How can any Star Wars fan celebrate Father's Day without thinking of the most shocking scene in cinematic history...
It's impossible...and has given birth to so many parodies and one of my favorite t-shirts of all times.
It has become it's own "thing" to collect in my Star Wars collection.
The oedipal drama within Star Wars is by no means subtle, but it is the insightful and exquisite paternal themes between Yoda and Luke that make me think most of my own relationship with my father.
My father was a brilliant and gifted man of the cloth. And even from the early age of five, I have memories of us discussing our beliefs and religious dogma. Which is probably why Yoda reminds me most of my father. That and the fact that they both had a goofy, ever present, since of humor. I love watching Yoda be sarcastic or silly...just like my dad.
The scenes on Dagobah with Yoda and Luke are ever present reminders of how my father helped me become the Jedi I am today. He taught me so many things. And like Yoda moving the x-wing fighter out of the swamp on to dry land, my father taught faith - not by telling, but by doing.
To this day that scene still makes me tingle inside...on days like today..it even makes me cry. I feel as if I am at my father's feet watching one of his most moving sermons. He was a great man with a powerful faith, who was not boastful but humble - like Yoda.
One of my happiest memories of watching the Star Wars trilogy was when my father came for an extended stay to visit. We had the most awesome home theater at the time with a 75" screen and Dolby surround sound. My father was center seat in his favorite easy chair, which he usurped from my husband each time he visited, and we watched the entire original trilogy. (The prequels had not come out yet.)
My father loved movies, but didn't go to the theater after we were heavy enough to keep the seat down on our own (Money was tight when I was a kid.) I watched these movies I love with the man who taught me to love movies - He LOVED them!
Star Wars is a science fiction, action-packed, thrill-ride of a movie; but it also appeals to the more cerebral cinema fan. Which is why I think I loved them so much.
My father did not miss the mythological and religious themes in the films and we spent most of the day discussing those parallels with our own faith. We discussed the themes that were universal to many faiths and how that might explain why people from all over the world connect to this film in such an innate way. It is one of my favorite Father's Day memories.
Happy Father's Day, Daddy. I will love you, always.
So for all you Star Wars fans out there. Don't say Happy Father's Day say...
Who's Your Daddy?
