Читать книгу Why We Love Star Wars - Ken Napzok - Страница 7

Foreword: An Old Hope

Joseph Scrimshaw

A thin brown stick, jutting out of a snow bank.

My gloved hand outstretched.

My eyes locked on the stick, willing it to move.

The stick refuses.

I concentrate harder, growling into the scarf wrapped around my face. “No,” I think. “That’s not how it works. The Force flows when you’re calm. At peace.”

I take a deep breath and raise my hand again, but a voice breaks my concentration.

It’s my mother with an important question. One she’s been asking with increasing frequency and concern: “Hey! You, uh, you know Star Wars isn’t real, right?”

Like countless other humans, I’ve been a huge fan of Star Wars from a very young age. I didn’t have the words to express it as a child, but Star Wars was always more than entertainment or escapism to me. I always wanted to make that stick move.

From my earliest memories, I fought to incorporate Star Wars into my life.

We had the board game Escape from Death Star. When my older brother wasn’t around, I turned to my teddy bear, Chocolate, who graciously agreed to play it with me. He defeated me more times than not.

I devised bizarre and complex plots to act out with my three and three-quarters inch Star Wars action figures. Like when my Cloud Car Pilot, who I believe I named Rak Starflier, asked Hoth Outfit Princess Leia on a date while Han was frozen in carbonite. Leia, with great aplomb, rebuffed Rak and educated him on the concept of monogamy.

When I was a teenager, my father tried to teach me to play the drums. A skill I was unable to master until I remembered to breathe, relax, let go. I needed to stop obsessively counting every beat and trust in my instincts. I only learned to play when I unlearned what I had learned.

Over the years, I brought Star Wars into my life in so many different ways. Reading books, collecting action figures, playing video games, collecting more action figures, performing comedy shows about Star Wars, still collecting action figures and performing comedy shows about Star Wars action figures, specifically.

But still something was missing. Still, the stick did not fly into my hand.

Then a few years ago, I met Ken Napzok. I went on the show he co-hosted with Maude Garrett, Jedi Alliance, to share my appreciation of the Star Wars prequel trilogy and era.

Leading from that, Ken and I eventually co-created, along with Jennifer Landa, the ForceCenter podcast feed. Now, we spend hours and hours talking, laughing, and digging into the beating heart of Star Wars. The toys and the absurdity and the predictions, yes, but also the characters, the artistry, the themes. The meaning behind the moments. The kind of ideas you’ll read about in this very book.

And for the first time, the stick moved.

My mother had been understandably concerned that I couldn’t tell the difference between reality and fantasy. But what I had always longed for is the chance to truly explore what this fantasy could tell me about reality.

Star Wars—with all its space wizards, bug-eyed monsters, and starships that travel at the speed of narrative need—is not running from the real world. It reflects the joys and challenges of reality and opens doors for interpreting it.

That kind of reflection is what I get from my long Star Wars conversations with Ken. And that’s what you have in your hands or flowing into your earbuds right now. One long, fun, heartfelt conversation.

So, I encourage you to enjoy. Shout out when you agree with something! Whisper “hmmm” when you need to give something more thought. Jot down your own memories. Talk out loud to this book and imagine Ken listening to you with a playful, thoughtful sparkle in his eye. Your life will be better for it.

Because Star Wars is a fantasy. But the impact it can have on our lives is very real.

So, sit back, let go, reach out.

Make that stick move.

Make this book fly into your waiting hands.