Cultural Icons: We Haz Them

[theemdash]

barbed_whispers has never seen Star Wars. marilla82 has never seen Buffy. They each think missing the other is stranger. I'm here to prove one of them right.

Please feel free to pimp this.

Poll

Comments

[roniabirk]

I think it's a generational thing, too. If you weren't old enough to go to the first Star Wars movie in the theaters or are now a child of someone who did, you most likely aren't going to have as strong of an urge to see it.

However, the Buffy viewer (IMO) is the person who is in between those two generations - not quite old enough to see SW in the theater and yet not the child of someone who did.

So while I may be biased toward Buffy, if you are between the ages of 25 and 35, I think it is stranger to have not seen any Buffy than Star Wars.

[theemdash]

I can see that, but I'm not just talking about the original trilogy. I mean any Star Wars at all. The original trilogy and the prequel trilogy were released while Buffy was on the air, so I don't think generations have much to do with exposure to Star Wars.

[barbed_whispers]

yeah, but if you've never seen the original trilogy, and you weren't a child who was easily excited by shiny action scenes, the prequels held very little appeal. I believe I actually scoffed at them, and at the people who were excited by them.

[sopdetly]

I'm in that age group and I've never seen Buffy. And I didn't grow up with SW. But SW was re-released in theaters, don't forget, and that's when I saw them. (Of course, I lose nerd cred for therefore not minding the re-releases' changes....)

So I don't think it's an age thing. I think Buffy is a little more specific-genre than SW. I don't like vampire stuff, so it's simply never interested me. SW is more casual and it's easier for people to get into. Plus, being movies vs. TV eps makes SW more accessible to people giving it a watch.

[theemdash]

(Of course, I lose nerd cred for therefore not minding the re-releases' changes....)

For the record, I don't mind some of the changes and I think it's awesome to have some of the additional scenes. The two changes that actually bother me are:

1. Han shot first. And this is because I think him shooting first says a lot about his character and I like him as a scoundrel and that he's a bounty hunter and that he has questionable morals.

Do I think it "ruined" the film to have Greedo shoot first? Eh, whatever.

2. CELEBRATE THE LOVE. This is 100% me, my childhood, and my yub nubs. I hate that they removed the song Celebrate the Love from the end of Return of the Jedi. HAAAATE. Because I love that song. Because I'm weird.

YUB NUB!

But I don't think it matters if you're bothered or not bothered by the changes. Both versions are out on DVD, watch the one you prefer.

I don't like vampire stuff

I DON'T KNOW WHY WE'RE FRIENDS! D:

[momebie]

It's that Star Wars was re-released that gets me. But I understand that if you don't have a scifi bent, and don't have parents with a scifi bent, then it probably just wouldn't have blipped your radar. It's just a part of the collective conscience for me, though.

My main argument for it being weirder to not have seen Star Wars is that Star Wars references are more pervasive in pop culture. I mean, there have been 10 or so in the season and a half of Supernatural I've watched. Or maybe it's not and I'm just not getting the Buffy references. ;)

[ninepointfivemm]

My dad almost named me Leia. THAT Leia. I, however, did not see Star Wars in its entirety, in full, to where I could tell you what happened, till I was 24. This was last year. Yeah, I wasn't even born when ROTJ came out, but they were re-released when I was 12, for the 20th anniversary. It was a Big Cultural Thing to go and see the prequels at my school. The popular kids were all saying, "Yeah, I'm gonna go see Attack of the Clones at the 10:20 showing." I was 17, and it was a Big Deal in my high school