The Joy of Star Wars
Star Wars has been with us for nearly 50 years and shows no signs of slowing down, with one or two new streaming shows a year and at least one movie currently in the works. It’s grown and evolved over the decades and some pundits, like the good folks at Force Center, often talk about the “smorgasbord of style” that’s available to Star Wars fans these days. Everything from silly escapism to gritty analogy is on offer in Star Wars and today I’d like to celebrate the vast range of the Star Wars menu available to fans.
Space Opera or Space Fantasy?
Ever since it exploded onto movie screens in 1977, Star Wars has had an epic, fantastic, over-the-top feel. Many pundits classify it as part of the science fiction genre Space Opera, which is well-known for its vast, space-faring civilizations, interstellar travel and grand drama. Star Wars certainly fits the bill for this sub-genre with its Empire, its aliens, its spaceships as common as cars and the fate of the galaxy in the balance.
But Star Wars also contains the mystical elements of the Force, the Jedi and the Sith, which starts to move away from the purest science fiction. It also, and unashamedly, completely disregards the laws of physics and lets happen whatever the story needs. It’s part-Western, part-Samurai, part-WWII, except it’s all in space. There are some who argue that Star Wars isn’t even science fiction at all, but rather in the genre of Space Fantasy, where anything goes, the rules don’t matter and telling a good story trumps any consideration of “what’s possible”.
Fun and Epic versus Dark and Gritty
Whatever you call it, Star Wars is certainly a lot of fun. But it’s also much more. George Lucas changed filmmaking forever with the original movie, which I’ll call A New Hope even though I know it was called Star Wars in 1977, and for the sequel he probably could have just leaned into the fun, epic and sometimes silly universe he’d introduced to the world.
But he didn’t. The Empire Strikes Back shocked movie-goers by going dark. The good guys were constantly on the back foot, our heroes made mistakes and, ultimately, they failed. The movie was grim, tense and at times downright scary.
(Don’t think so? Try showing it to your 3- and 5-year-old kids and watch them run crying out of the room. My youngest made it as far as the Dagobah tree and the eldest ran out during the carbon-freezing…)
Over 40 years later we can forget how controversial Empire was at the time, especially since it has grown to be widely considered the best Star Wars movie. But it was a huge tonal shift from A New Hope and in 1980 many people didn’t know what to make of it. And fair enough. A New Hope was light-hearted, fantastic fun – people looking for more of the same had to make quite an adjustment.
So since almost the very beginning, Star Wars has existed in more than one form. It is a swashbuckling space fantasy tailor-made for kids. But it is also a mature, thoughtful drama dealing with dark and serious themes.
Not my Star Wars!
Since 1980, Star Wars has expanded to include 10 more movies, 6 live-action TV shows, 7 animated TV shows, several made-for TV movies, dozens of Lego screen adaptations and countless novels, comic series and video games. The franchise has been everything from absurdly silly to disturbingly political, with everything in between (sometimes in the same episode!).
The fan base is similarly varied, with people of all ages, all walks of life and from many different countries. Different aspects of the franchise will naturally appeal to different audiences. All good, except for when some folks seem to get upset when the latest movie or TV show isn’t the kind of Star Wars they like best. This has led to angry online outbursts proclaiming:
“Not my Star Wars!!!”
This is often associated with reactions to the Sequel Trilogy, but in fact it’s much older than that. I remember when the Prequel Trilogy was first introduced in 1999. Wow – you want to talk about anger. I’m not going to get into it, but trust me: the hate and vitriol for the new movies was so loud and so aggressive it was impossible for anyone to publicly admit that they liked the Prequels. It’s taken two decades until it’s safe to admit that they actually weren’t that bad. And there’s a whole, younger generation who were first introduced to Star Wars through the Prequels – and they love those movies.
I can only hope that time will pass and the fans who were kids when the Sequels came out finally take their place as full-throated fans. And hey, I’m an OT kid and I’ll say it right now: I like the Sequels. They weren’t perfect, but neither was the Original Trilogy, if you want to be picky.
And I think that’s the point. If you want to be picky – if you choose to be negative – there’s nothing anyone can say to convince you that a movie you’ve decided to hate is loved by others. There’s lots of Star Wars out there – go enjoy the parts you like and leave others to do the same.
Star Wars for Everyone
And that’s what I want to celebrate today. Star Wars is huge, it’s diverse, it’s all sorts of things. There’s something for everyone, no matter what your taste.
If you like your space fantasy fun, optimistic and heroic, tuck into Return of the Jedi, The Force Awakens or Skeleton Crew.
If you want something dark, brooding and thought-provoking, feast on The Empire Strikes Back, Andor or The Bad Batch.
If you have little kids you want to introduce to the saga, sit back and enjoy A New Hope, Phantom Menace or Resistance.
If you have really little kids, check out Young Jedi Adventures or go retro with Droids or Ewoks.
If you want long, complex storylines and epic scope, settle into The Clone Wars, The Mandalorian or Rebels.
If you want middle-age angst, there’s The Last Jedi, Kenobi or Ahsoka.
If you want over-the-top pulp, there’s Attack of the Clones, The Book of Boba Fett or The Rise of Skywalker.
If you simply want great adventure drama, I recommend Rogue One, Solo or Revenge of the Sith.
This is what’s so amazing about Star Wars! It’s got something for everyone. It’s a cultural colossus that can be enjoyed at a superficial level one day and a profound level the next. It can be whatever you want it to be.
So get out there and pick your own favorites from the smorgasbord of style.
Bennett R. Coles is an award-winning, best-selling author and ghostwriter of science fiction and space fantasy series. His newest novel, Light in the Abyss, is now available here.
