Force Fed: A Reflection on the Good and Evil of Star Wars

It's strange to admit, but some of my most deeply rooted childhood memories were shaped by "Star Wars." Born to a Swedish father and an American mother, I moved to the United States from Stockholm when I was five years old. In the eyes of the boys in firs t grade I may as well have just crawled out from under a rock, for I was completely ignorant of the center of their universe - the movie "Star Wars".

I recall coming home from school with tears in my eyes, asking my mother what the movie was all about. "Star Wars," she pondered. "Yeeaah. I think I read about it in Time magazine ... Isn't it a sci-fi movie of some sort?" "What!" I yelled furiously, havi ng no idea what she was talking about. "You're an American, you're supposed to know these things!"

In what must have been a classic scene of American immigration, we went to the library that very evening to check out books and tapes on "Star Wars." My mamma's boy vocabulary was soon enriched by words like Jedi Knight, Death Star, and the Force. A few w eeks later, as we drove home from a double feature of "Star Wars" and "The Empire Strikes Back," I looked out at the search lights of Tucson and imagined them to be giant light sabers clashing in the night sky.

But that was 17 years ago, in a galaxy far, far away. Last Sunday, as I viewed George Lucas's "special edition" of the movie that had made me want to change my name to Luke Skywalker, I couldn't stop laughing. Many of the film's effects are outdated, the acting is corny, and the story outlandish.

This said, I must admit that I thoroughly enjoyed watching the film of my childhood again. And besides, the fast-paced action and unique aesthetics of "Star Wars" will always put it in a class of its own. Seeing it is like riding the "Pirates of the Carib bean" ride at Disneyland after a long absence - only better.

But "Star Wars" has a deeper, more fundamental appeal as well. Lucas, who spent two years studying anthropology in college, was vastly inspired by ancient myth and the theories of mythology guru Joseph Campbell while writing the script. Indeed, "Star Wars " is in close step with the chapter headings in his book The Hero With a Thousand Faces. The classic heroic journey, according to Campbell, begins with the hero's call to adventure (which is paralleled in "Star Wars" by Princes Leia's message carried by R 2D2) and continues through the refusal of the call (Luke's duty to his adoptive parents); the arrival of supernatural aid (Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Force, the light saber); the crossing of the first threshold (the bazzar-like atmosphere of Mos Eisley cantina); the belly of the whale (the garbage compacting room and the beast within it); and a series of trials that culminate in a confrontation with the lost father, and eventually lead to redemption and atonement (this is saved for the famous ending of "Return o f the Jedi").

Campbell returned this homage by analyzing the mythical archetypes and storylines of "Star Wars" in the first episode of the famous PBS series "The Power of Myth" hosted by Bill Moyers. In addition to creating a modern myth, George Lucas managed to make a fantasy world as rich and complex as the one created by J.R.R. Tolkien in his classic "The Lord of The Rings" series.

Anchored by the battle between good and evil, the world of "Star Wars" expands logically throughout the three films. As a child, this enabled me to explore a complete and expanding universe through the vehicle of my imagination - plus a few plastic figure s. When G.I. Joe came along some kid showed me one of the action figures. "They're just like 'Star Wars' figures," he said, "only better, 'cuz their knees can bend - see?" I didn't see at all. What was a plastic knee joint compared to an entire universe?

Unfortunately George Lucas has not retained a child's sensitivity to his creation while releasing the "special edition." Ignoring one of the central messages of "Star Wars," which is that technology can never replace the spirit, he's tried to beef up cert ain scenes by inserting a number of irritating creatures. The Storm Trooper­s now ride giant reptiles while on Tatooine, and Han Solo talks to a superimposed, young Jabba the Hutt in a scene that was cut from the original movie. The movement and spatial p lacement of these creatures doesn't match the rest of the film, and their 90s computer look feels, well, dated.

Despite this minor sell out to the Dark Side, Lucas insists to this day that "Star Wars" is about "redemption." For me it was. Seeing it allowed me to come to terms with and reminisce about a fantasy world that dominated years of my childhood. It also hel ped me realize that your self worth as a person is not forever determined by the amount of "Star Wars" figures in your collection.