Tomorrow is May the Fourth, a fan holiday to recognize Star Wars. In honor of the day, I’ve been thinking about something that I’d like to share with you on its eve.

You see, there’s a picture in my head that won’t let me go. It’s a very strange image and I’m going to do my best to describe it to you. So, let’s start small.

Imagine a room filled with ten hundred people. There are boundaries around each one of them on the floor; the older they are, the bigger the circle is. Now, add rings in that circle (like a tree). Each one dates that person’s very first experience with Star Wars, then their second, their third, and so on. The area between the circles are color-coded with the emotion that viewer/reader felt during that moment. For the sake of simplicity, use warmer colors for the happier moments and cooler colors for the others. Thin lines mark when they see a particular film again. Thick lines are for new experiences whether they be movies, books, comics, etc.

That’s the two-dimensional part. The last bit, is to assess a tonal value within each ring. Take that very first experience. Was it happy? Make that ring’s shade glow a bright yellow. Now do the same for that singular fan until you reach present day. As time passes, each ring gets either brighter and brighter — or dimmer depending upon the viewer’s tastes and subsequent experiences. That first memory is crucial because it establishes the foundation for what we think of Star Wars, but also what we feel about it.

Multiply this image by a million. Congratulations, you have just now entered my head! Pretty, isn’t it?

What I see, are groups of colors associated with age groups and the different trilogies as the larger, or most well-known body of works from the Star Wars franchise. But? There are lots of other elements to the property. Comic books, novels, graphic novels, video games — the list goes on and on and on. Each iteration of Star Wars triggers a different emotional reaction. We have now reached the point where Star Wars is so saturated in our social consciousness because of the creative works produced that it can parody itself.

Mind you, there are other variables to take into consideration, because what’s really interesting is when those experiences overlap with one another. Then you get mixtures of colors or brightened tones because the shared awe or disgust is that much more powerful. It’s gorgeous!

This, moreso than any critique, is why I feel Star Wars fandom is something for us to not only recognize, but study and understand. This isn’t just fandom, this is a phenomenon — regardless of how we feel about the quality or the particular moments. Of course we’re going to have opinions, and I feel that our memory and our emotion combined affects those thoughts. We don’t remember moments with precision and the more content that’s added to any property, the greater the chance that’ll influence our original opinion. Worse, we get defensive, too, about those original feelings. Angry. Hurt. Betrayed?

But for others that moment of happiness, like the picture in my head is trying to express, came not from the first time we experienced Star Wars — but from theirs.

Somewhere, in the middle of that beautiful picture, lies the beating heart of fandom. And that, to me, is more amazing than any comment a fan can make. No, I am not saying that we shouldn’t critique the films or the books. I’m not telling you that your thoughts don’t matter. They do, because they’re yours. This is just the ten thousand foot overview of something quite remarkable — a complex set of emotions and thoughts based on an shared visual, interactive, and literary experience crossing many ages, cultures, and backgrounds. If that doesn’t blow your mind, then I don’t know what will.

May the Fourth be With You.

Mood: The dawn of summer and all its warmth and annoyances.
Caffeinated Beverages Consumed: I HAVE WINGS!
Work-Out Minutes Logged Yesterday: Housework. Feh.
In My Ears: Country? WTF?
Game Last Played: Star Wars Battlefront
Movie Last Viewed: Young Guns
Latest Artistic Project: Cross-stitch
Latest Release: “Don’t Ignore Your Dead” included in Don’t Read This Book for the Don’t Rest Your Head RPG