It has been 30 years since we last saw the green Jedi light-saber being twirled around by one Luke Skywalker. Our last glimpse of him
puts him next to his comrades celebrating the fall of the Empire. Sure, we all
experienced the entire prequel trilogy, and while Anakin showed glimpses of heroism,
we still hearkened back to the days of old; the boy from Tattooine.
What is it about Luke Skywalker? He has become a
mythological character, our Achilles or Odysseus. The last 15 years have
resulted in a surge of heroic characters and trilogies. Take your pick of
Spider Man, Superman, Avengers, Iron Man, Captain America, X-Men and so on.
They’ve all come and gone, yet, the void remains. In those same 15 years, we’ve
experienced terror across the globe in many forms, some more sinister than
others, all leaving their mark.
To explore that void, we must go back to our childhood,
that supernova of pop culture that was the 80’s. I was too young to remember
Episodes 4 and 5, but 1985’s Return of the Jedi left an indelible mark in my psyche. Luke was the representation of hope, goodness, redemption, heroism. He
was Odysseus and Achilles and maybe even Superman.
That’s the thing about Luke. He was an amalgamation of
all of these virtues. TV made Star Wars characters into household names. Vader
and Skywalker and Solo and Leia; these were intermingled with Magic and Kareem
and Bird and Ripken. Who didn’t want to be Luke Skywalker, mechanical hand and
all? We all did, though we always had a few dark side seekers, lovers of all
things Vader.
We need our heroes now more than ever. The dark side has
spread its doctrine to every corner of the globe. The world needs hope, it
needs its mythological representation of hope to return.
It is perhaps apropos, that we will see one Luke
Skywalker return come December 18th. Perhaps he’ll sport a beard or a goatee.
Perhaps he will no longer be young. Yet all that know him will see him as just
Luke. The eyes of childhood will look upon their hero and rejoice once again.
The world needs Luke. The world needs light. May the
Force be with us once again.
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