All of it began with the Lucasfilm logo flashing on screen. Then there’s a title card reading, “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away.” Slash to the opening “Star Wars” logo. The opening graphs crawl up the screen.
So begins each “Star Wars” movie. We know this. But the reaction to these movies change consistently for me over the course of 25 hours as we watched nine films in one theater. The crowd went from timid and relaxed to wild and cheerful. Each film encouraged the crowd to get more excited, more jovial for the coming stories.
The “Star Wars” movies have that sort of power, it became clear to me while sitting in that theater. They unite us. They break us out of our shells and untie us all together through the power of story. The Star Wars films span across generations. So it’s not just uniting “Star Wars” fans. We’re uniting millennials, baby boomers, Generation Z — all of whom were represented at the marathon this weekend.
I sat next to some Generation Xers. I spoke to a student who was missing school so he could see some lightsabers. A elderly couple meandered through the theaters. It was a wonder to see us all united there together under the same banner — the banner of celebration to everything “Star Wars” brings us.
Social media offered another avenue for discussion. People interacted with my tweets and video posts. Some who followed me during the previous Marvel movie marathon asked me about old memories. Someone at the “Star Wars” marathon told me she watched my old Avengers marathon videos and wondered how they compared. These people followed my story and now they have one of their own. We connect again through the wonder of story.
“Star Wars” is particularly good at this because “Star Wars” is a legend. It’s a story about a galaxy far, far away. We get an opening scroll every time a film in the Skywalker Saga hits our screen. We’re not just watching events unfold. We’re being introduced to a drama — a tale, legend or mythological story that we are going to take in.
Those stories bind us. And they become stories to us. “Star Wars” influences our own life stories. We all know where we were when we saw each “Star Wars” film. I first saw “The Phantom Menace” with my great uncle and then ate at Pizza Hut. I saw “Attack of the Clones” with my other uncle, who called the film boring. “Revenge of Sith” was one of the first movies me and my friends saw after school. I saw “The Force Awakens” and “The Last Jedi” at midnight screenings.
We all have stories to how we engage in our stories. And stories are what help us keep track of our lives and give us something to share with our children and our families.
“Star Wars” — and especially the last film in the Skywalker Saga, “Rise of Skywalker” — do this to us. It’s a cultural moment. It’s a phenomenon. It’s something that we can all look back on and wonder where we were, how we were feeling and what we thought.
Movie franchises like this are more than a franchise. They’re an experience, one we can all share and celebrate together in celebration of story.
It’s unclear what the future of “Star Wars” will look like. But I hope not much will change. I want it to stay familiar enough that we can always talk about it. We can always pass on what we have learned, as Jedi Master Yoda would tell us to do. Pass on our stories. Pass on our experiences. And celebrate the wondrous part of pop culture... together.