Use the Force
In today’s world there are many different pop culture items that are adored by fans all around the world. While every fan base is overall unique, the way they are viewed are not all that different. The Star Wars fan base has many of its own unique qualities. However, like every discourse community Star Wars fans have a certain stereotype. Though for many this negative stereotype might be fitting, there are still many fans in the community who have redeeming qualities to balance the hard core fans. Commendable or embarrassing to the community fans all are able to say they are one of the most diverse discourse communities.
First, let us take a look at the “artifact” that started the Star Wars craze: Star Wars: A New Hope. Since the movie has a poster and trailer in addition to the actual film we will be analyzing all three. I will start with the movie poster. The first thing you notice is weapons; fictional weapons based off of existing weapons. Weapons almost always are taken as a sign of violence and action, used to appeal to the action lovers. And particularly Leia having a blaster shows a woman that differs from the typical damsel in distress. This helps appeal to the female audience. This was particularly specific to the time period seeing as it was made towards the end of the women’s rights movement. If you take a look at the costumes of the four emphasized characters in the poster -Darth Vader, Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo- you will notice they only use two different colors: white and black. White is known to represent good and innocence where as black symbolizes evil and power. Two of the four characters bear only one color, showing their absolute good and absolute evil. Typical of many books and films there is a pure good and pure evil. However, by looking at Han and Luke you see that Star Wars offers more than just good and evil. Luke, dressed mostly in white with a black belt, is the epitome of innocence. The single black belt represents his diminutive knowledge of the Dark Side, the side he has been told is evil. Moving on to Han we see more black than we see white. This shows the “evil” lifestyle of Han being paired with his goodness such as his part in the rebel alliance. Han is the balance of good and evil that appealed to many fans.
Taking a look at the trailer we can pay attention to the aspects of the movie emphasized by the voiceover. The first words that stood out were, “An adventure unlike anything on your planet,” (Star Wars Trailer). Notice they use the word adventure. Adventures are associated with excitement and thrills, something that appeals to many people. Plenty of movies offer that, but the creators of the trailer added that it would be “unlike anything on your planet.” First of all by using “your planet” instead of Earth they were personalizing the trailer. By making it personal they are making viewers believe they are being signaled out rather than being part of the general crowd. The whole phrase, “unlike anything on your planet” is pointing out that their movie is not like anything else the viewer has already seen. They are different therefore it peaks the curiosity of the audience. “A space saga of rebellion and romance,” (Star Wars Trailer), plays to many different audience members. The “space saga” appeals to the science fiction fans. Science fiction consists of many space-themed storylines and many fans see a benefit in a out of this world setting. By appealing to an existing fan base, the trailer helped Star Wars cross over. The “rebellion” description makes its appeal to the adolescence of the 70s. It is no secret that teenagers were trying to be different than their parents in the 70s seeing as every generation does this routine. Teenagers naturally rebel in some way shape or form so an idea of a movie about rebellion or “sticking it to the man” definitely caught their attention. Lastly, “romance” is almost another attempt at a cross over into other fan bases.
The movie itself was the real lasso on the fans to compliment the bait (the poster and trailer).The movie had many aspects to appeal to many diverse audiences. It appealed to action lovers with its many battle scenes such as the light saber duel between Obi-Wan- “Legendary Jedi Master,” (Beecroft 126)- and Darth Vader- “Dark Lord of the Sith” (Beecroft 58). Sword battles have been used it stories for ages, meant to add excitement and uncertainty of who will emerge the victor. It forces the audience to root for one dueler and either be content or disappointed with the outcome. The movie also offered a laugh or two to the comedy lovers with comic reliefs from C-3P0, a droid “programmed to assist in matters of etiquette and translation,” (Beecroft 34), and R2-D2, a “stubborn and inventive” (Beecroft 148) droid. In addition, the storyline offered a love story for the hopeless romantics in the audience. In the film there is a love triangle full of failed attempts to woo and many twists. It leaves romantics rooting for one of the two male heroes. As far as gender, the actors and characters were carefully selected. For the females, cast was the dashing young Harrison Ford as the ever suave, bad boy Han Solo- a “Smuggler Turned Rebel Hero,” (Beecroft 86). Also offered was a young, handsome Mark Hamill portraying young Luke Skywalker- “Legendary Rebel Pilot And Jedi,” (Beecroft 109). These bits of eye candy were reason for girls to sit through the action scenes that many of them were likely bored by. The male audience also received their own pretty face to gawk at though for them that was not their driving force to see the movie. In all the audiences that the movie appeals to the diversity of the fan base is fairly obvious. The vast array of fans that the movies reach out to is a prime example of the diversity within this fan base.
Taking a look at the trailer we can pay attention to the aspects of the movie emphasized by the voiceover. The first words that stood out were, “An adventure unlike anything on your planet,” (Star Wars Trailer). Notice they use the word adventure. Adventures are associated with excitement and thrills, something that appeals to many people. Plenty of movies offer that, but the creators of the trailer added that it would be “unlike anything on your planet.” First of all by using “your planet” instead of Earth they were personalizing the trailer. By making it personal they are making viewers believe they are being signaled out rather than being part of the general crowd. The whole phrase, “unlike anything on your planet” is pointing out that their movie is not like anything else the viewer has already seen. They are different therefore it peaks the curiosity of the audience. “A space saga of rebellion and romance,” (Star Wars Trailer), plays to many different audience members. The “space saga” appeals to the science fiction fans. Science fiction consists of many space-themed storylines and many fans see a benefit in a out of this world setting. By appealing to an existing fan base, the trailer helped Star Wars cross over. The “rebellion” description makes its appeal to the adolescence of the 70s. It is no secret that teenagers were trying to be different than their parents in the 70s seeing as every generation does this routine. Teenagers naturally rebel in some way shape or form so an idea of a movie about rebellion or “sticking it to the man” definitely caught their attention. Lastly, “romance” is almost another attempt at a cross over into other fan bases.
The movie itself was the real lasso on the fans to compliment the bait (the poster and trailer).The movie had many aspects to appeal to many diverse audiences. It appealed to action lovers with its many battle scenes such as the light saber duel between Obi-Wan- “Legendary Jedi Master,” (Beecroft 126)- and Darth Vader- “Dark Lord of the Sith” (Beecroft 58). Sword battles have been used it stories for ages, meant to add excitement and uncertainty of who will emerge the victor. It forces the audience to root for one dueler and either be content or disappointed with the outcome. The movie also offered a laugh or two to the comedy lovers with comic reliefs from C-3P0, a droid “programmed to assist in matters of etiquette and translation,” (Beecroft 34), and R2-D2, a “stubborn and inventive” (Beecroft 148) droid. In addition, the storyline offered a love story for the hopeless romantics in the audience. In the film there is a love triangle full of failed attempts to woo and many twists. It leaves romantics rooting for one of the two male heroes. As far as gender, the actors and characters were carefully selected. For the females, cast was the dashing young Harrison Ford as the ever suave, bad boy Han Solo- a “Smuggler Turned Rebel Hero,” (Beecroft 86). Also offered was a young, handsome Mark Hamill portraying young Luke Skywalker- “Legendary Rebel Pilot And Jedi,” (Beecroft 109). These bits of eye candy were reason for girls to sit through the action scenes that many of them were likely bored by. The male audience also received their own pretty face to gawk at though for them that was not their driving force to see the movie. In all the audiences that the movie appeals to the diversity of the fan base is fairly obvious. The vast array of fans that the movies reach out to is a prime example of the diversity within this fan base.
Before tearing apart the community’s fans who bear the negative traits I will embrace the positive traits of the fans. To start, fans of Star Wars have the dedication of a dog. Take for example the many fans who dress as characters from the movies for Halloween, conventions, or other costumed events. Pictured to the right is a photo from a Sadie Hawkins dance. This is a perfect example of fan dedication. As you can clearly tell both costumes are mostly handmade rather than store bought as many fans prefer. A costume such as the garb of a Jedi Knight may not take as much time and effort as other Star Wars themed costumes the fact that it was handmade still means that it was still time consuming. And Star Wars fans tend to pay attention to detail from tunic color to the length of the robes. As I had personally created these costumes I can vouch that they took time and patience. Everything had to be just right, meaning if I knew I made a mistake I would not go on until that mistake was fixed. This dedication would not be present in any fan base because not all fan bases are as attentive to details as Star Wars fans are. Many Star Wars fans make their own costumes because they feel theirs will be more accurate than the store bought ones. Star Wars fans also put a lot of money into their costumes as well as purchasing Star Wars merchandise. The large franchise of Star Wars products such as seen on thinkgeek.com and in many stores makes this clear. Despite the high prices there are many fans that will pay for them and proudly display them in their homes. There are also fans so dedicated they will spend money on the many Expanded Universe books that are written as sequels and prequels to the six movies.
While on the subject of the Expanded Universe Novels, purchasing them is not the only way that fans show their dedication. These novels are, for the most part, fan written. And many of these fan written novels were accepted as canon, or “authorized adaptations of the films,” (Brooker 101). These novels vary from continuations of the original movies to showing unseen parts of the movies such as in Shadows of the Empire which, “Fits itself into the unrecorded period between Empire and Jedi,” (Brooker 103). We even see untold backstories of the supporting characters in story collections such as Star Wars Tales From the Mos Eisley Cantina. Fans ate up these novels seeing as they “were eager for exciting new stories set in this universe, written by leading science fiction authors who shared their passion,” (Anderson 389). In these novels we see intricate stories spun from the authors’ love of the Star Wars movies. These authors were so passionate and dedicated that they, much like cosplayers, took the time and effort to create proper tributes to the movies they love. If we look at other fan bases we do not see an array of fan written novels, only some fan fiction short stories. None go to the effort to be authorized by the original source of their creativity. We see many of the fans of Star Wars find their claim to fame through their love of the original trilogy.
The fans are so dedicated to the films they have taken on the many beliefs portrayed in the Star Wars Universe. Will Brooker talks of this dedication in his book, Using the Force. As he says the fans that have taken this extreme are far removed seeing as they have, “drawn on Star Wars as guidance for their own ethical or spiritual beliefs,” (Brooker 5). They see Star Wars almost as an equivalent to the Christian Holy Bible. Some fans showed such determination in the beliefs forming into their own religion that a chain of emails were sent out to “try to persuade fans to register their faith as ‘Jedi’ on the Australian and British censuses of 2001,” (Brooker 5). A fan, John Scott, even claimed that, “’most of the people I have met who don’t like Star Wars or haven’t seen it watch it and undergo a change, almost like a religious conversion,’’ (Brooker 5). Fans ranking the fictional beliefs of the Jedi council up with religion shows that they have taken the time to dissect the films themselves and live their lives to the same standards as the Jedi themselves. If we look at how dedicated many religious people are to the respective religions we can easily match it to the dedication of a large number of Star Wars fans.
Finally, we see dedication in the many authors of the vast range of Star Wars character guides that exist. Each guide offers information on the characters and creatures of the beloved Star Wars, information that may have been overlooked by the common fans. The authors of these encyclopedias of Star Wars films are fans who took their time to analyze the characters one by one and let fans have easier access to the information. Take for example Star Wars The Essential Guide to Alien Species; this encyclopedia focuses on the many different species found in Star Wars rather than just the actual characters. This research would have had to be almost as intricate as that of a zoologist writing about animal species. In her introduction Ann Margaret Lewis tells of her many sources for information, “George Lucas, the designers at Individual Light & Magic, and dozens of novelists have created an entire universe of exotic aliens, many of which are included in this book.” This author had to take time to go through the large amount of novels and is authorized just as the Expanded Universe novels she had to diligently research. Watching the movies alone would have been much less tedious, however this author was such a dedicated fan that she took on the task of covering all bases of the Star Wars universe. The book provides about half a page of information for each species it covers. We also can look at another fan’s work in showing their dedication through the creation of the Star Wars Character Encyclopedia. Unlike Lewis, Beecoft chooses to focus on the characters of the films. His research pegged even the smallest characters, somehow taking on the tedious task of finding even the smallest details such as the manufacturing companies of some lesser droids. Earlier in my paper you can see I use Beecroft’s book as a source of characters clarification. Both the authors of these encyclopedias and the writers of the Expanded universe novels took on the tedious tasks of working to add on to their beloved movies.
While on the subject of the Expanded Universe Novels, purchasing them is not the only way that fans show their dedication. These novels are, for the most part, fan written. And many of these fan written novels were accepted as canon, or “authorized adaptations of the films,” (Brooker 101). These novels vary from continuations of the original movies to showing unseen parts of the movies such as in Shadows of the Empire which, “Fits itself into the unrecorded period between Empire and Jedi,” (Brooker 103). We even see untold backstories of the supporting characters in story collections such as Star Wars Tales From the Mos Eisley Cantina. Fans ate up these novels seeing as they “were eager for exciting new stories set in this universe, written by leading science fiction authors who shared their passion,” (Anderson 389). In these novels we see intricate stories spun from the authors’ love of the Star Wars movies. These authors were so passionate and dedicated that they, much like cosplayers, took the time and effort to create proper tributes to the movies they love. If we look at other fan bases we do not see an array of fan written novels, only some fan fiction short stories. None go to the effort to be authorized by the original source of their creativity. We see many of the fans of Star Wars find their claim to fame through their love of the original trilogy.
The fans are so dedicated to the films they have taken on the many beliefs portrayed in the Star Wars Universe. Will Brooker talks of this dedication in his book, Using the Force. As he says the fans that have taken this extreme are far removed seeing as they have, “drawn on Star Wars as guidance for their own ethical or spiritual beliefs,” (Brooker 5). They see Star Wars almost as an equivalent to the Christian Holy Bible. Some fans showed such determination in the beliefs forming into their own religion that a chain of emails were sent out to “try to persuade fans to register their faith as ‘Jedi’ on the Australian and British censuses of 2001,” (Brooker 5). A fan, John Scott, even claimed that, “’most of the people I have met who don’t like Star Wars or haven’t seen it watch it and undergo a change, almost like a religious conversion,’’ (Brooker 5). Fans ranking the fictional beliefs of the Jedi council up with religion shows that they have taken the time to dissect the films themselves and live their lives to the same standards as the Jedi themselves. If we look at how dedicated many religious people are to the respective religions we can easily match it to the dedication of a large number of Star Wars fans.
Finally, we see dedication in the many authors of the vast range of Star Wars character guides that exist. Each guide offers information on the characters and creatures of the beloved Star Wars, information that may have been overlooked by the common fans. The authors of these encyclopedias of Star Wars films are fans who took their time to analyze the characters one by one and let fans have easier access to the information. Take for example Star Wars The Essential Guide to Alien Species; this encyclopedia focuses on the many different species found in Star Wars rather than just the actual characters. This research would have had to be almost as intricate as that of a zoologist writing about animal species. In her introduction Ann Margaret Lewis tells of her many sources for information, “George Lucas, the designers at Individual Light & Magic, and dozens of novelists have created an entire universe of exotic aliens, many of which are included in this book.” This author had to take time to go through the large amount of novels and is authorized just as the Expanded Universe novels she had to diligently research. Watching the movies alone would have been much less tedious, however this author was such a dedicated fan that she took on the task of covering all bases of the Star Wars universe. The book provides about half a page of information for each species it covers. We also can look at another fan’s work in showing their dedication through the creation of the Star Wars Character Encyclopedia. Unlike Lewis, Beecoft chooses to focus on the characters of the films. His research pegged even the smallest characters, somehow taking on the tedious task of finding even the smallest details such as the manufacturing companies of some lesser droids. Earlier in my paper you can see I use Beecroft’s book as a source of characters clarification. Both the authors of these encyclopedias and the writers of the Expanded universe novels took on the tedious tasks of working to add on to their beloved movies.
While the dedication and clear creativity amongst the fans of Star Wars does make up for some of the negative qualities of some fans it does not erase them from existence. There are many standing stereotypes for Star Wars fans as seen in this photo from Ela’s Corner. Now while not all Star Wars fans fit these stereotypes there are many who do. For example, Brooker quotes a letter from Scott Bealy, “’In the corner is a bookshelf with over 100 action figures grouped by film and relation to the Expanded Universe,’” (Brooker 2). We see that Scott falls under the overly obsessive category of Star Wars fans. He is one who spends countless amounts of money on unnecessary items to just sit on shelves and collect dust. This is a negative effect of the dedication of Star Wars fans. However, Scott also breaks the stereotype as later in his letter he mentions his career and relationship, “’I am a working musician, and have been dating my girlfriend for over four years,’” (Brooker 3). This shows that while there are many fans who fit into some stereotypes of the Star Wars fans, there are very few that do not have any redeeming qualities.
Stereotypical fans are not, many fans express another very negative quality: their fear of change. In the chapter “The Fan Betrayed” Brooker talks about the fans discontentment with the prequels, one main reason being, “The Phantom Menace favored CGI over real human emotion- the Jar Jar Binks Syndrome- and slap stick over wit,” (Brooker 88). The Jar Jar Binks syndrome refers to the hatred of a comical relief character in the prequels who goes by the name of Jar Jar Binks. Jar Jar is a balance impaired character who adds the comedy aspect to the prequels as R2-D2 and C-3P0 did in the original trilogy. However, many fans wrote him off as “too silly” and more of a nuisance than a comic relief. The CGI complaint spawned from the clear difference between aliens in the original trilogy and the sequels. While the CGI made many aspects, such as Yoda who was originally a puppet, appear more realistic and opened the creators to movement that could not have been possible with a puppet. One fan Brooker spoke with admitted the CGI benefits, while still criticizing it, “’The CGI effects were amazing, but without characters you could relate to, it was all so much eye candy,’” (Brooker 89). However, with this remark the fan disregards the large amount of relatable characteristics in the main characters. Throughout the movies you can sympathize with Anakin’s struggle to avoid the dark side and Obi Wan and Padme’s struggle to keep their beloved Jedi from taking a turn into the darkness. Some fans even admitted to Brooker that they had to change their attitude towards the film to enjoy it, “One strategy is an attempt to rehabilitate the film simply by watching it repeatedly and trying to adopt a different viewing position,” (Brooker 91). Many fans went into these movies either expecting too much or expecting them to be terrible. The wrong attitude about anything can make it that much less enjoyable, but many fans refused to change their attitudes and attempt to watch the films over because they were too stubborn to accept the new addition to their beloved films.
Stereotypical fans are not, many fans express another very negative quality: their fear of change. In the chapter “The Fan Betrayed” Brooker talks about the fans discontentment with the prequels, one main reason being, “The Phantom Menace favored CGI over real human emotion- the Jar Jar Binks Syndrome- and slap stick over wit,” (Brooker 88). The Jar Jar Binks syndrome refers to the hatred of a comical relief character in the prequels who goes by the name of Jar Jar Binks. Jar Jar is a balance impaired character who adds the comedy aspect to the prequels as R2-D2 and C-3P0 did in the original trilogy. However, many fans wrote him off as “too silly” and more of a nuisance than a comic relief. The CGI complaint spawned from the clear difference between aliens in the original trilogy and the sequels. While the CGI made many aspects, such as Yoda who was originally a puppet, appear more realistic and opened the creators to movement that could not have been possible with a puppet. One fan Brooker spoke with admitted the CGI benefits, while still criticizing it, “’The CGI effects were amazing, but without characters you could relate to, it was all so much eye candy,’” (Brooker 89). However, with this remark the fan disregards the large amount of relatable characteristics in the main characters. Throughout the movies you can sympathize with Anakin’s struggle to avoid the dark side and Obi Wan and Padme’s struggle to keep their beloved Jedi from taking a turn into the darkness. Some fans even admitted to Brooker that they had to change their attitude towards the film to enjoy it, “One strategy is an attempt to rehabilitate the film simply by watching it repeatedly and trying to adopt a different viewing position,” (Brooker 91). Many fans went into these movies either expecting too much or expecting them to be terrible. The wrong attitude about anything can make it that much less enjoyable, but many fans refused to change their attitudes and attempt to watch the films over because they were too stubborn to accept the new addition to their beloved films.
The fans also dreaded the day when the news of Lucas Films being bought out by Disney this year. The fans have expressed many fears about these movies, such as the films being “Disney-fied.” As seen in the fan made picture to the left it is clear that many fans share the fear of Disney ruining Star Wars. The fans are worried that if somebody different is in charge of creating the films then the changes made will be numerous and they may be unable to stand even hearing about the new additions to the film series. Even with Lucas’s confirmation that the lead actors from the original trilogy would take part in the sequels, “’we had already signed Mark and Carrie and Harrison -- or we were pretty much in final stages of negotiation,’” (Finn E! Online), the fans would be a bit less hostile towards the idea of Disney taking over. However, new complaints were sparked such as the actors being “too old” to portray their original roles. There is really no pleasing them. Disney has not messed up other franchises they have bought such as Marvel, purchased in 2009. As we see in The Amazing Spiderman and The Avengers Disney merely took over the franchise for merchandising purposes not to make it their own creation. Though I will admit that Disney earned some of the fan venom when they made the decision to shut down Lucas Arts, many of their hateful remarks spark from their fear of change.
The Star Wars fall victim to many stereotypes that spawn from the behaviors and lifestyles of the obsessive fans. However, not all that fall into one stereotype fall into all of them. Most fans have redeeming qualities to make up for their lesser ones. The dedication of the vast majority of Star Wars fans is clear through the many ways Star Wars affects their lives and mostly has a positive effect.
· Anderson, Kevin J. Star Wars: Tales from the Mos Eisley Cantina. N.p.: Bantam, 1995. Print.
· Beecroft, Simon. Star Wars Character Encyclopedia. London: DK, 2011. Print.
· Brooker, Will. Using the Force: Creativity, Community, and Star Wars Fans. New York: Continuum, 2002. Print.
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· Ela. "Ela's Corner." : Starwars Geek. Blogger, 17 Nov. 2011. Web. 10 Apr. 2013.
· Finn. "George Lucas: Harrison Ford, Carrie Fisher, Mark Hamill in on New 'Star Wars'" NBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Apr. 2013.
· Lewis, Ann Margaret., and R. K. Post. Star Wars: The Essential Guide to Alien Species. New York: Lucas, 2001. Print.
· "Spiderman | Humor Geek | Imágenes Y Vídeos Geek - Part 3." N.p., n.d. Web. 14 Apr. 2013.