Nine, Nine, Nine!

I find it is profoundly difficult to explain precisely why Star Wars is so important to me.  If I were 10 years older than I am, and had clear memories of seeing episode 4 (not known as such at the time), my connection would be even more profound and visceral than it is, which is saying quite a bit.

What is it about Star Wars?  It is an archetype of so many things.  Religious things, political things, scientific things, biological things, ethical things, ALL the things.  It cannot be pigeonholed.   It has always had a certain je ne sais quoi that I still cannot quite comprehend.

When my children were born, and were big enough to sit upright on the couch, I fell in love with Star Wars all over again.  And this time, I fell even harder.

Here is how I have felt since the first time i saw episode 8:

I loved episode 8.  Because it was Star Wars.  But it was too thin.  It felt like an episode in the middle of a 13-episode high-quality TV series, like the Sopranos or the Wire. It was compelling, but it didn't cover nearly as much ground as the middle of a trilogy needs to. 

Consequently, episode 9 has far too much to do.  An impossible amount of ground to cover.  All Star Wars fans know this.  But today we don't care.  Because the beauty of Star Wars is the face that grown-ass men and women make when they get a peek at new Star Wars. 

The title is profound.  How can "Skywalker" rise? 

"Skywalker" could refer to Luke, who (hopefully) will be a major character in this episode as a force ghost.  It could also refer to Anakin, who (even more hopefully) will be a major character in this episode as a force ghost. 

"Skywalker" could refer to Kylo Ren, who, let us not forget, is a Skywalker.  That's just not his last name.  Because of the patriarchy.  If Kylo is the "Skywalker" referred to in the title, that would imply that he is redeemed.  I really hope that doesn't happen.  We've already seen that story.

My third theory, which I hope to be true, is that "Skywalker" had become something akin to "Caesar"; it started out as a family name, but because of the larger than life actions of certain bearers of that name, it morphed from a proper noun into a title.

Julius Caesar's last name was Caesar.  But for 2,000 years after his assassination, people all over the world used his name to make themselves feel more powerful.




Pictured above is Czar Nicholas II.  "Czar" is Russian for "Caesar".  For thousands of years, people used the family name "Caesar" as a proper noun to instill respect and fear.  It didn't work very well for the man in the photo above; he was murdered by Communists, along with his wife, his five children, and 30 million other of his countrymen.  But I digress.

What  if "Skywalker" is the new "Caesar"? "Skywalker" could be synonymous with "force-user" or "Jedi".  "King" was replaced with "Caesar"; maybe "Jedi" will be replaced with "Skywalker".

If episode 9 is not wildly better than episodes 7 and 8, then this trilogy will be, in my opinion, the weakest of the 3 trilogies. 

No matter what happens in this film, I will love and revere Star Wars for what it is, for what it was, for what it will be, and for the fact that I still can't quite understand what it is that made me, and hundreds of millions of others, get all weak in the knees when we saw this trailer.