May the 4th Be With You
- 05 May 2016
- FWD Admin
- Features
A Kochiite reflects on the stellar series and his city on Star Wars Day
Today is May the 4th, which might sound like just any day. But for movie nerds and science fiction fans everywhere it is of special significance, as today is international Star Wars day. One of the iconic dialogue in the Star Wars series is “May the force be with you”. Since May 4th sound similar to “May the force” May 4th is celebrated with the sentence “May the 4th be with you”. The original Star Wars are a trilogy of movies created by George Lucas depicting the battle in the stars between the Nazi like regime of The Empire and Rebels.
Even though there have been many movies since which were blockbusters, none had the enduring success of the Star Wars series. In fact I became a fan after watching the first movie on a grainy VHS cassette in 1994. I was instantly hooked. But I personally did not have a chance to know how big a fandom it had until I finally had a chance to see a Star Wars movie on the big screen. It was in 2005 and the final part of the new trilogy (Revenge Of the Sith) was being shown in Sridhar Theatre in Kochi. I was standing in line to get a ticket and a boy around 12 was in front of me, agonizing whether he would be able to get a ticket. We got talking about the Star Wars and became friends. I was twenty two and he was twelve. If a movie can bring together different age groups together to geek out over a single movie, it definitely has to be something special. In fact the end of the movie included the unveiling of Darth Vader in full costume, the crowd in the theatre went crazy. People where whistling, shouting, standing up and clapping. I can say in complete honesty it was one of the most thrilling experiences in my life. Ten years later I came to Centre Square to see “The Force Awakens”. I walked in inside to see women with the now iconic Princess Leia Hairbun,gGuys with toy lightsabers and lots of Star Wars t-shirts. Only then did I come to the realization that Star Wars is officially a phenomenon in Kochi. I also came to realize that this here is my tribe, I am home.
Between this trilogy of movies, we saw very iconic and now instantly recognizable characters like the eternal scoundrel Han Solo , the wise teacher Obi Wan Kenobi and now considered one of the most recognizable bad guys at the cinema, the intimidating Darth Vader. The original trilogy began in 1977,the subsequent movies were released in 1980 and 1983. They are considered a landmark in cinema and was responsible for the age of the modern special effects in movies. In fact George Lucas founded “Industrial Light & Magic (ILM)” to create special effects that did not exist at the time. Most of the special effects seen on screen these days would not have even existed if not for Star Wars. They also released another trilogy featuring the origin of Darth Vader between 1999 and 2005 which was not received as warmly as the original movies. But they still did well financially. Also a new Trilogy started in 2015 which is set to conclude in 2019. The fiirst movie in the new trilogy has been very successful with both the audience and the critics.
If you wonder what makes this movie so special, remember those stories our grandmothers taught us as children which instilled much of the moral responsibility in our lives? Well, that is what Star Wars is for us in a way. It is about a farm boy fighting the good fight to save the world for the little people suffering under the thumb of the people who were supposed to take care of them.
Well what could be nobler than that?
So enjoy today preferably watching all 7 movies released so far back to back.
And May the 4th Be with you.
Words: Abdul Manaf
Illustration: Leeza Wants Pizza
