Deserves its staying power

Rating: Null/10 (20 December 1998)

It is misunderstanding to call Star Wars science fiction. Science fiction needs to develop, dwell on, and often to strike the audience with awe over a plausible scientific or technological development greatly surpassing what we know. Lucas pondered early on with John Williams whether the character of the music should be electronic- mystical, as science fiction would suggest. They decided against it-- and can anyone doubt that Williams's actual score captured the true texture of the film much better? Set in "a galaxy far, far away" though it was, the music and almost everything else stressed the familiar rather than the strange. The parallels with our own culture were deliberate and a source of amusement. We are to feel at home in this world. More on this later.
I remember seeing this film for the first time, being in my mid twenties but catching upon in many ways on that adolescence which had passed me by in my teens. I was with a wonderful, unorthodox friend, a little younger than I and different from anyone I had ever been friends with before. He led me all the way down the aisle to sit in the very front row. I had never done that. Something so, well, extreme hadn't been my style. I was, in short, prepared already for a different kind of experience, and Star Wars provided it.
Part of the initial success of Star Wars was due, I think, to its simple and straightforward morality. As others have detailed, everyone knows who the good guys and the bad guys are here. The good guys are brave, confident of their cause, and they win decisively. I'm not sure it has been remarked, however, how ready we were for something like this. When it came out, the U.S. was disillusioned and demoralized.
First Vietnam. Then Watergate. Inflation was eating the economy alive. We had become guilt-ridden and unsure of our instincts. We were tired of shadows, ambiguities, and catch-22s. By seeing clear-cut heroism work in a galaxy far, far away, just maybe we could bring it back home where we were missing it badly.
Also, at that time, I detested where I was living and working. It had been a mistake to move there, and I seemed trapped and wondered if I would ever get out. Are we in charge of our own lives, I wondered, or leaves tossed randomly in the wind? So I really empathized with young Luke's despondency, stuck on a dismal backwater of a planet when he wanted to be where some action was. It was exhilarating to follow him as he was drawn into the vortex of important matters. I daresay we we have all felt like that at times; so this is one more fantasy which Star Wars plays out for us.
It is stunning to reflect on how well I remember first seeing this film, and how long ago it really was: some of its adult fans today weren't even born then. But One can't even say that this shared admiration crosses generational boundaries. It simply obliterates them. How many films become blockbusters, and their delighted makers rush to cash in on the craze with one or more slipshod sequels which can be counted on to suck? Lucas never did that. His craftsmanship and creativity have been consistent, and now his patience has got to be almost unique. He has now been working on the fourth episode for almost two decades; and the world is still waiting for it with bated breath. It had better be damned good. And something tells me it will be.