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"Starwoids": a look at Gen X-wing
By Steve Lansingh | I picked up a copy of "Starwoids" just for informational purposes -- I'd heard it documented the groups of L.A. Star Wars fans who waited up to 42 days to be the first to see "Episode I". I waited only 6 hours for tickets myself, but found the experience fun, and wanted to get a taste of what a month in line must have been like. (Not to mention how you could logistically do it.)
But "Starwoids" (a term for Star Wars fans I'd never heard before) is more than just a chronicle of a single event, it's the best exploration of the Star Wars subculture ever put before the camera. It contains elements of affection and mockery, just like "Trekkies" bestows upon Star Trek fans, but moves much deeper. Here we get to see the spiritual and social longings of the Star Wars aficionado. Spirituality is woven into the fabric of this story: Fans describe the wait as something of a "religious experience." They describe how their moral ideals are embodied in (and shaped by) the space saga. Others feel proud that Star Wars is (borrowing a line from Lennon) bigger than Jesus. Director Dennis Przywara even has the insight to interview a priest about how the themes of good and evil in Star Wars relate to the Christian faith. (More elaborate comparisons have been made in Christian publications, but this seems to be the most mainstream acknowledgement of the idea.)
The documentary also shows the social behavior of the Star Wars fan -- he or she (mostly he's, though) is a good citizen. The long wait isn't passed by getting high or pulling pranks, but by bouts of Playstation competition and laptop showings of Pulp Fiction. Police stop by to check on the line, but the faithful are well-behaved. Even their bathroom etiquette must be up to snuff -- the owner of the restaurant across the street beams that his facilities are the "restrooms of choice" for the fans, rather than closing them to the public. But neither is the line utopia. As in any human enterprise, there are clashes and hurt feelings. We find the group forming rules and government to keep everything orderly -- it's a microcosm of any society. Fortunately, this community works, because their eyes are always fixed on the coming of Star Wars, and trying to make George Lucas proud of them, moreso than personal gain or status. (Ah, another potent religious metaphor.)
Like I said, the documentary is a more whirlwind tour of Star Wars culture than just the line waiting. We get to watch part of "Star Wars: The Musical", a production created by two young fans that's both operatic and comic -- and surprisingly good. We get taken to the Star Wars convention, to Skywalker Ranch (the fence, that is), and to some original shooting locations. We meet the man who played Uncle Owen in the original Star Wars, a man who played a Jawa, and a fan dressed as a Jawa whose eye keeps falling off. We see the art of various fans, from a stop-motion film with a Stormtrooper action figure breakdancing, to a woman who's painted her car to resemble Luke's X-wing. There's various degrees of madness, creativity, love, obsession, community, and bemusement in the lives of these Star Wars fans. It's nothing we fans didn't know before, but it's nice to find it stated with such succinct eloquence.
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