A New Hope was the first movie I ever saw. My father took me to see it in 1977 when I was only 18 months old. I remember seeing The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi in old 1980’s movie theaters. And I was there as a twenty-something when the special editions came out in the late 90’s. I made opening night in 1999 for The Phantom Menace, in 2002 for Attack of the Clones, and in 2005 for Revenge of the Sith. By the time the current trilogy came out, I was married, had kids, and had moved to Texas. My father and best friend flew into Austin to make opening night of The Force Awakens in 2015. I’ve seen Rogue One about a thousand times. And in 2017, I flew out to Orlando for opening night of The Last Jedi. 

That’s my Star Wars resume. Most of today’s Star Wars fans, newcomers from every demographic, did not do what I did, but so what? I like all the new fans. In fact, I consider myself lucky to have a childhood passion that’s shared and welcomed by so many different people, men and women alike.

You see, I hail from a generation of boys and girls who love heroes and heroines.

Generation X.

We’re the kids in Netflix’s Stranger Things. Despite being a small generation sandwiched between Boomers and Millennials, we are extremely influential. Marketers discovered that whatever Gen X loves, everyone else comes to love too. Check out these articles:

https://www.fona.com/genx0419/

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/04/11/generation-x–not-millennials–is-changing-the-nature-of-work.html

So, it’s no small thing when the majority of X-ers reject a major Star Wars film. The Star Wars universe fell into chaos after Rian Johnson’s horrendous film, The Last Jedi tried to rebrand Luke Skywalker as Anti-Jedi and watered down the concept of good and evil. According to the Rian, the worse people in the universe aren’t Sith Lords anymore, but rich people. The storytelling, the messaging, and character arcs were so bad that I sensed a potentially fatal blow had been struck.

The Last Jedi currently stands at a rotten 44% on Rotten Tomatoes, the only major Star Wars film below 50%. The movie lasted only 8 days in China. Toy sales even plummeted and Star Wars merchandise collected dust for the first time ever. Clearly, LucasFilm made a bad movie.

But then a nauseating media blitz followed. Articles saturated the web condemning any Star Wars fan who dared to voice a critical opinion. It’s a great movie, so you’re all just terrible fans seemed to be the corporate response.

Star Wars fans hate originality and only want more of the same. Well, every fan in every franchise wants a little bit of what worked but with new and original ideas. That’s the whole point of a sequel, to provide something new while also staying “on brand.” If your fan base believes you’re off-brand, guess what? You’re off-brand.

Star Wars fans hate women, they said.

But Gen-X guys like me LOVE great heroines. Star Wars: The Force Awakens, which is a heroine-centric film, is the highest-grossing film in American history, and 70% of the ticket buyers were men in my age group. We also rallied for Gyn Erso in Rogue One. We stand proudly behind Princess Leia, Ellen Ripley, Sarah Conner, Captain Marvel, and Wonder Woman. And I predict a similar reception for Black Widow when her film comes out next year. X-er guys like me DON’T despise great heroines; we despise poorly-written ones and lousy storytelling.

So, when LucasFilm openly bashed Star Wars fans with name-calling and declared their films to be somehow above criticism, I called it.

Ban imposed.

That’s why no one rallied for our male hero, Han Solo, either, further discrediting the anti-heroine narrative. I never saw the movie at the theaters, and neither did anyone else. So, it finally happened: a Star Wars film—a franchise that wields one of the largest fan bases on Planet Earth—actually lost money. When the soulless Solo movie bombed, I felt vindicated.

Hopefully, the storytellers over at LucasFilm got the message. Generation X, which holds such sway over Baby Boomers and Millennials, demand good story and great characters. We’re an independent, hero and heroine-loving generation. We have strong opinions and know what we’re talking about.

And yet, despite all my frustration, I won’t boycott The Rise of Skywalker. I’ll be there opening night one more time.

What changed?

My lifelong best friend and fellow X-er called me the other day. I’ve known George since I was three-years-old and we’ve been seeing Star Wars movies together for 40 years. After a sincere plea, he said, “Are we really gonna boycott the final Star Wars movie? Are we really gonna do it…after all these years?”

And like a ray of summer sun, unexpectedly, the frigid Hoth-like wall of resentment melted away. He furthered his case. Why should we let them take away our traditions and boyhood passion for Star Wars? Disney and LucasFilm may own Star Wars as intellectual property, but Star Wars as a cultural phenomenon is owned by us. All of us.

You and me.

If LucasFilm indeed drops the ball with the final film, we’ll say so and life will go on.

But I’m holding out some optimism. I’m going because I believe that Star Wars, like Lord of the Rings, the Avengers, or the Dark Knight trilogy, is meant to be shared with friends and family. We’re supposed to talk about these heroines and heroes and consider what they teach us, what they stand for, and how they did it. There’s real power in great stories, and the fans always have the final say, never the critics.

I was there in 1977 when the Skywalker journey first began, and I’ll be there in 2019 when that journey comes to an end. Hopefully, it’s a great movie. Hopefully, it creates new Star Wars fans long into the future.

May the Force be with us all.