"How a galaxy far, far away became an obsession on planet Earth" PBS NewsHour 12/17/2015
Excerpt
SUMMARY: "Star Wars: The Force Awakens" isn't just a movie. It's part of a universe, both imaginary and real, that has obsessed fans since the 1970s. Jeffrey Brown explores what’s made the enduring franchise a storytelling and moneymaking powerhouse.
JEFFREY BROWN (NewsHour): We could say the force has reawakened. But for its fervent fans, and they are legion, it’s barely taken a nap, not since the late 1970s.
They were out in force at the frenzied, glittery, weird and wild Los Angeles premier earlier this week.
CHARACTER: Nothing will stand in our way.
JEFFREY BROWN: To see the start of a new trilogy for a series, franchise, a universe that can seemingly go on forever.
In his article, “The force will be with us always”, Adam Rogers of “Wired Magazine” refers to “Star Wars” as an example of a paracosm.
ADAM ROGERS, Articles Editor, Wired Magazine: A paracosm is in psychology terms, an imaginary world. In the case of the “Star Wars” movie, you can have a year zero and go forward and back and just set stories in the paracosm and people are familiar, oh it is a “Star Wars” story. These universes are designed to not end and not even begin. They can stretch 10,000 in either direction, “Star Wars” especially.
MAN: An adventure unlike anything on your planet.
JEFFREY BROWN: It all back in 1977.
Filmmaker George Lucas brought out the first “Star Wars,” introducing the world of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Hans Solo; and a host of other characters, human and decidedly not so.
C3PO: I am C-3PO, a human cyborg relations.
JEFFREY BROWN: Its enormous success, as Washington Post film critic Ann Hornaday says, came as a surprise.
ANN HORNADAY, Film Critic, The Washington Post: They didn’t think it would do much. Nobody thought it would do much.
Boy, am I glad 'they' were wrong.
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