New Star Wars Trailer - Still Indifferent

[VladPiranha]

After a hearty argument over Steam chat tonight about my utter indifference to The Force Awakens, I've been left thinking about why I can't stand Star Wars anymore.  Don't misunderstand me - once upon a time, I loved the original trilogy the same as anyone else (possibly more).  I'm not a hipster who hates everything that's popular.  I went to midnight showing for the prequel trilogy and played countless game based upon the series.  I was even into a trading card game back in the day.  I used to think that I couldn't get enough of Star Wars.  Let's just say that the past decade has been really surprising to me in that respect.

 

Do you know anyone who says that white is their favorite color?  I have yet to meet such a person personally.  In a world of reds and blues, white is taken for granted simply because it's absolutely everywhere and lacks all personality as a result.  It makes for nice clothing and is a solid choice of hue for your new sedan, but gets little serious attention because it's the color of empty walls and blank sheets of paper.  There's a reason why soft and easily ignored ambient sound is referred to as white noise.  Our culture has no respect for the color white.  It's hard to love something that you've been conditioned to be bored with.  This is how I view Star Wars now. 

 

It wasn't always this way.  When I was a kid, I was leery of what I like to call 'Star Wars culture'.  I didn't quite 'get' science fiction yet and the constant buzz about those movies made me all the more frustrated with that fact.  It wasn't until Shadows of the Empire on the Nintendo 64 sneaked its way into my console as a great game and not specifically as a Star Wars property that I gave the Trilogy a chance.  It was a gateway drug.  I discovered, to my surprise, that they were worth the attention.  I had been on the outside looking in all those years prior.  Imaginative and different, yet also approachable, I could see why people hadn't let Star Wars fade away.  Just like John Wayne and the Beatles, it had a seemingly unassailable place in pop culture.  I wore Star Wars logo shirts before they were kitchy and did so completely without irony.  It was true love.  When someone would question my fashion choices, I pointed out that the Star Wars Trilogy was an important part of Americana, like Gone with the Wind or the New York Yankees, and that they didn't need to like it to understand its merits to see how the films had another kind of value.  It was a sincere explanation that I got some good mileage out of.  The summer of 1997 was a good one.  I was fifteen and making up for lost time.  I dove in headfirst.

 

I didn't come up for air for a long time.  Starting in 1999, it was comforting to know that, at least for the next half decade, there would be plenty of Star Wars to keep me happy.  Six years was a long time at seventeen years old.  My anticipation for The Phantom Menace was almost sickening.  I don't think I had ever had that much trouble waiting for a film before that point and I seriously doubt I'll ever get that kind of rush-downstairs-and-tear-open-Christmas-presents feeling from a film premiere ever again.  It wasn't what I'd hoped for.  We all know in retrospect that The Phantom Menace was a pretty abominable case of filmmaking and stands as one of the most controverial sequels ever made.  I refused to acknowlege that at the time in spite of my unease (your gut can never be fooled).  It was Star Wars - how could I possibly bring myself to be hostile to it?  I would be taught how over the next decade.

 

There's an old saying that "absence makes the heart grow fonder".  I prefer the cynical brevity of "familiarity breeds contempt".  Either way, it's human nature to overwhelm ourselves with anything we find pleasurable.  In spite of our acute ability to reason, we're not so different from goldfish in that respect, which is pretty depressing.  Just like eating an entire package of Oreos in one sitting, there are unfortunate consequences for that impulse.  Music gets overplayed, TV dramas get reduced to car chases to fill time, and films lose the novelty that makes them special in the first place.  As I'd mentioned before, I loved how Star Wars represented something unique in film history.  A written list of ways in which those movies changed films and pop culture at large would be lengthy, no one can deny that.  What bothers me and has eaten away at my fondness for the franchise is that its runaway success makes it harder to see Star Wars as a story beloved to millions and easier to see as a brand no different from Apple or Reebok.  Overexposure has taken the novelty away.  I never thought I'd see the day when Darth Vader would become more irritatingly ubiquitous than Elmo.  References to The Empire Strikes Back once felt unexpected, clever, and reminded us of a film we all seem to cherish.  We're no longer geeks in on a joke, but an exploitable audience being pandered to.  Now every time I see comic personality repeat material from A New Hope, it feels like a speech at a political rally.  No new taxes.  Take our country back.  Our children are the future.  Use the force, Luke.  We brought this on ourselves.

 

It may sound odd that the film I'm most excited for this year is Spectre.  You would think, after all of my arguments above, I'd have no interest in the twenty-fourth(!) James Bond film.  On the contrary, Bond is something I look forward to because, while he's a pop culture icon as well, he comes along every three or four years or so and reminds of why he matters to us - nothing more and nothing less.  He doesn't fill toy aisles, cover lunchboxes, inspire parodies, adorn clothing, decorate wrapping paper, and spawn television series the way Jedi do.  Bond was always about serial entertainment for profit and there was always a sense that he'd be back.  Hell, the credits of the classic movies always told us so.  Star Wars was timeless and perfect as a trilogy and seemed to embody what one could create if quality, and not quantity, was the passion.  A mere three films had more impact on pop culture than a half century of comic books.  I always found that notion fascinating and that's probably what makes it so easy to idealize some escapist fantasy films.

 

The Force Awakens is launching this Christmas season.  That's all good and well for those who care.  It'll make many people happy and make a ton of money.  For some very vocal people, it's almost a spiritual experience.  For me, it's like another season of Dancing with the Stars.  I once again am unnerved by the ravenous enthusiasm for the Star Wars series and feel like everyone but me is part of 'Star Wars culture'.  I once again am on the outside looking in. 

 

The circle is now complete.

 

 

[Preacher]

[Preacher]

Not sure what you do for a living, but you are a surprisingly cogent writer.