Thursday, December 5, 2013

20 (or more) Questions About Star Wars

Lately, we've been trying to have a family movie night at least a couple times a month.  We will do it on a Saturday night when the girls can stay up a bit later, but not every Saturday night is open.  If it is, we usually pick a movie,  Andy makes some popcorn and we all settle in to watch.  Yes, even I will put aside the messy kitchen or the laundry to spend a couple hours just chilling and enjoying a movie. We've watched some older Disney movies like the Shaggy DA and The Apple Dumpling Gang as well as some of the more recent ones like The Incredibles.  One night we even watched Smoky and the Bandit.  That led to some fun questions.  Then about a month ago I mentioned to Andy that we should watch The Star Wars Trilogy.  You know, the only ones that matter.  Episodes 4-6.  We try to forget about the "other ones".  He agreed.  

If you have been reading my blog for a while, you might remember that we watched this movie a couple years ago when the girls were younger.  We decided that they might have been too young at the time to appreciate it.  Especially the little ones.  Sonya had enjoyed it, but still we thought it would be better to wait before moving on with the others. 

Now that they all enjoy movies, and Lana doesn't stand in between rooms looking for an escape route in case it gets to scary, we figured they would actually enjoy this trilogy.  I was younger than Sonya when I saw "The Empire Strikes Back".  So earlier in November one Saturday night, we all settled in to watch one of my favorite movies, Star Wars Episode 1 A New Hope.

The girls watched the whole thing without getting scared and enjoyed it so much they even talked about it the next day.  They were, of course, infatuated with Princess Leia.  She was the only character name Lana and Georgia could recall.  Oh well, except for "Dark Vader" as Lana called him.   They were excited to watch the next two.  Georgia even said 

"We will watch Empire Strikes Back with the guy, the guy, Princess Leia, and the fuzzy carpet!"

Then they would continually ask, "When would we watch the next one?  Today?  How about next weekend?" Finally, I told them the next free Saturday we had.  That ended up being this past Thanksgiving weekend.  

Now like most Star Wars fans out there, Empire is my favorite.  However, it's been so many years since I've seen it my memory was hazy on exactly what happened and when.  It's so much fun watching it again and especially with your kids.  The only problem with watching movies with some kids, especially movies like these, is that they get confused and have questions.  Sometimes they like to ask you those questions during the movie.  Sonya and Georgia are not those kids.  Lana however….

Lana likes to sit next to me no matter what movie we watch.  I think it's part of her still being a bit scared about what might happen during the movie, and if she will be afraid.  I have always been her comfort.  So when we watched the first movie she sat right next to me and would ask me questions here and there, but it didn't get to bothersome.  Then we watched Empire.  I don't know if it was just a more confusing movie for her-which I guess it kinda is-or what, but that child did not stop asking me questions almost the entire two hours.  

Now there are certain things that I have no patience for with the girls and I have to defer to Andy.  Then there are things he has no patience for that I have to take over.  Let's just say that it's a good thing she was sitting next to me asking the questions.  She would ask me question after question and I could just see him shaking his head.  Then he would sigh and start to say, "Lana…."

"It's fine," I would tell him. "I got this one."  Then I would continue to answer her.  

About halfway through the movie it started to get comical though and I had to write down some of her questions.  Sonya was starting to become annoyed with her by the end too, but I told them all to back off.  The biggest reason-I have vivid memories of my father taking me to these movies as a child and DOING THE EXACT SAME THING.  He was always very patient with me and answered everything I asked.  Then I understood better what was going on.  I believe that is why science fiction is probably my favorite genre of movies to this day.  Thanks Dad!  Still-the questions she asked had me giggling from time to time:

"Is he dead?"
"Is that the other Dark Vader?"
"Is he dying?"
"Is that Boba Fett?" (oh yeah, she and Georgia were obsessed with seeing Boba Fett for some reason.  I have no idea why.)
"What is he doing?"
"Are they going to die?" (very worried about people dying)
"Is that were Dark Vader goes?"
"Is he a bad guy?"
"Where are they?"
"Is he going to die?"
"Did he come with him?"
"Where are they going?"
"Where does that kind of animal live?" (Yeah, explaining that most of those animals in the movie are not real animals and are from another planet is fun.)
"Is she going to die?"
"Does he not have a hand now?"
And my absolute favorite question came toward the end of the movie just before Han Solo goes into the freezing chamber.  I said something about Han Solo and Lana, after now watching almost 2 of these movies asks,
"Who is Han Solo?"

Yup. Are we not watching the same movie Lana??

I honestly didn't care though.  In fact I found it kind of cute.  I answered every one as best I could, sometimes with a "Let's watch and see what happens."  This was one of those things that didn't push my patience button surprisingly enough, because I would have thought it would.  I guess I just love these movies so much and want my girls to like them that I'm willing to answer whatever they might ask.  It showed that she was at least interested, and to me that made it all worth it.  

Now I'm looking forward to the upcoming Christmas break in a few weeks and sitting down for a little Return of the Jedi.  I'm sure that will be their favorite for a while, as it is with most kids because of the silly Ewoks.  It's okay though, over the years they will re-watch them and come to the conclusion that the movie where Luke discovers that Dark Vader is his father is undoubtedly the best.  As for those other ones they made a few years back, Andy says they are never allowed to watch them in this house. Okay that might be going a little to far, but I will wait until these original three are embedded in their heads before we go down the road of Jar Jar Binks.  I'm only hoping that JJ Abrams does as kick ass a job with these next ones coming out as he did with the new Star Trek.  Taking my girls to the movies to   see a Star Wars series, like my Dad did with me, would be something I would love to experience with them and that they would hopefully remember forever.    

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