Distracted by yesterday’s talk of what I DIDN’T do last year I’d quite overlooked what I DID do, SIX years ago. Which was, I went to see The Force Awakens!
The previous six Star Wars films had premiered in May, but presumably the consistent December success of the Lord of the Rings/Hobbit trilogies prompted Disney to view Christmas as a more appropriate time (by which I mean, cha-ching!).
Those six Tolkien blockbusters almost entirely passed me by, except for the first of The Hobbits; my daughter saw it on a school trip, and because she said how good it was we all went to watch it. I fell asleep twice and it still felt like the longest film I’d ever seen.
When I got to the cinema for The Force Awakens there was already one other guy there. He was in the middle seat of the middle row, sans refreshments, feet planted square on the floor, and eyes fixed firmly on the screen. Very clearly, he wasn’t there for the popcorn but for the very serious business of watching a film.
Five minutes before curtain up, by which time the room was almost full, a family moved into the row in front of us: Granny, Dad… and a toddler. I suspect that serious guy’s heart sank at the thought of his long-anticipated first viewing of a brand new Star Wars film being ruined by high-pitched interruptions of “who’s that?” and “she’s scary” and “b****rd’s killed Han Solo!” from this little kid.
Bless her, the little girl was silent throughout. Probably, just as I had been as a child, she was transfixed by the wondrous spectacle of a Star Wars movie. A little Christmas miracle.
Or possibly she’d spent the whole film doing what I’d done during The Hobbit.
(Twice!)
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