Star Wars — How It Impacted My Life & First Thoughts on ‘The Force Awakens’ [no spoilers!]

I first saw saw Star Wars when I was six or seven years old, which must have been around 1985 or 86. I watched it with a friend of mine, or so I remember. More than thirty years have passed since then, so some of what I recall might be heavily distorted. It probably is. What’s important however is that I still have specific scenes from the movie, and from that day, imprinted in my memory. Us sitting on the carpet in front of the TV. I was most probably completely oblivious to the world around me.

I can hear the scream of TIE Fighters flying by. Darth Vader breathing…

The best part of watching that movie so early in my life, is that I most probably reimagined it to my needs. If I close my eyes, I can still see C-3PO and R2-D2 in certain situations, which are not to be found in any of the episodes of Star Wars. I can hear the blasters firing at them. I can hear the scream of TIE Fighters flying by. Darth Vader breathing… I treasure these memories deeply, since they’re one of the few that I can clearly recall from my childhood. And the music! I get goose-bumps whenever I hear anything by John Williams, but the score and the Imperial Theme from Star Wars are at the top of my list.

I don’t know why Star Wars had such a strong impact of my life. I don’t think I want to know. But it did. I absolutely love close to everything about the whole series, and I have an uncanny ability to compartmentalise the elements of the films which are not up to standard. Characters too for that matter, such as one Mr. Jar Jar Binks.

I grew up falling in love with Star Wars, and I’ll most probably die loving it. I can’t begin to imagine what it would be like to live life without all of these thoughts and feelings. Emptier? Probably. And the lightsabres! Oh how I want one, realising I’d probably cut something vital off immediately.

‘The Force Awakens’

I have so far seen only one screening of the seventh episode, in 3D, which began close to eleven hours ago. I’ll be going again tonight, and once more tomorrow, this time in 2D.

Mr. Abrams chose to go with his own composition, and he executed it extremely well.

The first thing that had me worried was the opening scene. Unnecessarily. It was cut just as I’d hoped it would be. The second was J.J. Abrams and his style. Would it be more in the style of the original trilogy, or the prequels? Mr. Abrams chose to go with his own composition, and he executed it extremely well. It’s close to the original movies, and I only caught two scenes which felt out of place. Luckily, the worst one is at the very end of the film — you’ll know it when you see it.

I was also worried about the music. Star Wars has so many excellent orchestral pieces in it, which set the pace, mood, and feelings of the viewers, that a misstep would be disastrous. Happily, this too turned out better than expected. I’d just like to add that my wonderful wife got up earlier than I did today (we went to see ‘The Force Awakens’ together), and turned on one of the many Star Wars albums available in Apple Music. My awakening was amazing — she couldn’t have chosen better — and it definitely set the mood for the day.

I only watched the teaser trailers and the first official trailer before going to the cinema. I also miraculously managed to avoid any spoilers that are out there. This meant that I knew the characters to expect. Three of them did an amazing job. I think I fell in love with a fourth (don’t tell my wife). And I was sorely disappointed by one of them. Curiously, the one which many people complement a lot. I won’t go into any details, so as not to spoil anything for you, but feel free to contact me if you want to know more.

Feelings which could and would lead me to the Dark Side, were I in training.

All of the above would be for naught if the movie didn’t evoke any feelings in me. But it did. Strong feelings. Fear. Laughter. Awe. Sadness. Oh, the deep sadness, which held me for the better part of the movie. Feelings which could and would lead me to the Dark Side, were I in training. I won’t admit that I had tears streaming down both my cheeks at one point in the movie though.

‘The Force Awakens’ is most definitely worth seeing, especially if you’ve at least watched the original trilogy (episodes IV, V and VI). One thing, which I did not expect, was that it would slot in at number two of my personal Top Star Wars Movie List, right behind ‘The Empires Strikes Back’.

Good work Disney and everyone else. You nailed it.

The post Star Wars — How It Impacted My Life & First Thoughts on
‘The Force Awakens’ [no spoilers!] first appeared on Infinite Diaries.