Star Wars is big now, very big.
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But, relatively speaking, in 1977 it was huge. For many of us who were kids in 1977, Star Wars was a life-changing experience (and yes, it was just Star Wars then: the subtitle Episode IV: A New Hope was added for the film's 1981 re-release and a few other tweaks were made, early signs that George Lucas would endlessly fiddle with his creation).
It was an era when, especially in Australia, media access was a lot more limited, especially for those of us in the country with only two TV channels and limited access to print publications. VCRs, much less DVD players, were yet to come. The only way to see a movie was on TV, at the cinema, or at the drive-in.
But the lack of resources only fed the hunger for information (and the desire to see the film repeatedly: it had a long run). I read everything I could find on it in the newspapers my family bought as well as the novelisation (with some intriguing differences to the movie) and the Story Book with its photos and text depicting a deleted Tatooine scene with Luke Skywalker's friend Biggs.
I watched The Making of Star Wars and The Star Wars Holiday Special, the latter a bemusing mix of 1970s variety show and odd Star Wars elements that - apparently per command of Lucas himself - was never shown again (thank you, internet, for allowing me to wallow in its half-remembered weirdness once more).
As time went on more films came out and tantalising, sometimes contradictory, information emerged - would there be three films? six films? nine? Would the third be called Revenge of the Jedi or Return of the Jedi?
The first film was, and remains, my favourite. I wish Lucas - now, Disney - would make the original versions of the films available, as was done for Blade Runner. Of course, Lucas was free as creator to do what he wanted with the films, but wiping out the past - especially with the multi-award-winning original - is unfortunate.
Theories have been expounded and whole books written on Star Wars' appeal - including the enduring appeal of Joseph Campbell "hero's journey" and Lucas's mix of elements and references, from Westerns to Flash Gordon to The Wizard of Oz to World War II aerial combat footage to Japanese samurai films.
For me, I think, it was the sense of a whole world being created, one that felt like it existed beyond the film itself. There was action, humour, drama, special effects, memorable music - just about everything a kid could want. And as I got older, I could get more out of it. Despite the flaws it felt, at least in the beginning, new and different and exciting.
I was the perfect age to grow up with the films and be entranced by all three of the original films - in their original incarnations - and I still think they're the best. The long-delayed prequels suffered from George Lucas having too much control: his clunky dialogue and obsession with special effects over actors became all too obvious. There was a bit of that in the original but perhaps given the newness and limitations, as well as expert collaborators, it seemed to work better. The Empire Strikes Back is often considered the best of the Star Wars films: it was also the one on which Lucas seems to have had the least direct involvement.
I've enjoyed the last three films, and even the spin-offs, but haven't become as obsessed about the whole Star Wars universe as some. Interestingly, though, much more information is available now about the creation of the original movies, which I've enjoyed. It will be interesting to see where Star Wars goes from here.
It's hard for me to compare Star Wars to later pop culture phenomena - perhaps Harry Potter comes closest in influence and impact. Maybe if the boy wizard had been around when I was six or seven, I would have become obsessed with him, too.