Fun_People Archive
17 Jul
Obi-Wan Rethinks His Past

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From: Peter Langston <psl>
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 98 18:03:50 -0700
To: Fun_People
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Subject: Obi-Wan Rethinks His Past

X-Lib-of-Cong-ISSN: 1098-7649
Forwarded-by: nev@bostic.com
Forwarded-by: "Rob Pike" <rob@plan9.bell-labs.com>
From: the July Harper's

OBI-WAN RETHINKS HIS PAST

From: "Trouble with Fame," by the British actor Sir Alec Guinness, in the
January 17 issue of the London Daily Telegraph. Guinness's memoir, My Name
Escapes Me, was published last August by Viking.

This past year a refurbished Star Wars seemed to be everywhere, but I have
no intention of revisiting any galaxy.  I shrivel inside each time it is
mentioned.  Twenty years ago, when the film was first shown, it had a
freshness; also a sense of moral good and fun.  But then I began to be
uneasy at the influence it might be having.  The bad penny first dropped in
San Francisco when a sweet-faced boy of twelve told me proudly that he had
seen Star Wars over a hundred times.  His elegant mother nodded with
approval.  Looking into the boy's eyes, I thought I detected little
star-shells of madness beginning to form, and I guessed that one day they
would explode.  "I would love you to do something for me," I said.
"Anything!  Anything!"  the boy replied rapturously.  "You won't like what
I'm going to ask you to do," I said.  "Anything, sir, anything!"  "Well,"
I said, "do you think you could promise never to see Star Wars again?" He
burst into tears.  His mother drew herself up to an immense height.  "What
a dreadful thing to say to a child!"  she barked, and dragged the poor kid
away.  Maybe she was right, but I just hope the lad, now in his thirties,
is not living in a fantasy world of secondhand, childish banalities.

© 1998 Peter Langston