I was not yet old enough to see the original Star Wars when it came out in theaters in 1977. However, I did get to see The Empire Strikes Back in 1980, and it changed my life, setting me on a path that continues to this day with a love of science fiction and especially events that occurred a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.
With The Rise of Skywalker now out in theaters, the story of the Skywalker family has come to an end, at least as far as movies are concerned. All nine movies have, in some way, dealt with Luke Skywalker and his sister Leia and members of their family, notably their father Anakin and Leia’s son with Han Solo, Ben. I’ll do my best to avoid spoilers for the new movie as we take a look at the impact of this series of movies and just why they resonate with so many people. Spoilers for the other eight movies are in play - they’ve been around a while!
There are certainly plenty of people who don’t like Star Wars. I get it; maybe outer space and aliens and magic powers aren’t your thing. But the guts of these movies involve the character arcs and the theme of redemption visited by many of those characters. If you dig in deep, you have tremendous stories, not just fancy lightsaber battles and fantastic fights on far-distant planets.
The original trilogy dealt with the evolution of Darth Vader. Once he revealed that he was really Anakin Skywalker, the father of Luke and Leia, his redemption became a reality. Darth Vader had helped destroy the Jedi Order, but Luke sensed good in him and brought that forth in the climax of Return of the Jedi.
When the prequel trilogy came out, fans were excited to find out the history of how Anakin became Darth Vader. Anakin became even more of a sympathetic character when you saw how he grew up as a slave and then lost both his mother and his wife in tragic fashion. Sure, he had anger issues, but could you blame him?
The shadow of Darth Vader has hung over the sequel trilogy as Kylo Ren, who has morphed from being Ben Solo into a person steeped in the Dark Side of the Force, tries to be like his grandfather. The arc of Kylo Ren and whether he can come back to the light is integral in this set of three movies. He is steered in different directions by his parents and the nefarious evil forces behind the First Order.
This latest trilogy is also focused on the new character Rey, a young woman who has grown up alone on a desert world, left behind by her parents. Her character development is profound, and where she ends up at the end of The Rise of Skywalker compared to where we met her in The Force Awakens is a grand journey and matches that of Luke Skywalker’s in the original movies in many ways.
The emotions these movies bring out in long-time fans is evident when you talk to people who have loved them for so long. When The Force Awakens arrived in theaters, the joy for the return of some of the original characters such as Luke, Leia, Han, and Chewbacca was typified in Han’s line when he and Chewie step foot again on their ship, the Millennium Falcon: “We’re home.” The sadness of watching some of these characters die or fade into the Force seemed natural and expected, but also brought tears to the eyes of many fans.
Part of what has made these movies so beloved is the genuine connection fans have to the universe that George Lucas created. We might never fly beyond our planet’s atmosphere, but Lucas has given us a look at what the galaxy might be like and how, despite appearances, sentient beings are so very alike no matter what they look like or sound like, or where they’re from.
The topper that makes Star Wars so magnificent? It has to be the music by John Williams. The scores from these films are so recognizable, and the themes Williams created for individual characters are so iconic that one would guess that if any random person walking down the street heard the main theme or even “The Imperial March,” which is also known as Darth Vader’s theme, that person would know from which movie series the song came. The ability of Williams to mix and match all his themes and carry them through nine movies is extraordinary.
Each year, I show a Star Wars movie to all my 7th-grade classes as we prepare to write an analytical review. Each year, I have students tell me they’ve never seen any of these films before, but now they’re hooked. And each year, I have some kids tell me they still don’t like science fiction, even after watching and analyzing whichever movie I’ve picked for them. But the majority take the film apart, as the assignment calls for, and find more reasons to like it than to dislike it. This is a film series that will endure for generations.
May the Force be with you!
Word of the Week: This week’s word is lollapalooza, which means an exceptional person, thing, or event, as in, “The lollapalooza surrounding the new movie’s release was like nothing the theater owner had ever seen.” Impress your friends and confuse your enemies!