When your boyfriend tells you he’s no longer a Star Wars fan because, he claims, the franchise has been f**ked up, you break up with him. Just kidding.
But, you book a single seat on Dec. 15, sit in a dark cinema, one hand in a Chicago popcorn tin, the other wiping happy tears from your face. You’ll get goosebump and you’re magically transported to a galaxy far, far away, light years away from your Force-traitor boyfriend.
Remember when “The Big Bang Theory’s” Leonard Hoffstader declared a Star Wars marathon, and Sheldon Cooper asked: “Movies or video games, or board games, or trading card games, or legos, or dress up, or comic books, or dramatic readings of novelizations? Yes to all.”
Thank the Force Super found Sheldons who still say yes to all (suck on that, boyfriend)—’70s parents who started their kids fandom, and kids at heart who passed on the Force to their kids, even a Sith-loving fanatic.
It must be the economist talking in Trisha Querijero, a 23-year-old employee from the Bureau of Treasury, because she enjoys the economics and politics in Star Wars that is not different from real life.
The wisdom behind the Force was also one of the main reasons why Trisha got hooked on the epic saga. “It leads you back to the basic question of existence—there is Force, but what is the Force?” she says.
Meanwhile, 23-year-old graduate school student Bong Lozada lives his life by the Sith Code, so much so that it has become his iPhone wallpaper.
Although he does not agree with the Sith’s choice of color (“Red? That’s so passé”), not to mention that it is quite the anti-hero, Lozada says the creed (passion, strength, power, victory and the Force) stokes the fire within.
“Everyone has that inner fire. You go through life with that fire burning inside of you and you should always keep that fire burning. That fire is your passion, the passion in whatever you do. You write, dance, build, fight, whatever, and that passion gives you strength.”
Evil aside, Bong adds that lightsabers are “the greatest movie weapon in all of history.”
“Yes, Star Wars has this gripping narrative between good and evil, but they fight using lightsabers! The weapons defy the laws of Physics simply by containing light in a limited length and using it to hurt or destroy basically anything.”
Ivanne Laxamana and her family practically call themselves Skywalkers. Ivanne and her brother John started young, watching the original trilogy on VHS and marathoning it once a year. Star Wars has become a rite of passage for the fanatic family, that when they come home from a trip abroad, they bring home a balikbayan box full of, yes, Star Wars merchandise.
She has crazy fangirl moments with family, among them is queuing early in the morning for a toys and collectibles convention. “It’s a miracle considering both my Kuya and Dad aren’t morning people. The Force is definitely strong in the family,” she says.
Like Ivanne, Star Wars is a family event for Steph Bravo-Semilla. She saw the original trilogy in 1977 in Cubao Theater with her brother and her dad.
“Being a nerd, my brother was, in today’s term, mind-blown, and bought a Star Wars soundtrack which he listened to every day. Ako, cute na cute kay Han.”
Several movies, prequels and a sequel later, Steph joins the family’s Star Wars marathon with her husband and kids if there’s popcorn, while her brother still has the R2-D2 toy which spits out tiny disks as it moves around.
Two years ago, Steph’s son Jakob, 12, dressed up as Darth Vader for Halloween. He says, “[I like Star Wars] because it’s sci-fi and there are strong, powerful girl characters, except when Princes Leia was a slave, that was gross.”
Her youngest, Lily, 5, meanwhile, says, “I like the sword fights and the popcorn.”
“Rogue One” is a must-see for the family. “My husband will divorce me if we miss ‘Rogue One,’” Steph says in jest.
Jakob is even planning to wear his Vader helmet in the screening.
Arc and Vine, a quaint coffee shop on Zapote Street, Makati, is adorned with Star Wars LEGOs and a Death Star night light. The owner, Ninay Zamora, has been a huge fan since she saw the movie franchise during her teen years. “The movie came out in the ’70s and the special effects are beyond its time, plus I really like sci-fi. [My favorite is] Princess Leia because she is a strong, independent woman,” she says.
Last year, she went to see “The Force Awakens” in costume as a Padawan. “Hinalughog niya ang closet namin,” her mom, Angelica, interjects.
In 2013, when the seasonal habagat brought heavy rains which resulted in flooding in Metro Manila, Jan Edward Ballesteros was stranded in Sampaloc, Manila.
He stayed at a friend’s dorm room and went on a movie marathon of all Star Wars films. In last year’s screening of “The Force Awakens,” he was stranded yet again in SM Megamall, but it was all worth it.
“I have always loved samurais and spaceships, and these two converge in the Star Wars saga because the sound of lightsaber and Darth Vader breathing are music to my ears. Because Padmé is a stunner. Because I still don’t get how a frail Yoda becomes nimble and powerful whenever he wields his saber. Because I cried when Darth Maul killed Qui-Gon Jinn. To be honest, I don’t really have any profound reason why I still love Star Wars. I just love everything about the franchise that even when it has been more than a decade since I first watched it, I still believe that Jedi really live, in Star Wars’ parlance, in a galaxy far, far away,” he says.