The destiny of the world is determined less by the battles that are lost and won than by the stories it loves and believes in. —Harold Goddard

Credit: 20th Century Fox/Lucasfilm Ltd.

I'll readily admit it. I often get extremely involved in some of the stories that I read and watch. Involved? Yeah, I mean in the extra emotional sense. I am one who is easily drawn to tears from a story that is well told. I have no shame in admitting that; after all, as one of our most famous aphorisms reminds us, "without our stories, we are nothing."

Nothing against Nothing, of course. I've always been fascinated with the subject - from Seinfeld to Shakespeare the concept has planted a firm grasp in our cultures. Along those lines, it seems that what had made both Seinfeld and Shakespeare truly famous was in fact, the pure act of the narrative, the storytelling. Sure, after studying Shakespeare to any extent, one will realize that most of the source material from his plays had already existed. This is not a point of contention. What truly set Shakespeare apart from others and established his literary legacy was what he DID with all of those characters and plots, telling them like no one else could. I think this is something very much to be appreciated.

Then there is fandom. In many circles, it is considered cool to seem detached from everything. Forget THAT! If you truly enjoy the craft of something, whether it be a novel, a show, a band, a movie, an art piece, then you should be moved by it. I recently shared my experience of seeing Tolkien's Middle Earth be adapted to the big screen in my blog entry, "An Unexpected Journey: The Hobbit Hits the Big Screen," which included my recounting of tearful reverie upon seeing the cinematic trailer for the first time. The fact that I had thoroughly immersed myself and simply enjoyed the stories of The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings series was the main reason why upon seeing that trailer, had meant so much to me in the movie theatre that day.

To a degree, I can say the same thing about the Star Wars Universe. Okay, okay. Lucas has received a lot of "fanboy" hate for all of the changes made to the series over the years, from CGI, 'new' scenes, Jar-Jar Binks, and the whole "Han Shot First" fiasco. Okay, okay...maybe people weren't too impressed with the acting choices for the three 'prequels,' but In the end, I still accepted it.

And then recently, I saw the entire Star Wars saga from a new lens. I stumbled across the film world's Drew McWeeny, who had decided to start a series of blogs based on sharing the entire Star Wars with his two young sons for the first time. The premise is simple: What happens when 21st century kids finally watch the biggest myth of the 70's?

Credit: 20th Century Fox/Lucasfilm Ltd.

I don't want to spoil the content too much, but I was entranced reading about a father's bonding over the entire Star Wars saga with his two sons. Reading about how the children reacted to all of the characters and plot developments really made me think about the story with a new perspective. To these kids, they were seeing many different actions of human behavior for the first time. McWeeny decided to show his sons the series in a unique way - deciding to begin with 'A New Hope' and then just before hitting 'Return of the Jedi' going back to the beginning and watching 'The Phantom Menace' and the rest of the "prequels." I'll have to say that this was an interesting choice, but in the long-run it seemed to make a lot of sense. I really think that this is how I would show my own children some day if I were to partake in such a venture. Below is the viewing order of the saga:

1. A New Hope (Episode IV)

2. The Empire Strikes Back (Episode V)

3. The Phantom Menace (Episode I)

4. Attack of the Clones (Episode II)

5. Revenge of the Sith (Episode III)

6. Return of the Jedi (Episode VI)

After reading his explanations for doing so, along with his children's reactions to the saga, I am firmly convinced that this is a highly favorable approach. Because the kids had already been watching the episodes of The Clone Wars (television series) they were already familiar with some of the characters, namely Anakin Skywalker. In episode IV, when Luke meets Obi-Wan Kenobi for the first time, Kenobi shares the story of his father Anakin and how Darth Vader killed him. The kids were devastated by the news, immediately disliking Darth Vader and really hoping that Luke "get him good." Then as the series progresses more and more keeps on happening.

Reflecting on the idea of watching the Star Wars films with his kids, Mcweeny writes, "When we started this, I admit that I wasn't really thinking about it as a pivotal moment in their filmgoing lives. I had no idea what sort of impact the films would have on them, even though I knew what kind of impact the films had on me." I really enjoyed reading this short series and highly recommend it, dear reader.

Overall, this short blog series made me re-think many aspects of the Star Wars franchise. I think McWeeny said it best when he wrote, "You can complain about "Star Wars" and problems you have with the films all day long, but this silly space opera has led to some of the most intense conversations with my kids that I've ever had."

Here are the links to each blog in full: