Yep, I finally let the kids see both Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Call it desperation as our expected four-day family weekend of outings and activities degenerated into my doing whatever I could to salvage it while Mama recovered from a lingering stomach thing. Besides, they were getting tantalizing views of the other movies at Neighbor Boy's house ("Mom, we saw them kissing. And Neighbor Boy says kissing is icky." Sigh); I wanted to control their introduction to what are actually two fairly adult movies. They love the characters, though, and were excited to finally see what happened to them.
From the Rebel battles with AT-AT walkers on Hoth to the introduction of Yoda, from Han Solo's carbonite hibernation to his rescue in Jabba's vicious palace, from the "Battle of the Teddy Bears" to the end destruction of the Emperor and Empire, the kids sat mesmerized, scared, excited, nervous, and happy. Questions were fast and furious. It's almost as if Bud can't watch without talking. Mama noted that when he ran out of questions about plot points he started with anything just to ask it, such as "Why is Yoda green? Why does he have big ears?" They were both upset that Luke's arm gets cut off, that Han was frozen, that the Sarlacc ate lots of people, that the Emperor shot lightening out of his fingers, that Darth didn't get to be good for long, and that both Yoda and Darth died. It's probably a good thing that we'd prepared them for all of that, plus the revelations about Darth as twins Luke and Leia's father. They loved the AT-AT walkers, the Ewoks, the Tauntauns, Dagobah, Yoda, those speeders on Endor, the Millennium Falcon.
There were a few revelations for Mama and I, even though I've seen the films dozens of times. But it's been decades and I'd never seen the new versions of either. Mainly, I disliked the ending of ROTJ, with the elimination of that great Ewok celebration song and the addition of young Anakin's ghost in Luke's vision. Oh, well, I have the old versions and can watch those. The films were also darker, more desperate than I recalled, with Luke's temptations, the uncertainty of his resisting the Dark Side, plus the sacrifices and struggles of the Rebels. I'd forgotten how strong and feisty Leia is, also how good her aim is and how often she uses it. How many princesses have you seen kill people?
But the lessons are still there: loyalty to friends, dedication to justice, persistence and perseverance in the face of obstacles, the importance of the fight of good over evil, the possibilities and promise of forgiveness and redemption. The storylines are ancient, the archetypes foundational.
They reenacted it all weekend, inventing new narratives, rewriting existing ones, as well as reproducing the movies faithfully while playing with their figures, drawing pictures, and talking backwards like Yoda. Which they also had me doing, "If eat your dinner you do not, dessert for you there will not be."
It's just good plain fun.
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