Our dearest Kin-kin,
When your Dad told us that they would be naming you “Anakin,” my first thought was: “But didn’t he grow up to be Darth Vader?” Your Lolo Fudge (Father Boboy) had another concern: “Give him a name naman from the Bible,” since obviously there’s no one named Anakin in the Good Book. And so your parents appended “Lucas” to your name, in honor of what “Star Wars” devotees call “the creator.”
Too bad you’re still some years away from watching “The Force Awakens,” or any of the movies that came before it. As it is, even if your parents had tickets to the press preview two days before the film opened in cinemas, they couldn’t make it because they wanted to be with you and your yaya if and when the torrential rains from Typhoon “Nona” materialized. That’s when I realized that your Dad had finally reconciled the demands of adulthood and fatherhood with the imperatives of “Star Wars” fandom. Reality and responsibility won out, about as accurate a summation of what’s happened to “Star Wars” followers around the world as any treatise on the movie franchise that shaped a generation could put it.
The original “Star Wars” movie, “A New Hope,” was released in 1977, a year before we, your grandparents, got married. Your Dad was born in 1979, but I think we’d been bringing him (and later your Tita Miya) to movie theaters since “The Empire Strikes Back” came out in 1980. Every few years, watching the new “Star Wars” movie became a ritual for the family. And yes, that included even Episode 1, “The Phantom Menace,” with the execrable Jar Jar Binks. But the movie remains a blessing, for it introduced us to the lovable Anakin.
Between movies, just for the heck of it, we would review the “Star Wars” oeuvre on Betamax, on DVDs and even on free TV. Just a few nights ago, in fact, your Lolo and I spent most of the evening sitting through “A New Hope,” and I tell you, the movie still had the power to move and mesmerize, even if we could recite aloud snatches of the dialogue from memory.
* * *
Sitting through “The Force Awakens,” in fact, was a lot like reviewing, or re-living “A New Hope.” This latest version, the first to come out from Disney after George Lucas sold the franchise, bears an uncanny resemblance to the original.
Spoiler alert: There are backstories galore. What happened to Finn (John Boyega), the renegade Storm Trooper, who was snatched from his family and conscripted by The First Order? Where does Rey (Daisy Ridley) get her “Force sensitive” skills? And what happened to Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) and Han Solo (Harrison Ford)? We know they got together and had a son now named Kylo Ren (Adam Driver), but what turned him against the Resistance, and why his devotion to the memory of his grandfather, Darth Vader?
Fleshing out these stories alone will take many movies, so we can be assured that the franchise will live on, to delight you and your friends, creating a whole new third generation of devotees.
* * *
The fervid devotion of people your parents’ age and younger was in evidence during the preview, with Storm Troopers and even a Sand Person trolling the aisles of SM Megamall. Just before the screening, we were treated to a demonstration of light saber skills by the local chapter of a fan group that has devoted itself to honing their skills in the use of these iconic weapons. (I missed the sound effects, though, such that I was reduced to going boing-boing-boing to get the full impact.)
At the end of the screening, the saber-bearing performers held up their lighted sticks, in an act that was both homage and celebration, attesting that, even with a new director (JJ Abrams), new characters, new directions, this latest addition to the “Star Wars” cinematic universe holds much the same fascination and potential for devotion as it did for previous generations.
The homage was well-deserved. Despite the echoes of previous films, and the shouts and sighs of familiarity as well-known and immediately recognizable characters and even items (where else would a piece of metal merit loud sighs of recognition, being the hilt of Luke Skywalker’s light saber, which he inherited from his father?) appeared, “The Force Awakens” still has enough original material to entertain and enthrall. Key to the new movie’s appeal is the performance of Boyega and Ridley, who give the old franchise a jolt of youth, energy and novelty.
Ridley is an extra-special touch, the first female character in the “Star Wars” canon to lead the action and show off her Jedi skills. Add to them BB8, the new droid in the franchise, who is just as cute, plucky and brave as R2D2. Although, I must say, when BB8 lifts the tarp covering the long-unused “Artoo,” the audience broke spontaneously into cheers.
* * *
Your dad sheepishly confesses to feeling tears prickling when the first scenes in the early movie trailers were shown. Specifically, the clip showed Han Solo and Chewbacca bursting into the Millennium Falcon, while Han exclaims: “Chewie, we’re home.”
For us—and for your parental units’ generation, especially—“Star Wars” has been indeed a home. A home for our great dreams and visions where it was safe to repose our deepest hopes for humanity without inviting cynicism or ridicule. The movies became almost a ritual not just to follow an epic story and memorable characters, but also to touch base with our ideals and dreams, as I hope the franchise does for you and your friends, too.
You and your generation will have a whole new “take” on “Star Wars,” one less reverential, I bet. Will you in turn be naming your son Finn or your daughter Rey? Even if you don’t, I know The Force will still be strong within you.