed into a empty spectacle. The Greek myths still have resonance after millennia. Star Wars lost its in less than 40 years. Star Wars is dead and the other franchises are next.
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