[Off-topic] Planterz:
Watch the original trilogy (Episodes IV, V, VI) first. You can ignore the prequels for now. Hell, you can ignore the prequels altogether and really not miss anything.

The hype about the new one, honestly, is mostly from people like me grew up with it or were teenagers/younger adults when the original trilogy came out. Lots of nostalgia. It's hard to explain too, and hard to expect others, like you, who haven't spent their lives watching them over and over and over. Growing up, they were simply the coolest movies ever. Every time they were on TV, we were watching. Often they aired at Christmas time, so there's a lot of memories there too. And then there's the music. It's ingrained into my soul.

The movies aren't perfect. Far from it; in fact that's part of the fun is talking about all those things that don't quite make sense (that's why parodies like Family Guy and Robot Chicken are so funny). But a film tells a story, and Star Wars is one of the greatest stories ever, and it's well told. The original trilogy anyway. The prequels...not so much. That's the other part of the hype. There was tons of hype for the prequels, but then we met Jar Jar, Jake Lloyd, Hayden Christensen, wooden acting, cartoony CGI, and endless boring-ass conversations about trade dispute negotiations. Yeah, the 2nd one's better than the 1st, and the 3rd one is pretty decent, but they were still all a let-down. And they haven't held up well. But this new one had tons of promise. Practical effects and make-up rather than CGI (still lots of CGI, but nothing looks fake), our favorite actors in our favorite roles, and most importantly, a director/writer with whom we held faith in that wouldn't #$^% it up, because he was every bit the fan/nerd as everyone else, and above all he wanted it to be good as much as we do. And he didn't disappoint.

At the very least, you should see the original trilogy for the historical significance. And so you understand all the jokes and references made in other pop culture. Maybe you won't understand the fandom, hype, love, and obsession that so many have for "Star Wars". And I can understand that.

But one should at least appreciate what "Star Wars" has done for the world. Artistically, it changed filmmaking forever, in many ways. For one, it brought back the orchestral music. Films of that era, Sci-Fi films in particular, had stark, minimalist, esoteric, "future-y", synthesized music. Lucas wanted a "space opera", so he went the other way, and John Williams created perhaps the most recognizable movie soundtrack ever. And that's why every Marvel and DC comic book movie, Sci-Fi, fantasy, or most movies in general use an orchestral soundtrack to this day.

Secondly, the films introduced the concept of a "used future" (even though it was long ago). All the movies and TV up to that point had shiny spaceships, nobody in poverty, nobody starving, and no crime apart from some race trying to conquer some other race. "Star Wars" showed that just because there's spaceships and lasers, that doesn't mean that the unfortunate struggle and get exploited, that junk doesn't always work, and that it's not all hunky-dory.

And 3rdly, and perhaps not as well appreciated, the "Star Wars" franchise has made George Lucas very, very rich. Absurdly rich. So rich that he just throws millions of dollars around at will to worthy causes. In the words of Mel Brooks, "Muoichendising". But then there's the technical side of his wealth. ILM (Industrial Light and Magic), THX sound, cameras, etc. were all the result of him being crazy rich. If it weren't for him and the money "Star Wars" made, no movie today would look as good or sound as good. Whether it's Christopher Nolan's or Ridley Scott's newest masterpiece, Michael Bay's latest epileptic abortion, the cinematic ipecac of a Ryan Gosling romcom, or whatever Ben Stller, Will Ferrel, and Adam Sandler scraped off their wet-farted underpants, it all benefits from the success of "Star Wars" in some way.