And then choose whether you want to deepen your engagement by making it relevant, or just use it as an escape pod off the Star Destroyer. Or both. You must do what you think is right, of course.
On the planet that is farthest from the center of the pandemic
Want to celebrate Star Wars to forget all your coronacares away? Start with the canon.
The movies are just waiting, like old
friends you can't hang out with right now. Watch them over again, or have 'em on while you go about the day, just for the nostalgic comfort. This is a proven happy place.
The Star Wars television shows are in easy distance too, like the friendly neighbors you just wave to these days but are so nice to see. If you've held off on "
The Mandalorian" or the animated series, enjoy them now.
If you've been waiting to
introduce the movies to your kids -- and they're at least 5 years old -- now is a great time to begin the training.
Want to celebrate further? Treat yourself to the childhood nostalgia of finding your favorite action figure on eBay and ordering. Or buy a Star Wars novel or one of the many non-fiction takes on the canon, from visual cross sections, to film stills to philosophy.
If this is your first Star Wars Day and you're no lifelong fan, my friend Christian Blauvelt wrote "
Star Wars Made Easy," which will get you up to speed.
More ideas? Go down a YouTube rabbit hole of Star Wars trivia, spoofs and fandom, starting with Topher Grace's moving
5 minute super trailer of the first 10 films.
Or bring it back to reality by meming it up with coronavirus Star Wars takes about how Kylo Ren wears a mask and doesn't visit his elderly mother, and Vader uses the Force choke while social distancing. Or maybe you identify with the solitary life of Yoda on Dagobah, eating whatever you can find around your hut.
We are living Star Wars now
Instead of pure escape you can go deeper into your appreciation of the power of myth.
It's part of the George Lucas lore that Star Wars was inspired by the writings of myth scholar Joseph Campbell, who wrote "The Hero With a Thousand Face." Hollywood exec and author Christopher Vogler broke Campbell's hero's journey into 12 narrative steps in his book "The Writer's Journey: Mythic Structure For Writers."
Do any of these sound like a metaphorical journey you've taken recently?
- The Ordinary World (think pre-coronavirus)
- The Call to Adventure (a challenge that impinges on our ordinary world)
- Refusal of the Call (unwillingness to change, usually caused by fear)
- Meeting the Mentor (a source of experience and wisdom to help us face the challenge)
- Crossing the Threshold (confronting the challenge)
- Tests, Allies, Enemies (learning the rules of the new reality, getting help, smaller challenges within the larger one)
- Approach to the Inmost Cave (facing greater challenges)
- The Ordeal (surviving at the edge of failure)
- Reward (on the other side of the challenge)
- The Road Back (returning to the ordinary world)
- The Resurrection (how the experience has changed us)
- Return with the Elixir (what we get to keep from the journey, including wisdom or love, that will heal us)
Many characters in Star Wars travel down that old mythic road, or parts of it. We are Luke, Leia, Han, Rey, Poe, Obi-wan, sometimes Vader, and hopefully not General Grievous. We are on a journey full of challenges and allies and we will return to normal, but also changed.
Like Star Wars, our journey is, in turn, funny, dramatic, boring, anxiety provoking and epic in scope. It also goes on and on, seemingly without end. But we'll get through this together. And find reasons to celebrate what's great, like Star Wars.
May the Force be with us, always.
Is this your first or annual "STAR WARS DAY"? Comment below and share with friends!
Original Source: https://www.cnn.com/2020/05/04/entertainment/may-the-fourth-star-wars-day-2020-wellness-wisdom-project-trnd/index.html