I grew up with Star Wars, which is the reason I give people when they ask me why I like it. The truth is, I don't really like Star Wars all that much. I'm just recently figuring this out.
And it isn't just Star Wars, but many of the things that I follow aren't things that I like. But as Star Wars is the most readily available example I have, that's the one I'll stick with.
What I like about Star Wars is the scope and the character concepts and the culture, both IN Star Wars(meaning, I like the idea that there is enough history inside the story that you don't need to know what every sign says, what every military insignia represents... things like that) and SURROUNDING Star Wars (meaning, I like that nerds in real life dress up like Stormtroopers and gather together to argue about whether or not the TIE-fighter's advanced maneuverability validates it's not having shields (some nerds stay at home and think about these things in private)).
If you took Star Wars and scaled it down to a cattle ranch in Kansas and turned Darth Vader into a flabby rancher with asthma and had Han Solo be just some sweaty horse thief and made Obi Wan a Federal Marshall and made Luke... Well, you wouldn't actually need to change Luke. In spite of being a main character, he's surprisingly unnecessary. Once those changes have been made, make everything that happens in the story the only things that have EVER happened.
Is anyone following me? Doesn't matter. Look up at your URL address bar. See that? That's my name. I'm in charge. You can suck it.
If you made all of those changes, Star Wars would not interest me in the least. One of my favorite things is seeing that tiny little Empire symbol on a pin stuck to someone's jacket. Or seeing a bumper sticker that says, "Follow me to Toshi Station." Or a Jengo Fett bobble-head doll where the head periodically falls off. Or that tauntaun sleeping bag I mentioned several posts ago.
It's like one enormous inside joke and none of the cool kids get to laugh.
Anyway, I've discovered that it is primarily the iconography of Star Wars and the Lord of the Rings and pretty much every epic saga that I love which deserves credit for my affection. Granted, many of them I love because of the story or the art or the acting... but if it weren't for the symbols, the sayings, the tiny little figures standing on my bookshelf, I doubt I would be able to get as excited as I do.
So, what do I NOT like about Star Wars? The direction, the acting, the over-blown special effects (I'll take a miniature model of a spaceship in front of a blue-screen to a computer-generated spaceship any day of the week), the presumption that I've never, nor will I ever again, see anything as great as what I'm looking at right now, and, as I am a man who greedily craves closure, the fact that George Lucas won't let it end is one of the biggest reasons I don't like Star Wars. One of my favorite media events of all time is Lost, and I couldn't be more happy that it's about to end. I want the whole story. I don't want it to drag on and on with sequels and prequels and animated episodes and webisodes and podcasts. I just want to be told a story. Without product placement if possible.
So, that's that, I guess. I don't like Star Wars because it's a great story or because it's helped me resolve issues with my father or because I can see that, no matter how small I feel, I know I'm part of something bigger. None of those things are true. What I like about Star Wars, in a nutshell, is the merchandising. And I'm sure George Lucas feels the same way.
Thank you,
Matt Beers
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