The Importance of Star Wars?

[ie]

(I guess that title works.)


I came across an article through Digg, and thought it really summarized why Star Wars is such a well-remembered series.

The article, which was written by our collective friend, Wil Wheaton, could be summarized as:

For most people, Star Wars is a reminder of when life was simple and when Han shot first.


As for the rest, well for me, I kind of came late to the Star Wars convention, so there isn't as much nostalgia involved, but I consider the original trilogy to be really enjoyable (even if I've only seen them once, when they were re-released in theaters a while ago), and even enjoyed the first two movies (even if I never really got around to seeing the third).

About a year ago, I was cleaning up my room and came across a stack of Star Wars... Informer? Insider?... some order of Star Wars only magazines. I had no real interest in the series at the time; I just thought they were fun and maybe got these magazines back when I still hadn't seen Return of the Jedi.

I just was reading through, and then I realized how much depth and intellectual value Star Wars had. Here was a massive universe, with throw-away references to distant galaxies, all of which had the potential to be fleshed out by either Lucas or other people centuries to come. I can't really remember any specifics for the intellectual values, but I really did get that impression.


So, share some experiences, some thoughts on the value of Star Wars, not so much on Lucas fucking up things now though, and et cetera.

[PTAhole]

Hmm... I'm starting to like you, ie.

Anyway, Star Wars is the most imortant movie for me. Period. It was the first movie I saw that made me realize why movies were made, instead of just writing a book, or whatever. Star Wars (the core story, at least) is a MOVIE. It works best as a FILM. This is not just popcorn entertainment, it is a work of art. Is the story original? No. Are the characters original? No. Is anything all that original at the surface? Not at all, but Star Wars broke down the conventions of comic book/legendary fiction and made it just what all of it's parts aren't: original.
What Lucas did with the original Star Wars was purely and utterly brilliant. This is the film that made me love the movies. This is the film that opened me up to a world that transcends just a movie, the world of science fiction. Most importantly, this is the film that made me want to become a filmmaker.
People often focus on the bad influence of the Star Wars saga. Namely, the brainless blockbuster, but for every Michael Bay, there's a James Cameron. For every Brett Ratner, there's a Ridley Scott.
Movies were completely changed on May 25th, 1977. Every great movie has a good and bad influence, and Star Wars is, almost without dispute, the most influencial film of the past thirty years.