Many people who read my articles know that I am a huge 'Star Wars' fan. I've already written several articles on the subject and I can assure you all that there will be more to come. However, this article goes into the more personal side as to why I fell in love with the series in the first place and what life lessons the series has taught me. 'Star Wars' started out as one man's crazy idea for a film and transformed into a massive cultural touchstone that has millions of fans (myself included) around the world. It has become a merchandising empire, but I feel that is only a secondary attraction when it comes to the series. The real secret as to why I and many others love these films is due to the fact that they are simple, but well made morality plays.

I fell in love with 'Star Wars' at the same time many others fell in love with the series; during childhood. I took interest in the series due to an often overlooked quality of the series; the fact that the series is an epic fantasy. When people think of generic fantasy tropes they see elves, wizards, knights, princesses, and a battle between good and evil. When you stop and think, 'Star Wars' has all of those. Princess Leia is the princess (obviously). Luke Skywalker is the brave young knight. Han Solo is the dashing rogue. Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda are the great wizards and mentors to the knight (like Merlin was to King Arthur). 'Star Wars' appealed to me because it was a grand fairy tale/fantasy that was wrapped up in a scifi universe.

I loved seeing a science fiction interpretation of a typical fantasy world. The swords were re-imagined as powerful laser swords called lightsabers. Elves and dwarves became the aliens such as the wookies or the jawas. However, these are only the superficial qualities that initially got me interested in the series. The real lasting qualities of 'Star Wars' (at least for me) were the characters and the themes of the franchise. Characters like Han Solo and Princess Leia were fun, sarcastic, and I enjoyed watching their relationship develop over the years. I related to Luke as a kid. Luke started as an unimportant farm boy and ended as a wise and powerful warrior who fought evil. I saw myself in Luke. I felt that, like him, I could rise to greatness from humble beginnings.

That's probably what makes Luke's story so relatable to a large majority of audiences. I could imagine myself fighting the evil empire and saving the universe from tyranny and oppression. 'Star Wars' effectively depicts a simple tale of good verses evil. Many would criticize this as a lack of depth, but I would argue that the simplicity of the tale is what gave 'Star Wars' its universal appeal. In the same way many religious texts (such as the Bible, Torah, or Quran) depict the fight good and evil, 'Star Wars' depicts a feel good tale where good triumphs over evil. We like watching good succeed against adversity, which brings me to the ultimate reason 'Star Wars' has stuck with me as a person.

'The Empire Strikes Back' was an interesting film for me to watch as a child due to the film's downer ending. The Empire, more or less, was victorious and our heroes were left in an almost hopeless state. However, they didn't give up and the film ends with the slight hope that they would save Han and the Rebellion would defeat the Empire. That's what 'Star Wars' gave me, the idea of holding onto hope during the worst of times and reaffirming the will to fight for what's right. It's these themes that make 'Star Wars' so meaningful to me and humanity as a whole. Like all great art, it leaves us with a powerful message that gives us a more nuanced understanding of our world. It's the stories of our culture that make us the people we are and 'Star Wars' was perhaps more important at influencing who I am as a person than my entire Catholic upbringing (don't tell my parents that).