Nothing can take away your love for Star Wars.

As you can see from my profile, I have been a member of these boards for going on 18 years, and I have noticed something sad and thoroughly avoidable crop up from time to time. First, a little background...

I first saw Star Wars in June 1977 when I was 7 years old. It blew me away, and it has ever since been my favorite movie of all time. My second favorite movie (1933's King Kong) is only a distant second. For nearly 41 years my love of the 1977 Star Wars film has remained undimmed.

Later in 1977 I first ran into a Marvel Star Wars comic book containing a tale that took place after the film. I was so excited to see the cover, and I proceeded to read it right there in the store. Alas, I did not get more than halfway through it before putting it back on the rack and thinking, "That's not real Star Wars." In more precise and sophisticated terms, I meant that the comic did not feel right to me. It did not feel like an authentic continuation of my favorite movie. It did not move me and stir my imagination as does the movie.

I continued to love Star Wars, and I continued to occasionally page through new issues of the Star Wars comic, but I was always disappointed and never bought an issue. About a month before The Empire Strikes Back came out, I excitedly bought a Marvel Comics adaptation of TESB. I figured that here at last would be the "real stuff". I read it and enjoyed it, but it left me disappointed, as did the movie when I later saw it. "That's certainly better than Marvel's made-up Star Wars stuff, but it still doesn't have the magic of the 1977 film. It feels like I'm in an alternate universe. This isn't the Star Wars I know and love!"

And so it has continued down the decades. Even my second favorite Star Wars movie (Rogue One) does not hold a candle to my love for the 1977 film. I greatly enjoy Rogue One, but it is not "my" Star Wars. It is someone else's Star Wars that I enjoy, but it doesn't live in my heart as does the first film.

My point? All too many times I have seen someone post something along these lines: "Such-and-so Star Wars movie has ruined Star Wars for me. It has retroactively ruined my love for the SW films that I used to love. I am not a Star Wars fan anymore."

But it doesn't have to be that way! ALL of this stuff is merely imaginary. None of it is in any sense real. There is no film-maker, no author, no artist, no anyone of whom I can say, "I like ALL of his work."

Ever since I was a young boy of 7, I have been rejecting Star Wars stuff. My personal canon is solely the 1977 film. Not even the novelization makes the cut. What you see on the screen for those two hours is my canonical Star Wars, and nothing else. Not even the credits. (He is Governor Tarkin, not Grand Moff Tarkin, as far as I'm concerned.) Not the Special Editions, either. Even Aunt Beru's original voice is my canonical Star Wars. Everything else--the countless movies, books, comic books, video games, etc, ad infinitum--is "other" stuff for which I have varying degrees of like and dislike.

If I can retain my love for Star Wars after 41 years of stuff that I reject, then everyone can similarly retain his love for Star Wars, regardless of not liking a new Star Wars movie, or not liking what someone at Lucasfilm did or said, or not liking etc.

If you wish you relinquish your fandom, no one can stop you. But never feel that you have no choice. Rejecting what you dislike and embracing what you like is as easy as falling off a log. After all, I was doing it as early as 2nd grade. Nothing can take Star Wars away from you. Nothing.

 

Nothing takes away Star Wars from me... always get pulled to rewatching films, TCW's Series, Rebels.. Books.. Art work.. its always gonna be there and I pray it never ends.

 

No matter what happens in the ST the way I feel about the OT or the PT isn't going to change. I remember the fun and the awe in the stories and that's what I love about those movies I grew up with.

I love Rogue One and am looking forward to Solo.

 

Me neither. I've pretty much come to the conclusion that I'm in it until I die (or are too old to give a ####).

 

Amen to that. I may like all of Star Wars, but it is always sad to see other people say that they are no longer fans. Nothing can take away what you love.

 

Can't say I like the direction Lucasfilm is taking Star Wars film-wise but I still have a lot of good stories to fall back on. My love for the OT and PT will never fade, plus there's plenty of great video games, cartoons, comics, and books released over the years for me to enjoy, not that much of a loss I'd say.

 

Well said though I hope to have my old SW trading cards in the spokes of my wheelchair someday

 

Your namesake suits you. It is a beautiful scene, just as is your sentiment. No material I dislike can take away from the things I love about SW.

 

Amen! This is why I don't get certain fans - Just watch the stuff you like and forget the rest! Simple.

 

This is why I came here, need more Star Wars fans in my life xD Speaking to it with certain classmates is good and all until like you go into deeper details.

 

I can see both sides. Sure, nothing will really ever change the parts I do like, but at the same time the whole fan experience is altered for me as time goes on and more material is added. I probably can't say I "love" Star Wars anymore when seeing a new installment is down to habit or mild curiosity rather than because I'm legitimately excited to see the next chapter unfold.

 

I can quit SW any time I like.

 

Nice topic.

After the release of The Last Jedi, I have now had thoughts about whether or not I would remain a fan for life. I always figured I would, when the PT was coming out while I was in college and I was in the middle of it all. But after hearing about LFL/Disney's vision for the future past Episode IX, it has for the first time caused me to ask myself, "will I be a hardcore fan forever?" I mean I'm sure they will continue to release films here and there for years to come that I would enjoy but-as mentioned, will any of them ever truly match (or beat) my #1, which is ROTS? So far TFA, R1 and TLJ haven't come close-and based on the source material, I strongly doubt Solo will either...

My conclusion is that although I may become more distant in my enthusiasm for the GFFA over the years, I don't think anything will take away the sense of enjoyment, nostalgia, and the general feeling one gets, being a part of SW fandom-to my dying day.

 

I've been a Star Wars fan for over thirty-five years. I loved the OT and the PT films, but I never entirely got into reading the EU. While I haven't warmed completely to the new films, new books, there are parts of each that I like, very much. I find there's something to like, if you look for it, about all the films. I don't think there's something that would turn me completely off of watching them.

 

I love these type of threads.

Now matter how I feel about the Disney era of Star Wars film's nothing can take away the first time I saw the original Star Wars films when I was a kid and the sense of awe I had at the opening scene of A New Hope especially when you first see Vader. Star Wars was, like many others here, a big part of my childhood and there's just so much Star Wars movies, video games, books and comics to pick and choose from that my love of Star Wars is practically invincible.

 

Brings people all to this wonderful place, amazing how a passion we love brings hundreds of thousands to this forum

I love being surrounded by fellow star wars fanatics

 

I too am in my 40's and have been in love with Star Wars since the age of 7. Since I saw TLJ I considered walking away from Star Wars. It is the first Star Wars film I can honestly say that I do not like. I truly hate what it did to the saga. I love all the previous films including the prequels and TFA but TLJ felt like a huge blow. I left the theatre feeling hurt, angry and dissspointed.

But I like your original post Binary_Sunset. In a way it feels tragic that no other Star Wars has lived up to the original for you but at the same time how could it? I think it's impossible because the impression it made on you was beyond measure. TESB is generally known as the best but they are basing that on the whole "I am your father" thing and it never would have existed without the original. I have felt exactly the same as you regarding bands that I grew up with. The albums that they had out when I first became a fan are incredible to me and nothing they have ever done since has been as good.

I suppose the best way to think about it is to love the films we love and leave it at that. There will always be things we like and things we don't and the positive thing about it I suppose is that the bad films make the good ones seem even sweeter. I do think it is important to remember that Star Wars is NOT REAL and nobody can really tell us what our own personal canon is or isn't.

I will never walk away from Star Wars or disregard that the originals were good. I will simply choose to not participate in the bits that I don't like and I suppose that will be just fine!

 

The stuff I don't like, makes me appreciate the stuff I do like even more.

 

Agreed. Plus I like how the prequels are getting a little bit more respect these days!

 

Nothing has yet. Even if it were to get to the point where I would skip a lot or almost all of the new content (or dislike it a lot), I always have the OT, EU novels/games/comics to go back to.

 

While I think ST is really lacking, I still enjoy other stuff from disney (comics, novels, RO..etc).

Legends are still around for anyone who want to enjoy them and I agree with the posters who said the new movies make you appreciate 1-6 even more.

 

And what is keeping mine alive and strong? Wonderful fanfictions.

 

Agreed. Good to see the creative juices flowing from people