We noticed that we have quite a few Star Wars fans at Santex, so we asked a few of them to tell us more about why they love it so much!
What was the first Star Wars movie you ever saw? How old were you?
Gabriela Chaves: Return of the Jedi. I don’t remember well how old I was, but I must have been like 6 years old. I’ve had a taste for science fiction since I was little.
Martin Navarro: Episode IV A New Hope — I must have seen it without even wanting to when I was 6 or 7 years old on an air channel. I was very curious about it. I don’t know what it was that initially caught my attention and attracted me to it, but since that time it’s left me thinking and wanting more. I watch the movies whenever I can.
Lorenzo Sauchelli: Star Wars. I was about five years old. One of my dad’s best friends had a movie club and he brought the original movie for me to watch.
Andres Palacio: When I was a kid, I watched Episode 4, but it didn’t really catch my attention. When I was in high school, I saw Episode 2 and then I started to like it. When Episode 3 came out, that’s when I got hooked on the saga and I saw all the complete movies and even some storylines that go beyond the movies.
Eduardo Nieto: I saw the first Star Wars movie on national television when I was approximately 7 years old. In those times, Channel 2 in Peru had a block called “Función Estelar,” and they played movies during family time. I remember seeing the 3 original Star Wars movies that way.
Pablo Johnson: I remember seeing parts of Episode 5 or 6 when I was very young, but it wasn’t until I saw Episode 1 (even though they say it’s not the best) when I was 14 that I really stuck with the story.
How would you summarize the plot to a person who hasn’t seen any of the movies?
G.C: Without going into much detail, I would say that the story focuses on the eternal struggle between good and evil, between monopolized power and the common good.
M.N: Giant spaceships, lasers, lightsabers, a fictional complete galaxy. What more could you want?!
L.S: I’d say it’s an adventure story. A western in space that at the same time is a movie where the good ones lose, and the space Nazis will dominate the universe. Everything else is decoration.
A.P: First of all, I apologize to the other fans who are going to read this. They are several frames, but on the most basic level, it would be:
Civil war: separatists vs. the republic – separatists being the androids and Siths (dark side) and the republic being clones (white soldiers) and Jedis (light side). The Republic wins, senator Palpatine proposes to arm an intergalactic empire so that it does not happen again, they give him the ok. But it turns out he was a sith!!! And the empire ends up being a high dictatorship, commanded by him and Darth Vader, who stayed with the clones, who now are no longer clones and are called stormtroopers who killed all the Sith, except a few who managed to escape. The rebel alliance is armed on the other side with the sons of Darth Vader, the Jedi who survived, and some others. The empire arms the Death Star, a space station that could destroy a planet in a single shot, and the alliance steals the planes and destroys it. The empire arms another one, now with a shield, but the alliance destroys it again. They face Darth Vader with Luke Skywalker, a new Jedi trained by those who came before him. Luke finds out that Darth Vader is his father!! In that fight Vader dies and so does the Emperor. Goodbye to the empire! But the First Order is armed. All the imperialists are reorganized. They put together another station, the star killer that exploited entire systems. The break, the first order, decimates the alliance and now we’re left to see what comes next.
E.N: I would say it is about conflicts between people in outer space who are “free” against a Galactic Empire that seeks to dominate all of the planets in space. In the midst of these conflicts arise the figures of the Jedi, characters with superhuman powers; and their counterpart, the Siths.
P.J: In a very distant galaxy, there is a child with a supernatural potential. He is a noble and good boy but life changes him and leads him to the dark side. Various circumstances make him become the greatest villain in the universe, and he attacks the different worlds. In the end, only the love of a son can overcome all the hatred and fear he felt, and manages to regain the kindness that once existed within him, although perhaps a little late.
Who is your favorite character and why?
G.C: It’s difficult to pick just one, but C3PO is one of the ones I like the most. He’s a robot, but ends up being much more human and comical than many other characters.
M.N: Undoubtedly Darth Vader, because he represents Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. The internal fight of good and evil, the conflict for what one feels, what one wants to do or should do and be. In the same way, in comics, novels, and other stories, there are many other characters that could be my favorites, but sticking with the movies, Darth Vader is definitely my favorite one.
L.S: Yoda. Being a character who can barely talk and who hardly appears in the movies, each of his appearances has a huge impact on the story.
A.P: Obi-wan Kenobi. I can only think of nerdy answers, but I think he’s the most “noble” of the characters.
E.N: Even though he’s not the main character, my answer would be Boba Fett, simply because he looks “cool”.
P.J: Han Solo. Even though he’s not the main character in the story, he knows how to capture your attention and be a kind of tough good criminal, but at the same time kind.
What do you think is the most important moral of the story?
G.C: That there is always hope to achieve a better universe.
M.N: Forgiveness, redemption, and letting go. The Buddhist religion was used as the basis for the Jedi teachings – one of the religions in depicted the film in that distant galaxy – so it had a lot of influence. The most important message is in the middle of the Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, when Yoda is talking to Anakin, who is about to betray everything and everyone:
“The fear of loss is a path to the dark side. Death is a natural part of life. Rejoice for those around you who transform into the Force. Mourn them do not. Miss them do not. Attachment leads to jealousy.
The shadow of greed that is. Train yourself to let go of everything you fear to lose.”
It’s very difficult to do and follow what he says there, but it has a lot of meaning and it is an excellent moral of the story.
L.S: That you shouldn’t try to do something halfway, you have to do it for real.
A.P: I think the great thing about the movies is that there’s not just good and bad – there’s a big gray area in between the two extremes in which we can move about. The bad isn’t always simply “bad.” Everything has a backstory.
E.N: It seems to me that the central message is the typical “Good always triumphs over evil”, but there are other aspects that stand out, like loyalty and respect for teachers.
P.J: It seems to me that the main message of the story is that a person has the potential to do many good things as well as bad, and ultimately it depends on the person and their decision-making to choose which path to go down.
