On May the 4th, An Ode To My First Movie, Return Of The Jedi
The first movie I remember seeing in the theater was Star Wars: Return of the Jedi. I was very young. So, young it’s hard to believe I remember seeing this movie. According to Wikipedia the film was released on May 25, 1983, six years after the first movie. Those days it felt like movies were in the theaters for months on end. It’s likely I saw it months after it hit theaters. In 1985, Return of the Jedi was later re-released and it’s possible that this is when I actually saw the movie.
Since the first trilogy was released and another one and another plus more movies, an animated series and a live-action series, May the 4th has become the unofficial, or is it official now, Star Wars Day. A day chosen because it sounds like one famous phrase from the movie ‘May the force be with you’ or as we say on this day May the 4th be with you. Its the most dad jokes of dad jokes. I fell for this joke more than once in high school. It goes like this, ‘Hey what day is today?’ and the response ‘May the 4th’ is followed by the questioner saying ‘Be with you’. Cue laughter. Yea, the joke is that bad.
It’s hard to describe the over-sized influence Star Wars has had on our culture from claiming its own day to inspiring a generation of filmmakers and lightsabers. For a young me, it was wanting to be like Princess Leia. Today young…
