I am a 46-year-old Star Wars fan. I have read all the new books and watched all the animated series. I preordered Disney+ several months early just so I could watch The Mandalorian on day one. And I own the new video game where I get to be a Jedi who escaped the purge.
My first memory of Star Wars is watching The Empire Strikes Back at the drive-in theater in the back of the station wagon. I got scared and cried during the Dagobah scene.
I grew up playing with the toys. I waited in line at the prequels and the sequels.
If you ask me, it is a wonderful time to be a Star Wars fan. Yet despite the plethora of new stories available, myriad comments by “fans” go like this: The prequels are trash. The original trilogy is perfection. The latest movie not only ruined Star Wars – it took a piece of my childhood away.
What bothers me is that these disproportionately loud voices from the fringes of fandom drown out more reasoned and rational responses held the majority of “fans,” thus creating the perception that one’s fandom is both irrational as well as a source of angst, anger, and disappointment.
Regardless, on December 19th, I will head to the opening of episode 9. I will love it. And even if I am at all disappointed in the smallest of ways, it will be at least a decade until I am willing to even admit that reality to myself, let alone rant about it in comment sections across the Internet.
I am Michael Perry, and that is my perspective.
