The Force Awakens: New and Old Generations

I never thought that in 1983 when I walked out of the theater after watching Return of the Jedi that 32 years later my world would be wrapped up in the Star Wars Universe, again.  Star Wars has been tugging at me over the last several years with the release of the prequel (interesting for the story, but left a little to be desired with acting and CGI animation heavy) films, the Clone Wars animated series (genius), and more recently the Rebels animated series (closing in on the genius of the Clone Wars).  But on Thanksgiving weekend of 2014, my world was turned upside down as The Force Awakens Episode VII teaser was released.  I couldn't believe my eyes that this was a reality.

Off to see The Force Awakens

Fast forward to December 2015.  I re-watched all six episodes, reviewed key Clone Wars episodes and watched episodes IV through VI a second time prior to The Force Awakens weekend.  I have watched every episode of Rebels several times, read all the new Marvel, canon, comics, read Star Wars Tarkin, A New Dawn, and Aftermath.  I attended the Indiana Comic Con to hear Carrie Fisher address the audience and hang on every word for any hint she might give in regards to The Force Awakens.  I attended the midnight opening of the Force Friday toy release.  I even hosted a Star Wars Reads Day event in October at work.  I also have had the pleasure and honor to meet and work with the co-hosts of the internationally known podcast, Coffee with Kenobi, Dan Zehr and Cory Clubb.   I have bathed in Star Wars building up to the December opening weekend of The Force Awakens.  My biggest fear was how could this movie possibly live up to the hype, the mythology, the modern day scrutiny, the hyper-media focused public eye and opinion?  I had massive anxiety as I drove to the theater.
But that is me.  The "old" generation of Star Wars fandom.  The believers of the force.  I grew up with the Millennium Falcon as my visual concept of what an awesome space ship would look like.  I grew up with the nightmare of what it would be to face Darth Vader and the empowering hope that even I, some nobody from a small town, could rise to face the evil in the world.  That there is a force that we can use for good or evil.  I am old-school, but I am not the only Star Wars fan any more.  I have a new generation of Star Wars fan in my own house (thanks to my persistence but I'm not sure if the hype of this film wouldn't have turned her to geekdom even if I hadn't).
My daughter, 8 years old, is the same age as I was when I first watched the rolling text and the Star Wars fanfare open the movie.  The only difference is I had the drum roll and 20th Century Fox logo and she has a Disney logo.  It has been so exciting for me to watch all the movies, Rebels and some of the Clone Wars episodes with her.  The questions she asks me are the same questions my friends and I would ask 30-some years ago: Is Vader really Luke's father?  Will they find Han Solo?  Who is this Jabba the Hutt guy?  Why don't 3-PO and R2 ever get shot when they cross the laser bolts?  Why can't a Stormtrooper ever actually hit someone?  What happened to Obi Wan's body when the lightsaber slashed through the robes?  Didn't Luke kill Vader in the cave?  Wait, what?  She asked them all.
What has been so fantastic is that this, The Force Awakens, is her Star Wars movie.  This time, we will both ask the questions together and we will discover the answers together too.  Rey, Finn, Poe and BB-8 are her heroes while mine are still Han, Leia, Chewie and Luke.  My villain was Vader;  hers is Kylo Ren.  She thinks her villain is so much cooler than mine, but I remind her that her villain worships mine.  Then I watch the eye roll...I am loving this. Like I said in the opening, I never thought 32 years later that I would be experiencing a new Star Wars with the same excitement, but I never thought that I would be sharing it with my own children.  I will share our experience of seeing the film soon in another post, but after seeing the movie, she asked, "How many more movies will there be, because I don't want this to end."  My response was there will be three movies over the next several years,  but how awesome would it be if after those three movies a whole new story started again when she is 45 like me.  After saying that, I saw my daughter look away in to the distance as if she was looking into a twin star sunset with her thoughts on the future, dreaming what that might be like to share this experience with her own children.  A dream for her, but it is my Star Wars reality.