You know what I just started thinking about?
Star Wars.
Yeah yeah laugh it up I'm a dork what's yer point.
More specifically I was wondering why it is that star wars still has its hold on people after all these years. How is it that people continue to make George Lucas unlimitedly rich, despite the general silliness of the SW franchise? How is it that "Star Wars" can be put on anything from videogames to bedsheets to cereal and it all sells? What is it about the SW universe that so wholly captures our imaginations, and has since 1977?
I can barely bring up something that has the staying power with as many people as SW does, at least in terms of entertainment media. It, like Microsoft, has become an entity unto itself, ceasing to exist under a simple genre banner like "movie serieses" and instead becoming true Americana in its own right. Anything can become a movie series, as a trip to Blockbuster will show you, but nothing has become what Star Wars is. SW is as much the American lifestyle as high gas prices, McDonalds, and flagrantly overcompensating SUVs.
Perhaps it speaks to a fundamental need of humanity to have silly fantastical adventures; long dead is the Western, the precursor to the "space frontier" kinds of shows, and the void had to be filled by something. God knows how many numerous attempts were made to please the masses, and SW simply had the luck of coming out on top. It had to have been luck and an extreme fanbase that has perpetuated SW through the age as it were, and more the former than the latter. Such things do work in mysterious ways.
As to the inevitable debate between Star Wars versus Star TREK? Hands down, SW is the more mainstream of the two. Yes Trek has produced some particularly rabid fans, but are there pseudo-religions in Britain that are giving "Jedi" a run for its money? Nope. Yes people get married in Klingon garb, but such people are looked upon as "stories of the weird". They have no credit in the larger community, it's not as accepted to be a Trekkie as it is to be a SW fan. Hardcore fans will always had a negative stigma but such is life.
Maybe because of the broad appeal (read: obvious pandering) SW engages in, that's why people have and continue to flock to the fandom. There's something for everyone. You can enjoy it and get into it without being hardcore. It's approachable. This cannot be said of other franchises, especially in the space opera genre. There is an air of elitism that is native to Babylon 5, Firefly, Star Trek, and numerous other sci-fi type shows. The elitism of SW at least has the decency to have a friendly face on it.
Such are the thoughts that run through my head when I'm avoiding thinking about more serious, disruptive things in my life. I don't like to whine or angst, so I go off about this stuff to make meself feel better. Works, occasionally.
Anyway, I'ma go surf the net for silliness. Hopefully I gave you all food for thought.
Yeah yeah laugh it up I'm a dork what's yer point.
More specifically I was wondering why it is that star wars still has its hold on people after all these years. How is it that people continue to make George Lucas unlimitedly rich, despite the general silliness of the SW franchise? How is it that "Star Wars" can be put on anything from videogames to bedsheets to cereal and it all sells? What is it about the SW universe that so wholly captures our imaginations, and has since 1977?
I can barely bring up something that has the staying power with as many people as SW does, at least in terms of entertainment media. It, like Microsoft, has become an entity unto itself, ceasing to exist under a simple genre banner like "movie serieses" and instead becoming true Americana in its own right. Anything can become a movie series, as a trip to Blockbuster will show you, but nothing has become what Star Wars is. SW is as much the American lifestyle as high gas prices, McDonalds, and flagrantly overcompensating SUVs.
Perhaps it speaks to a fundamental need of humanity to have silly fantastical adventures; long dead is the Western, the precursor to the "space frontier" kinds of shows, and the void had to be filled by something. God knows how many numerous attempts were made to please the masses, and SW simply had the luck of coming out on top. It had to have been luck and an extreme fanbase that has perpetuated SW through the age as it were, and more the former than the latter. Such things do work in mysterious ways.
As to the inevitable debate between Star Wars versus Star TREK? Hands down, SW is the more mainstream of the two. Yes Trek has produced some particularly rabid fans, but are there pseudo-religions in Britain that are giving "Jedi" a run for its money? Nope. Yes people get married in Klingon garb, but such people are looked upon as "stories of the weird". They have no credit in the larger community, it's not as accepted to be a Trekkie as it is to be a SW fan. Hardcore fans will always had a negative stigma but such is life.
Maybe because of the broad appeal (read: obvious pandering) SW engages in, that's why people have and continue to flock to the fandom. There's something for everyone. You can enjoy it and get into it without being hardcore. It's approachable. This cannot be said of other franchises, especially in the space opera genre. There is an air of elitism that is native to Babylon 5, Firefly, Star Trek, and numerous other sci-fi type shows. The elitism of SW at least has the decency to have a friendly face on it.
Such are the thoughts that run through my head when I'm avoiding thinking about more serious, disruptive things in my life. I don't like to whine or angst, so I go off about this stuff to make meself feel better. Works, occasionally.
Anyway, I'ma go surf the net for silliness. Hopefully I gave you all food for thought.