Start with VII

Where to start younger Star Wars viewers? How about at the end?

Hey everyone! It’s been a few weeks, I apologize! I have a lot going on: I’m directing a one man show with my pal Steve Burns which opens soon, and have just had a busy summer so far. Plus, with no new Star Wars weekly, I haven’t been forced to sit at the keyboard and write! So thanks for hanging in there, and there’s more to come. Now, here’s a little thought I had, I offer to you all, for fun.

As a childless adult, I know it seems odd for me to weigh in on how you should raise your children. Alternatively, if you are raising children, you don’t have time to think about things like this, you’re busy keeping a toddler alive. So let’s call it a wash. (Or maybe I’m performing a public service!) I have plenty of time but no children, you have kids to raise and no time. So, here comes something I’m sure you love: unsolicited advice from someone with hours to think up said advice, and no stake in the outcome.

Sometimes the question will be posed: where to start Star Wars with younger or new viewers? Which movie or show should a kid watch first, if they’re Star Wars curious or if they’re being proselytized to by an over-enthusiastic parent? Should you start chronologically with Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, which technically begins the narrative and was written with younger viewers in mind? Should you start with Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope, which is the actual first film in the story and has on-boarded legions of fans with its memorable characters and clear, uncluttered story. Should you pop on The Mandalorian because you don’t need to know anything about the rest of the series to watch it and hey, look, that’s a very cute baby! Should you start with The Clone Wars, a series of bright cartoons with lots and lots to look at?

Floated far less in these discussions is beginning at the end: starting with Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens. At first blush, that feel wrong somehow. It’s a story that feels like it’s playing on Star Wars history, and therefore, might be confusing to a younger viewer.

But, now that The Force Awakens is ten years old, I think we can acknowledge that it’s designed as a starting point for the sensibilities of the contemporary young person. It’s made with the look and feel, speed and shine, even the haircuts, of the kinds of movies young people see today. And, it doesn’t actually require much knowledge of prior films to enjoy.

I started to think this when I was watching the original Star Wars with my friends’ son. He’s still in single digits, age wise, but felt ready to watch the movie. He practically had the story memorized from the all the LEGO sets and storybooks and visual dictionaries he’d consumed.

There was nothing in A New Hope that was too scary for him, and there was nothing that seemed to confuse him. He got all the way through it, decimated as his attention span is by the world in which we live.

One question he asked, though, stuck out for me. In the final battle, during the attack on the Death Star, a nearly 50 year old piece of editing genius, he asked: “Where are all the girls?” There is not one female pilot in the cockpit of an X-Wing or Y-Wing. My mind has memorized that scene and erased all cultural sensitivity to it. But this eight year old? Noticed what was missing. He simply does not watch stories that omit women entirely (let alone stories where everyone is one race or background).

The Force Awakens is made for him and his generation. It features a cast of characters that look more like what he sees in his Netflix Kids cartoons or on YouTube, a frankly sane blend of characters from different backgrounds with different complexions. It doesn’t require him to leave decades of progress out of his experience to enjoy it.

Episode VII also treats the story like it’s starting right now. In the first few minutes, we get a village invaded, a daring escape, a scary villain, a droid in peril. We get Rey, a mysterious young woman who lives alone, how she finds the droid, how everyone comes looking for the droid, and how she flies off into a galaxy of adventure.

And once the older characters are introduced, we’re told all we need to know to enjoy the story. Han, to a new viewer, is simply an aging swashbuckler who used to own the Millennium Falcon, and who agrees to help the kids in their mission. He’s a mentor, and that’s an archetype that doesn’t require more explanation for a new viewer.

Even Luke Skywalker, if you start with VII, doesn’t require the other films to understand. We’re told he was a “myth,” that he was a Jedi that everyone seems to need, and he’s treated with such importance that discovering him feels like a big deal, even if you haven’t been waiting for him since 1983.

My guess is a young person who starts with The Force Awakens would watch the rest of the story with interest - get a more mature VIII without the hangups of how Luke is supposed to act, and just see a frustrating man who refuses to help Rey until the end; and a big finish of Episode IX when the heroes come together and win. It centers the actual story the sequels are telling - the story of Rey and the Resistance - instead of centering expectations about legacy characters, expectations their parents had.

So, what do you think? Can you see VII as the first story that works as a contemporary first step into a wider world?