I'm introducing my six-year old son to the Star Wars universe. I have a bad feeling about this... so I'm chronicling the experience. If you are, or have been, or will be either a parent or a kid in the same situation, feel free to chime in! Be nice. Here's the background:
I am NOT a Star Wars superfan.
I saw the original trilogy multiple times, but not in the last twenty+ years. Han was a role model; Luke, even then, was too whiny. I didn't like Episode I, I can't remember if I finished Episode II, and I haven't seen Episode III. I read and liked the Timothy Zahn books. I dressed up as Chewbacca for Halloween in 1983. I watched the Saturday Ewoks cartoon for a season or two. I read the novelization of the original movie for 10th grade English (hero's journey, compare to Gilgamesh, etc. etc.) What I'm saying is-- I'm casually knowledgeable about the Star Wars universe; I've enjoyed many aspects of those stories, but I stopped actively thinking about it a long time ago.
Last year I gave my kid a few bucks to buy some very specific books at his kindergarten book fair. These books were classics of high literary value, the kind of thing a parent wouldn't flinch from reading over and over. My son came back with Lego Star Wars: Anakin to the Rescue instead, and suddenly the flood gates were open (thanks Lego Group!). A Star Wars origami book (kinda awesome actually). A Star Wars pop-up book. Star Wars-themed workbooks. Many conversations--from breakfast to bedtime-- about dark side vs. "light side," droids vs. clones (what?), and characters I'd never known.
Anakin Skywalker is the alpha and omega of my son's understanding of the Star Wars universe. He is the towering hero, the ultimate good guy, the swashbuckling do-gooder with the heart of gold-- you can see where this is headed. It's funny on one level. On another level... will my boy feel duped? Betrayed? Will his basic world view be turned upside down and corrupted forever?
Here's the kicker-- the spoiler is out there. You can't hide Vader's origin story for long, especially with a kid who can read on his own and who has a number of related books. So we have no choice but to introduce him to the original trilogy as soon as possible.
I don't really think these movies are appropriate for a kid who is barely six. People--good guys-- die. Moral ambiguity exists. Sex-- or at least complicated inter-gender relationships-- lurks underneath it all. I'm not an overly protective parent-- and I'd rather be watching Star Wars: Clone Wars cartoons than another episode of @#$% Clifford-- but there are some things I'd prefer to discuss when he's eight or nine rather than when he's six. (The Clone series-- streaming on Netflix-- has some pretty gruesome death by asphyxiation in the cold vacuum of space in an early episode. Not sure the boy picked up on that though.) My hope is that he'll focus on the starships and explosions now and the other stuff will filter into his consciousness later on.
Let's see how this goes...
