She Who Wears the Tunic That Looks Like Pants....back in the day
i.
Miss C has been reading Harry Potter and for Christmas she received books 4 - 7, as well as the DVD collection of movies 1 - 8. (As fans know, and as was explained to me, the last book was so long it was made into two films.)
Each time she finishes a book, she loves to watch the movie, and compare how it plays out on screen versus how it played out in her imagination. She recently finished book 3 and wanted to dive into the movie immediately. I reminded her to do her homework, tend to whatever else needed tending, and then, then, she could have screen time.
She started laughing hysterically.
"Do you know what you just said?" she asked.
"Yes. Do your jobs then you can watch tv."
"No! You said, 'And then you can watch some Star Wars.' "
I had.
I had swapped out HP and put in SW just like that.
She went off to tend what needed tending, still laughing, saying, "We don't even have Star Wars!"
ii.
Before she had seen The Movie, Miss C was walking the line of inquiry about Star Wars, trying to grasp what was all the to-do. For important matters like this, I direct Miss C back to her dad because my depth of knowledge on Star Wars is like the kiddie pool, a mini, shallow version of the big pool.
But she wasn't interested in the plot points.
She wanted to know why she was supposed to like it.
"You're not supposed to like it," I said. "You can like it, or not like it, or sort of like it."
"But I feel like I'm supposed to like it," she'd insisted. "No one said I have to like it, but I feel like I should."
iii.
Not long after this conversation, but still before she'd seen the movie (which transformed all uncertainty into full Force love), we were in Barnes and Noble, picking up a gift. She stopped in the middle of the first floor, as though taken over by something. She became serious, and said, "I feel like I suddenly like Star Wars. Like I actually like it now, and I don't know why."
She was surprised by this sudden liking, a new feeling she hadn't had before.
We stood still in the center of what seemed to be a new department at Barnes and Noble: Vader alarm clocks, Clone Troopers, embroidered Yoda hats, Yoda string lights, Perplexus's's's, Air Hogs, Star Wars Catch Phrase and lunch boxes and woolly gloves and Monopoly, and of course, Lightsabers of every size and color.
And suddenly, without having deepened my kiddie pool knowledge of this story, and without knowing why, I felt the exact same way.
And I really wanted the Yoda hat.
iv.
The Force Awakens opens in China this weekend. If you want to see 500 Storm Troopers stationed on the Great Wall (truly a sight to behold), or read about how to create retroactive nostalgia, here you go.
