On the night of the Rise of Skywalker premiere/Fan Event, after the credits stopped and the lights came back on, my niece Chloe suddenly exclaimed,
“OH MY GOD! THAT WAS SOOOOOOOO GOOD!”
Which for me, capped off two weeks of rediscovery and appreciation.
Two weeks prior, my sister Jen had told me that Chloe wanted to watch the entire Saga, before the new movie came out. I said that was fine, since I had been planning to watch in Machete Order anyways, as I do before a new Star Wars film premieres.
That Saturday morning, Chloe came to me and asked herself if we could watch the Saga. I asked her if she had seen any of the movies (yes), which ones (she only remembered watching Episodes IV and maybe V), did she know who Luke’s father is (yes, Darth Vader).
I had forgotten that my sister was very strict in her Star Wars upbringing with Chloe and didn’t show her the Prequel Trilogy. That was apparent when we were watching an episode of The Clone Wars on Disney+ and she didn’t know who Anakin Skywalker was.
Based on her answers, I decided to forego the Machete Order, and started the Saga with Episode I.
And that’s when something magical began to happen.
I was watching these movies again through Chloe’s eyes, and watching her reactions.
I rediscovered what I loved about these movies through the eyes of a child, who these movies are really made for in the first place.
Many of us as long time fans fell in love with these movies as children, watching them through child eyes. The Prequels were seen through the eyes of young adults, which may have skewed our view of them. But Chloe enjoyed each one of them. She loved The Phantom Menace. She then thought Attack of the Clones was a better movie.
For the next two weekends we binged all 8 existing Saga films. One of my favorite moments while watching was when we watched The Force Awakens, and when Rey said, “The garbage will do!” and then they turn toward the other ship, and Chloe gasped and said, “The Millennium Falcon!”
A few days later we watched The Rise of Skywalker and Chloe loved it.
Children’s films. Certainly they mean much more to me and so many other fans.
But many seem to have taken misplaced ownership over them in the age of social media, and expect them to be more than they actually are and when they aren’t, their disappointment ranges from mild annoyance to outright rage and hatred, blaming everything from Disney to J.J. Abrams and Rian Johnson to even other fans who disagree with them.
Children’s films. Modern mythology. Entertainment.
I say time and again that Star Wars rules my life, but not by the negativity that we’ve seen in the past 4 years or so.
I came out of these two weeks with a better appreciation of the Skywalker Saga. None of these movies are perfect (except maybe The Empire Strikes Back). All are about the same quality, and in some cases, the same story.
But that’s what makes this Saga so enjoyable. In the end, good triumphs over evil, as we want all stories to end.
Just like we did when we were children.