Mommy Matters: How to Introduce Star Wars to Little Padawans
So a couple of weeks ago, I had 2 kids sick with some sort of 1-day bug that kept us indoors and in bed mostly. I figured it was as good a time as any to introduce the classic epic blockbuster that is Star Wars. It was actually a re-introduction to the older kids, but my 9-year-old daughter had completely forgotten about it — imagine not knowing who Princess Leia is?!? Shock, horror.
I mean wouldn’t it be a crime if she never knew Princess Leia’s style with the beautiful braids and plaits and buns and such? I would be totally remiss in my motherly duties if I failed to educate my daughter, my only daughter, to this essential piece of film and fashion history.
Anyway, in my infinite motherly wisdom, I decided to marathon the first 3 movies (which are actually the last 3 episodes in the series) so that they have a feel of the originals and the original story as it was introduced to me as a kid.
It’s a good idea to do this too so that they don’t get disappointed by the old special effects in comparison to the new ones. If you start with Episodes I, II and III and then move on to Episodes IV, V and VI then they’ll likely notice how cheesy the effects are of the older movies compared to the newer ones. Even with this strategy, I had to explain to the kids that the effects were not at all computer graphics but mostly physically built miniature-scale models of spaceships, tanks, etc. that were actually filmed and then the actors super-imposed to create the finished scenes. Now that’s an idea that seems truly ancient these days.
Anyway, it was going great and by the end of the marathon, the kids had invested in the characters and were totally itching to find out what the prequels had in store for them. So from Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia, Captain Hans Solo, Chewbaka, Master Yoda, C3PO, R2D2 and the rest of the original cast of characters, we moved on and prepared to meet their parents or their younger selves.
To cut a long story short, it was a hit!
The only problem was that by the end of Episode III, we were all very, very sad. Very sad.
I totally did not bargain for the collective depression that settled on all of us when we finally saw Anakin become Darth Vader.
It was iconic, but it was also very, very sad.
So I had to add this to my motherly wisdom on how to watch the Star Wars movie series when introducing this masterpiece to your children: be prepared to re-marathon Episodes IV, V and VI so you can end on a high note!
Luckily, I discovered that my parents had DVDs of the original Star Wars so I didn’t have to fork out the money to rent the series again (phew!).
By this time, even my 3-year-old was begging to watch them again. And again. And again.
Thus, my mothering work here is done.
