A while ago I wrote about how I’d gotten “generation gapped” at lunch with my co-workers. Well, in what is probably a sign of my swiftly approaching decline into senility and being completely out of touch, it happened again yesterday.
One of my team members was telling me about how she read on some blog somewhere that they are developing fancy computerized limbs so that amputees will “have cool new arms like that science fiction guy Luke something.” “You mean Luke Skywalker?!” I said. “You’ve never seen Star Wars?” And no, she never had. And then it turned out that one of my other team members has never the Star Wars movies either. Never seen one! This is inconceivable to me. Star Wars and the Empire Strikes Back and yes, even Return of the Jedi were such a HUGE part of my childhood. I was Princess Leia for Halloween in 1st grade. I remember very clearly being excited to go see the sequels. Apparently not so much for girls who were ten years younger than me.
Now, my brother is around the same age as a few of the people on my team, but he’s seen the movies. Of course, he’s related to me. And evidence from the rest of my team seems to indicate that the younger guys did see the movies, although some of them may be more excited about the Transformers. I do remember watching the Transformers with my brother when he was little, and I have to say, it’s no Star Wars. Although it probably is better than Episodes 1-3, burdened as those movies are with Jar Jar Binks, Hayden Christensen’s leaden acting, and horrible writing. As one of my co-workers put it “After watching those movies, I actually thought Natalie Portman was a really bad actress until I saw her in something else.”
Perhaps I have been confused all these years. I thought all my peers had seen the Star Wars movies, but I could be wrong. Maybe it was just me and my particular group of friends. So I ask you: Did you see Star Wars and do you know who Luke freaking Skywalker is? How old are you (a range is just fine for those of you who don’t want to be specific)? And are you male or female? Now I'm curious about whether it is a generational thing or a gender thing. Either way I'm still the odd one out, but I'd like to know!
Erin says "well I think her co-workers are just weird" - referring to your team members bereft of culture and clearly neglected as children.
I think that it that it actually states on the "tim dooley friend application form" that being ignorant of the cultural implications of Star Wars is cause for automatic disqualification and a spring break trip to purgatory with Dante (whom they don't know either).
Yeesh. Clearly these whipper-snappers need to quit watching Lindsay 'Rehab' Lohan flicks and get educated. Good Lord, Star Wars is the highest grossing-film EVER (accounting for inflation).
They probably don't know anything about Top Gun either, the bastards.
:)
I'm a 28-year old girl and you bet your ass I saw Star Wars! I was too young to catch them in the theaters, but we had a VHS tape that my mom had put all three of them on, and we'd watch that frequently. I spent most of my childhood wishing I had enough hair to work the Princess Leia cinnamon bun look. I had a friend in college who'd never seen them and it SHOCKED me. I can tell you one thing: my kids will see Star Wars, for sure.
I am 39 and female. I have not seen anything Star Wars related. However, I do not like fiction in any form. I don't read fiction books, I don't watch hardly any fiction on TV. I do watch a few more crime like shows now but up until about 5 or 6 years ago, I only watched the news, sports and reality shows.
I do not enjoy any of the Star Wars type stuff. My husband watches Stargate and I cringe. I'm not judging those of you who enjoy this stuff, I simply hate it and can't even stand to be in the same room when it is on. However, I do know what it is, and I do recognize the names of the players.
Would I know what Luke Skywalker looked like, or Jar Jar Binks or even be able to tell one from the other? Not a chance. That's our illiterate I am to that stuff. Again, I simply don't enjoy it. My husband will watch Matrix once a week if I would tolerate it.
So, maybe it is a generation gap in some ways, but maybe it is simply a matter of interest.
I saw all the original Star Wars movies and LOVED them. Han Solo was my boyfriend. I have not, however, seen any of the newer films. I started to watch one once but was so bored that I had to turn it off. Plus it bums be out because I know what happens and I don't want to root for Vader only to be crushed when he does finally turn to the dark side.
Oh, and I'm 40
I think I've seen parts of some of them. Obviously they didn't made a deep impression on the media lover in me.
I had a similar experience when I asked a couple of teenager girls what the girls in "Clueless" called a chubby girl (heifer) and they had never heard of the movie.
I'm 26. :)
I didn't see any of the Star Wars movies until they were re-released about 10 years ago. I'm 33, but you know that :-)
I remember seeing the first Star Wars movie in the theatre and just being blown away as the opening scene played across the screen as the two ships did battle. At the time, it was so far ahead, special effectswize, then anything that had come before it. I loved that movie and made sure my kids saw it..again and again. Along with Top Gun of course. of course I'm old too.