How do you know when you're forever "hooked" on a movie until the day you die? Well, for instance, you begin to recite lines from said movie before those lines are even uttered on screen.
For me, the movie that will forever be in my heart of hearts is Star Wars - A New Hope. Now, I know what you're thinking. If you're a Generation X-er like me, this is no real surprise and hardly original. I'm sure hundreds of 30-something male adults still worshiper this movie. Some in not so subtle ways and others all for their own unique reasons. Remember though, I was a very impressionable 4 years old the summer this movie came out and that is what makes it so special to me. I still remember the very hot summer day in Michigan in which my parents took me to see this film.
It was a typical Midwest summer in late July or August. A hot, very humid sweltering stagnant heat was upon us. The movie had been out for some time. In fact, it had been out so long, the local theaters weren't even showing it anymore. My mom and dad, sans my sister, who had already seen it with friends, packed me into their car on that steamy summer night just before dusk. We arrived in Plainwell, Michigan about a 1/2 hour south of Grand Rapids just in time to enter the theater. I had no idea this movie I was about to see would forever change me as a person. I just knew I was going to the movies with my parents, which for a four year old was always "fun." I can still remember the distinct buttery smell of popcorn as we entered and finding our old worn seats in the dark 1950's style theater. Then . . . it happened. The roar of the jets across the screen and the electric battle in space. I was hooked and mesmerized within seconds. From that moment on, I wanted to be Luke Skywalker and before that point in my life I just existed in my own little world. The film, like no other before or ever since, introduced me to other worlds besides my own, both figuratively and literally. The movie, at such an impressionable age not only captured my imagination, but stirred it, stretched it and sent it in new cosmic directions. It was a "re-birth" of sorts.
Sure, I could tell you that the films basic premises and subplots of good versus evil also played a roll in my attraction, which naturally they did. But truth be told, it was much more than that. The film inspired me to think outside my everyday world. To boldly refute what is laid out in front of me and to imagine what is possible, even if it seems unattainable or unachievable. That is why Star Wars will always be a part of me and who I am today. Someone who doesn't accept what is but imagines what can be. Someone who still dreams the bigger dream and for that I am eternally grateful.
So, the next time you're flipping through channels and see Star Wars on Spike or another network channel, just know, chances are I'm watching. I always do and I always will.
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