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I spent 20 hours on the dark side... and survived!

Posted Tuesday, December 22, 2015 at 2:50 PM Central
Last updated Tuesday, December 22, 2015 at 2:59 PM Central

by John Couture

People of a certain age (40ish) and under do not remember a world without Star Wars. I was born in 1974, so I fall firmly in the camp of people who don’t recall a galaxy (close by or far, far away) without Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia. These three characters shaped my childhood and came to represent qualities that I would hold dear to my heart well into adolescence, and beyond.

Star Wars is not just another movie; it is a cultural touchstone that has quite literally had an impact on everything from politics to sports. But we tend to forget that Star Wars started out as a simple movie from a young filmmaker.

Back in the heyday of Golden Hollywood, films were events at which people got dressed up and actually left their homes to enjoy with other human beings. Films are not supposed to be experienced on your cell phone while you sit on the toilet. Somehow, we have lost our way over the last few years as we have allowed convenience to change the way we experience films.

With this in mind, I made the decision that I would enjoy Star Wars: The Force Awakens in the best possible way that would honor it as the event film that it is. So, I took a vacation day and spent 20 hours in a movie theater. That’s right nearly a full day to watch all seven Star Wars films back-to-back, ending with the debut of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

You have to understand just how instrumental these films have been in my life to get an idea why I would do something that sounds crazy to most folks. Sometime in late May 1980, I went to the movie theater with my family for the first time ever. The film that we saw that fateful day was, of course, The Empire Strikes Back. I had really cool parents.

Later that year or maybe in 1981 (the memory is a little fuzzy), my father brought home the family’s first VCR and the first film that we rented from our local video store was, naturally, The Empire Strikes Back. That first experience with a VCR unknowingly set into motion a chain of events that would lead to the career that I have enjoyed for the last 20 years.

After the letdown of the prequel films, I was skeptical about the new films but hopeful that they would capture that old magic that was lost somewhere along the way in the commercialization of the 1990s. A lot has changed in the last 40 years, but truly great films can still create a cultural phenomenon. Truly great films can remind us of the feelings we all shared when we first experienced Avatar or Titanic or E.T. or Jaws.

So, as I sat there in a theater full of 200 strangers for 20 hours I began to realize that we weren’t strangers at all. We were long-lost friends who lost our way these last 40 years, but we came back for the best high school reunion ever. Some brought their kids and, at least, one young lady brought her unborn child. Now that’s a definition of a true fan, sitting in a movie theater for 20 hours while five months pregnant.

We cheered for each and every Fox fanfare and every single “A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away….” We booed when Han somehow still didn’t shoot first and we jeered when Hayden Christensen’s force ghost appeared at the end of Return of the Jedi. I may have even led the crowd in a spontaneous serenade of “Yub Nub” at that point, I’m not sure because I was delirious by then.

What happened next was even more magical. That capped the number of marathon tickets at 200 and it sold out fast, but they showed the films in a 550 person theater. It was great for Episodes I-VI because we were able to spread out and enjoy the space, but for The Force Awakens, the filled the empty seats with fans that had been standing in line all day.

After 17 hours, our energy was waning, but the influx of excited fans quickly rejuvenated us marathoners. There were stormtroopers and Obi Wans and even a pretty convincing Queen Amidala. The theater brought in members of the local 501st Legion and the film was suddenly anything other than a movie. It was an event that transcended it to another level.

It reminded me of why I got into this industry in the first place because films are fun. They can make us laugh. They can make us cry. But mostly they allow us to share moments with others. I will always have a bond with those 199 other brave souls and I hope that we can continue to make bonds like this forever.

The Force Awakens didn’t reintroduce me to Luke, Han and Leia, it reintroduced me to myself when I was a kid. It took me back to simpler times and reminded me that sometimes we have to go out and experience life before it passes us by. And yes, I may have borrowed liberally from Ferris Bueller on that last part, but what can I say? I love films.