A bit of a dilemma ....
In a My wife and I have reached a bit of an impasse on something - usually with parenting issues we end up on the same page, but on this issue we've become polarized. We were discussing Star Wars, and could not agree on which order to first have our son watch them in. I know that it's still early days, and that there is still plenty of time to worry about this before he's mature enough to watch them, but it's good to be prepared.
For the uninitiated: there are two sets of Star Wars films. The set you're most likely familiar with, the one with hick farmboy Luke Skywalker and Carrie Fisher in odd hairstyles is episodes 4-6, also known as the "Original Trilogy" or OT. The more recent one, which features beardy Ewan MacGregor and lots of extra-fancy special effects, is episodes 1-3, also known as the "Prequel Trilogy" or PT.
My wife's position is that they should be watched in the order that they were released: episodes 4-6 first, followed by episodes 1-3 afterwards. Her argument in favour of that order is basically one of tradition: that for the first twenty-eight years of Star Wars being in existence, people watched the story of Luke before anything else, and that it worked out okay for people in that time. Star Wars fans in general could be said to be supportive of this opinion, I think, as every subsequent Star Wars story told is given a time reference based on the Battle of Yavin in episode 4 (for example, "TheGreat Hyperspace War occured 5,000 years before the Battle of Yavin"). She also thinks that the darker bits of Episode 3 would be easier to take knowing that, in the end, everything turns out okay. It is worth noting that this argument is partially based on her love of Ewoks, and that she would want him watching them as soon as possible.
I respectfully disagree with her opinion, although I can see where she's coming from. I think that, by nature of its existence, the PT has fundamentally altered what Star Wars is about: it's no longer centrally about Luke Skywalker doing the joesph Campbell thing; rather, it's now fundamentally about Anakin, his fall from grace, and eventual redemption. It's a story that should resonate with the way kids are raised today, as well - the message of it is that if you put a kid under more pressure than they can handle, they will ultimately break under it and bad things will happen. I think that's why Lucas numbered the films the way he did - he wants it to be Anakin's story, and I think as an audience we have to respect that to a degree.
At the same time, I can see that my argument isn't perfect - it creates a fundamental generation gap between my experience of Star Wars and my son's, for example. But I think that that difference will exist regardless of how he watches it - Star Wars was a gateway drug for me into the world of science fiction, which is why it will always have a special place in my heart - with him it won't have that same effect, not only because he'll be exposed to my sci-fi love, but also because there's a lot more kid-friendly sci-fi stuff out there today.
For the uninitiated: there are two sets of Star Wars films. The set you're most likely familiar with, the one with hick farmboy Luke Skywalker and Carrie Fisher in odd hairstyles is episodes 4-6, also known as the "Original Trilogy" or OT. The more recent one, which features beardy Ewan MacGregor and lots of extra-fancy special effects, is episodes 1-3, also known as the "Prequel Trilogy" or PT.
My wife's position is that they should be watched in the order that they were released: episodes 4-6 first, followed by episodes 1-3 afterwards. Her argument in favour of that order is basically one of tradition: that for the first twenty-eight years of Star Wars being in existence, people watched the story of Luke before anything else, and that it worked out okay for people in that time. Star Wars fans in general could be said to be supportive of this opinion, I think, as every subsequent Star Wars story told is given a time reference based on the Battle of Yavin in episode 4 (for example, "TheGreat Hyperspace War occured 5,000 years before the Battle of Yavin"). She also thinks that the darker bits of Episode 3 would be easier to take knowing that, in the end, everything turns out okay. It is worth noting that this argument is partially based on her love of Ewoks, and that she would want him watching them as soon as possible.
I respectfully disagree with her opinion, although I can see where she's coming from. I think that, by nature of its existence, the PT has fundamentally altered what Star Wars is about: it's no longer centrally about Luke Skywalker doing the joesph Campbell thing; rather, it's now fundamentally about Anakin, his fall from grace, and eventual redemption. It's a story that should resonate with the way kids are raised today, as well - the message of it is that if you put a kid under more pressure than they can handle, they will ultimately break under it and bad things will happen. I think that's why Lucas numbered the films the way he did - he wants it to be Anakin's story, and I think as an audience we have to respect that to a degree.
At the same time, I can see that my argument isn't perfect - it creates a fundamental generation gap between my experience of Star Wars and my son's, for example. But I think that that difference will exist regardless of how he watches it - Star Wars was a gateway drug for me into the world of science fiction, which is why it will always have a special place in my heart - with him it won't have that same effect, not only because he'll be exposed to my sci-fi love, but also because there's a lot more kid-friendly sci-fi stuff out there today.