So, the kids are getting older. Not
just day by day but more so in a maturity type sense. I figured it was time to start introducing to
them some of the media I was exposed to as a kid, especially the stuff I either
liked or made a profound impact on me.
This time I opted to take the less heady route (or so I thought) and reveal
to them all that is Star Wars. I chose
to open their wondrous eyes to my personal favorite "Return of the
Jedi". Tons of action, the good
guys win in the end and oh yeah...it has ewoks.
What's not to love about this movie?...Right?
Well, time has blanked out a considerable amount of this movie in my skull
and there's nothing like finding this out 2 seconds after your kids have seen
the scenes you've forgotten about. That
being said, there were 3 scenes that transformed this movie from a
non-parenting, head candy for the kids type thing to a deep discussion about
the loss of someone close, the relationship between father and son and the
senselessness of war...I need more diet mountain dew...
The first scene shows the parting of Yoda from his faithful student Luke
Skywalker. When Yoda fades from sight
the first questions are "Is he dead?" and "Is he in
heaven?". We informed our lovely
and wondrous children that Yoda had in fact went on but he had went on to a
better place. He's a good guy so you do
the math. They seemed OK with this with
minimal tears shed.
The next in line was when our hero Luke is saved in the end by none other
than Darth Vader, his somewhat estranged father to say the least. This actually turned out to be a very
redeeming moment for our kids. They were
genuinely shocked that Vader not only defended his son, he gave his life in the
process. When faced with a society that
is littered with father figures in need of redemption, I was proud to show that
it's never too late to try and be a good dad.
Finally, in the big battle to disarm the deathstar of its precious force
field, one of our furry little Ewok friends gets hit with some firepower from
enemy fire and takes a nasty fall. His
Ewok buddy turns around to check on him and lo and behold he's not moving. His friend falls to his knees and starts to
mourn his fallen brother. I remember
this scene now as a kid. It definitely
shook me up. No one wants to see an Ewok
bite the big one, especially our kids.
Marlee was kinda down about it but recovered relatively quick. Sam...not so much. He held it together for a good 5 minutes
before he broke down. You have to
understand Sam and if you have a kid like him, well, you just understand. It took quite a while to convince him that
our little Ewok friend was just hurt and comes back later (good thing most
ewoks look similar) to kick some storm trooper tail.
Yeah, we chose to shelter him from the harsh reality of the casualties of
war this time...even if it is a fictitious one.
Maye we shouldn't have but sometimes you can't help but to become a
shield from the world from time to time.
He's 6 and with an entire lifetime in front of him that will be filled
with these realities. I just couldn't
deliver the bad news this time.
The Ewok lives in our house for now...because sometimes they just need to.
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