(source - lesaviezvous.com)
Close friends already know I’ve got a bit of a thing about Star Wars, the darth Vador birthday cake for my 40th was a bit of a give away I suppose. ( Although last year's was Optimus Prime, another hero for another post I guess.)
I’ve always enjoyed a good saga and SW has it all, love, hate, jealousy, intergalactic battles, the whole array of human emotions are there at your grasp.
Star Wars is just another example of the big story. You know the one, everyday child grows up, not knowing who his real parents are ( see Eragon,Lyra, Jesus, etc) unaware of the prophecy about them, (Harry Potter,Lyra, Jesus), until a turn of events forces them to admit their destiny and take on a role they don’t necessarily want in order to save the world, (Eragon, Harry, Luke, Katniss, Lyra, Jesus, etc). Helped by older, wiser character – who will probably die before the final battle (Brom, Dumbledore Obi Wan, etc) they learn just enough before their mentor is killed by wand/magic/light saber, to win the battle, eventually, after a lot of hard work and secondary characters along the way.
In fact if I had to write my English lit thesis now, this would be the subject I think.
My favorite character is Chewbacca, I love the way someone can communicate so much which just a few noises, like quite a few people I know in fact. Chewy is a wooki and if you want to know more about them, or anything in starwars then you should head to wookipedia, which will not only give you information you didn’t even know you needed, but will show you the lengths some people will go to in the name of the force.
I have used Star Wars many times in class, my explanation of modal verbs as Star Wars characters has helped many pupils, not all mind, I know some of them think I’m a total weirdo when I describe the verb Be as the Yoda of verbs,” the strongest verb in the galaxy, the only lexical verb that doesn’t need an auxiliary, let’s give a big hand to the one and only…” I remember one poor new kid who tentatively put up his hand to say “ We did irregular verbs in our old school, but I’ve never done jedi verbs before Miss”.
Although Dr Who fans are known as Whovians, and Star Trek followers are of course Trekkies, Star Wars disciples don’t seem to have their own collective noun, if you Google it you’ll probably come up with nerd or saddo, which is a bit mean I think. There’s a fine line between saddo and healthy enjoyment I feel, and whenever I worry about where I am on that line I look at this.
Despite my love of the force, I don't regret studying useful subjects at university, such as English literature and philosophy as opposed to Jedi Studies, anotther time maybe.
