I don’t exactly know how many discussions I’ve had about Star Wars: The Force Awakens, but it’s a lot. Like, A LOT. “Have you seen it?” “Didi you take the kids?” “Did you love it?” And I can honestly say, J.J. Abrams, you blew my mind.
My husband is a huge Star Wars superfan. His tattoo doesn’t lie. So when the release date for presales came, he harassed me into tickets for the first opportunity we could see it. Of course, that meant prime-time, 1.45 pm at the best screen in the city. It was a 3D, DBOX, UltraAVX, ATMOS experience. (I’m not sure what all of those mean, but the seats jostled us, the sound was incredible and the Millennium Falcon seemed to warp right at us!)
The movie is a bit violent for the littles. There are some scenes that could be a little bit terrifying for the sensitive kid. I’m really not entirely sure that it was appropriate for my 5 and 7 year old boys to go see it, but it was never open for discussion. The superfan had them watch the first 6 Star Wars movies – sequentially – for the day that rivalled Christmas in its excitement and intensity in our house: The release of episode VII, Star Wars: The Force Awakens. The Kylo Ren and First Order Troopers (Storm Troopers) 3-D glasses were the best.
First Order Trooper 3D glasses
Kylo Ren 3D glasses
On Star Wars Day (or December 19th, as you might know it) my husband had to work. He knew a few days before, and it was like someone had smashed the Christmas tree and his eggnog had curdled. Theatres were sold out. There were no great options left. But he insisted I take the boys. They needed to see it! One of our friends came with – it was a special day for him, he recalled in ’77 how his dad had taken him to see the original Star Wars. I realized then and there, it wasn’t just a movie, this was a memory, a rite of passage, an important moment for my boys.
And this is something only us 40-something parents will understand. We were the youngest group to be around to experience the original release in ’77. There may be younger superfans, but if you were born after the mid 70s, you won’t remember it on the big screen in 1977 or Empire in 1980 or Return of the Jedi in 1983.
As a happy ending to my superfan/husband’s plight, what can only be known as a true Christmas/Star Wars miracle, I won tickets from a local radio station for a VIP viewing the evening of the 19th – a time he was able to go. And he noted that he knew The Force would take care of him. (Huge shout-out to Fred & Mel at 102.1 The Edge, you saved Christmas/Star Wars Day!)
***edited: just had to share the salaries of the actors in this movie HERE.