" Star Wars" has been on the tip of people’s tongues lately. Not that it ever wasn’t, but people – myself included – are way hyped for the new movie. And after what people considered a rather lackluster prequel trilogy, there is a new hope (I’m clever) that the sequel trilogy will breathe renewed life into the franchise.

Unfortunately, I wasn’t around to herald the birth of this saga, but I was certainly around for the prequels. I remember being 5 years old when "The Phantom Menace" came out, and I was blissfully unaware of the painstaking flaws and missteps it brought to the series. All I knew was that there were lightsabers and podracers and that was cool. As the years progressed and "Attack of the Clones" and "Revenge of the Sith" came out, I would watch each film with the same childlike awe, marveling at the sheer spectacle rather than really paying attention to the story or characters. Soon after, I watched the original trilogy, and even at a young age, I noticed something different. Despite what seemed like lesser special effects compared to the newfangled prequels, it held my attention just as much as the prequels did, even in a more compelling way.

That being said, and with stating the obvious that the prequels are not even comparable to the originals, I still enjoy the prequels. They give depth to the story set up in the originals, despite the obvious mistakes (*cough* Jar-Jar *cough* Hayden Christensen’s acting *cough cough*) and in spite of my difference to the originals, the prequels hold a special place in my heart.

I didn’t have the benefit of being around while the originals came out and instead grew up with the prequels. Those movies feel like the story I belong with, however flawed they may be. I can love the originals as much as I want, but will I ever really belong to that discourse, with the generation that watched those movies in theaters as the groundbreaking works that they were?

So comes the subject of "The Force Awakens," which takes place a few decades after the events of "Return of the Jedi." It’s the continuation of the story that started it all, only now it has those newfangled effects that appealed to my little eyes in the prequels. And for some reason this creates some sort of cognitive dissonance in me, like this movie, only exists in some sort of dream I had that made me feel weird after I woke up. Does this story really belong to me? Not to say that I’m having a crisis over something like "Star Wars," but it’s something so dear to many people’s hearts, not even only just sci-fi fans, that it becomes a valid concern to someone like me, and many groups have inherently contain a notion of validity within that group.

I guess the simple answer to this question is yes, it does. The point of all this melodramatic questioning of belonging is to highlight the fact that a franchise like "Star Wars" is timeless. This magical tale of the Force, Jedi, and the Sith, of laser blasters and epic space battles, belongs to everyone who sees it. There are not many franchises who can say that ("Harry Potter" is the only one I can think of right now). It is such a massive force of culture that it would probably still be somewhat relevant whether or not there was a movie coming out. But there is, and when you sit down in that dark theater and the film starts, just remember, that the story absolutely belongs to you. And it was made for you. So enjoy.

P.S. I don’t care if you disagree, but the prequels were not bad.

P.P.S. Except "The Phantom Menace." That one sucked.