Barack went to Pennsylvania for the bowling. Hillary went there for a beer and a shot. The Media followed along to make fun of them. But I, I went to Pennsylvania to see...
Yoda.
As you might have guessed from Saturday night's postcard, the Mannions were at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia over the weekend to see Star Wars: Where Science Meets Imagination.
The exhibit seemed a little heavy on the imaginative, light on the scientific, the two meeting only in passing with an exchange of quick, friendly nods. There was a display devoted to the current state of the art of prosthetic limbs, inspired by Vader's missing arms and legs and Luke's severed hand. Another display, taking off from the planet Hoth, looked at the ways humans survive and work in the coldest places on Earth. Coruscant's tiers and tiers of heavy air traffic was the basis of an interactive computer model for future city planning and not yet invented mass transit systems. More stuff like that. The real draws, of course, were all the props, models, and costumes from the movies. I'm told it was all very interesting. I couldn't tell myself. I couldn't get close enough for a good look at any of it. All these Jawa-sized and Ewok-cute poeple kept getting in the way.
A lot of Stormtrooper-sized people and even a few Wookie-sized ones, and a couple of Jabba the Hutt-sized ones, elbowed me aside too.
Naturally, there were a lot of parents who were there like us, pretending we'd come just for the kids' sakes. But I was surprised by how many kidless late twentysomethings and early thirtysomethings there were too.
If you were 10 when the last of the original trilogy, Return of the Jedi, came out, you're 35 now. If you were 10 when the first of the prequels, The Phantom Menace, hit the screens, you're 19. Basically, for Star Wars to have been a formative part of your movie-going experience, you are most likely either between the ages of 35 and 45 (I realize that some fans fell under the spell when they were in college and are older than that), or between 10 and 19. So how did all these fans who were too young to go to the first set of movies and too old for the second set become one with the Force?
Television. VHS.
Whatever it is about Star Wars that captures the heart and soul of so many people doesn't need a big screen to do it, I guess.
But this is what really caught my attention. Many of these grown-up fans were couples. They went through the exhibit holding hands and stopped before the display cases leaning into each other as if they were strolling through Paris on their honeymoons. And a lot of them had their pictures taken in front of the displays. (One couple asked me to take theirs. I hope the picture came out.) They posed seriously too. No goofing around. They would stand in front of the Millennium Falcon or Luke's Landspeeder or Chewbacca or Darth Vader and smile shyly for the camera, as if it was the Eiffel Tower or Notre Dame behind them.
Who'da thunk it? George Lucas, master of romance.
I spent four hours one Christmas season hunting an Ewok Village for the 5-year-old son of a woman I was desperately in love with back in 1983.
Got the village, didn't get the girl.
Posted by: Linkmeister | Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 01:50 AM
Those of us in our early to mid 20's got to see them on the big screen when we were 13-15-ish because of the re-release. So we got to enjoy what our older siblings/aunts and uncles/parents had been talking about for our entire childhood on the big screen. And a proud new generation of Star Wars Fans was born. And then almost died with the prequels.
Posted by: Kate | Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 10:29 AM
I'm 36, so the original trilogy was part of my formative experiences. My girlfriend is 26, so it wasn't, but she loves it just the same. We both went to the exhibit a few weeks ago, but we went after 5pm, so as to avoid the massive crowds.
Posted by: David | Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 01:32 PM
I want condo on Coruscant!
Posted by: uncle merlin | Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 04:56 PM
George Lucas, master of romance
Or perhaps it's just that Star Wars is such a culturally-infused experience that excited the imaginations of so many people, male and female, that couples had their "You too?" moment after they met.
Posted by: actor212 | Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 05:23 PM
God, I was 16 when the first movie cam out. Thanks a lot. Heh ...
Posted by: Fixer | Wednesday, April 23, 2008 at 07:40 PM
Jealous!! Oh how I love Star Wars. I've always said they're my favorite movies.
Posted by: shayera | Thursday, April 24, 2008 at 01:07 AM
Uh, Hillary went to Indiana to have a shot. (The reverse of my salad days.)
Those of us who are a bit older, after waiting years for it, saw The Phantom Menace and asked why someone had let William Shatner direct a movie again.
Posted by: Ken Houghton | Sunday, April 27, 2008 at 11:25 PM
George Lucas, master of romance
His lovers' dialogues make the geekiest of real-life suitors sound like Cyrano de Bergerac in comparison, so I guess we owe him something for that.
Posted by: Dave S. | Monday, April 28, 2008 at 03:24 PM