May the 4th Be With You

Happy Star Wars Day 2020! and may the 4th be with you!

We've come a long way from the early days when it was just a fun inside joke among only the most hardcore of Star Wars fans. Discretely telling it to each, half under our breath, as to not draw any unwanted attention. Back then, being a nerd was not very cool and should someone have heard you say "may the fourth be with you" and they were not a Star Wars fan, you would have had to explain it and therefore exposing your nerd-ness; or they would not have bothered and just made fun of you anyway.

Lightspeed ahead to 2020, and it is practically a national holiday. It might as well be with so many retailers participating, people posting about it on social media and even main stream media mentioning it on their broadcast. Yes, it is now very mainstream in people's lives and you no longer have to be a hardcore Star Wars fan to understand the references.

This leads me to my next inquiry. I know many Star Wars fans who have allowed their Star Wars fandom fade, like losing connection with the force over time. They are resentful towards the newer Star Wars films and television shows. For some, I know they once loved Star Wars but now they have turned to the dark side and act as if it does not exist. Why is this?

My theory is because it has grown so popular and mainstream that for them, it has lost its appeal. It is no longer exclusive and they are no longer in the secret club. I see people do this with music bands all the time. They will say things like, "they sold out, they used to be cool" or "only their first album was any good, now they're lame" etc and all the other variations of that sentiment. It's like, once they made it big and mainstream, they lost a percentage of their fans by default. I think the same has/is happening for Star Wars.

When Disney acquired Lucasfilm and announced they planned on creating more feature films and expanding into other mediums, I felt a great disturbance in the force as many cried out in distain and pessimism and they hadn't even seen anything yet; but the mere mention of it disgusted them. For me, I was thrilled! I knew Disney had the money and marketing power to do good with it and it was only in their best interest for it to succeed.

Now that a new trilogy of films has been completed, Clone Wars season finale is here and Galaxy's Edge has opened in both Disneyland and Disney World, do I still feel the same?

Search my feelings, I do....and the answer, is YES.

I honestly think Disney has done an amazing job with it and has lived up to my expectations. Remember, when it comes to the films, yes, Disney has to sign off on it, but most of it is decided by the directors and producers of those films. I felt the films were fun and provided us with more Star Wars, something we've been yearning for ever since the prequels. Were they the best films ever? No. but they were not supposed to be, they were supposed to be Star Wars films for the fans and I believe they were. Because of that, they did not take a lot of risks and there are many similes to the original trilogy. The new characters were only strong because of the old characters and speaking of characters, they conjured up several fan favorites and brought them back just for this and again, although somewhat predictable, it was exactly what fans were clamoring for!

As for Galaxy's Edge, I think it is wonderful. I love the space and could easily spend most, if not all of my day at Disneyland sitting and exploring the land; and I have. What the casual visitor does not understand, is that for true Star Wars fans, it is their opportunity to walk in the world a galaxy far, far away and interact with real people, droids and creatures from that universe. Only true Star Wars fans will feel that and that is why so many don't understand and why they can spend a couple hours there riding the attractions and maybe eating, then they're off and gone and might never return. That is okay by the way, I'm not hating or judging them. Instead, I'm trying to convey what it does for Star Wars fans, and in my opinion why it was created. Now, was this Disney's expectations? Probably not, I'm sure they hoped for larger, consistent attendance. Galaxy's Edge helps separate the Jedi from the Padawan's. And if you have to look that up, you've proven my point.

Star Wars has been commercialized like never before and I have mixed feelings on it from the standpoint of it being watered down and products becoming cheap in design and appearance. That is never good, but I think it is a balance of things. As much as I might not like the over productions of products, if not for that, we might now have gotten a Galaxy's Edge? So therefore, the ends justifies the means and I'll take the good with the bad.

I think Star Wars is amazing and I'm glad it is as popular as it is because I see so much good come from. I see families sharing in it, watching the films together, reading books, visiting Galaxy's Edge and so much more that is positive and great. There will always be folks on the other side who disagree, and not only is that okay, I think it's needed, even if I don't always like it. Just like in Star Wars, there needs to be a balance in the force, the light and the dark are essential.

I hope you are all having a great day, hopefully a Star Wars day, but I wish you well either way. We are still in quarantine, so working from but at least I have Star Wars playing in the background. Currently watching Star Wars: The Phantom Menace and I'll continue working my way through the entire feature film franchise.

May the force be with you, always.