I have been here before, twice in fact, but it’s still as sweet as ever.
The first time, as a breathless 10 year old, I trogged up to the Odeon Leicester Square with my parents, held my souvenir program and dropped my jaw when he first hit the screen. The Imperial March, then the breathing, then the cape, then the helmet, christ that helmet/mask/whatever blew my tiny mind. Then the voice. Deep, rich, all-knowing, all-powerful. Yes Darth Vader was ‘evil’ but show me a boy who didn’t think he was cool and I’ll show you a smarmy little pressed-shirt goody-two-shoes bore-buddy. Again, Darth Vader was cool. Very cool. Irrepressibly cool.
When the teenager was 7 or 8, I promptly re-discovered Vader and his supporting Star Wars cast. We immersed ourselves. He had the bank which came pre-programmed with phrases from the film (‘impressive…most impressive…but you are not a Jedi yet’) and we saw the re-releases on a big screen.
Recently, the kindergartener has discovered sci-fi. Through one foible or another, I ended up playing Eddie Izzard’s superb sketch ‘Death Star Canteen’ in the car one day when she was in the back, and we both laughed and laughed (she’s smart; she knows NOT to register, or repeat, the ‘f’ word…it’s a deal we made and I trust her).
‘This one is wet, this one is wet, this one is wet…’ became a standard household joke, as did
‘do you want peas with that?’
‘PEAS? YOU CAN’T HAVE PEAS WITH PENNE…’
as well as
‘I am your boss!’
‘What/ You’re Mr.Stephens?’
and the golden
‘Are you Jeff Vader?’
Of course, ‘you’ll need a tray the food is hot’ caps it all off in our mix n match repetition, but importantly, all this comedic view of Vader made him far less scary to her.
Add to that the music, which she latched onto immediately (and probably, in some way, the whole Daft Punk-Tron soundtrack interaction aided that) and we had a situation where she was happy to watch the first (or 4th in ‘new’ terms) Star Wars.
Aaaaaand sheeeeee fucking LOVED IT!
I felt my enthusiasm soar. Even though I shouldn’t have, on the pretence of buying a gift for someone’s birthday, we ended up at Toys R Us. And I saw it. The helmet. With voice-box and pre-samples.
‘Shall WE get a gift WE can share?’ I asked.
The nod of agreement was furious.
I asked again to make sure. The nod didn’t waver.
She had the helmet on in the back of the car, and God knows why but I could not have been happier. Pink dress. Pink car seat. Vader helmet. I asked her a question and she pressed a button in reply;
‘You don’t know the POWER of the dark side!’ she replied.
Emboldened I asked another. She pressed the button again.
‘Your powers are WEAK!’
Jesus I was ecstatic. It was all I could do not to film her in the bloody thing all afternoon when we got home, furthermore, even though my enormous middle-aged head barely squeezed into the thing, I could not resist, and myself shoved it over my aching dome at least five times.
A friend, Todd, sent me a link for VWs superbowl ad featuring a sm all kid in Darth Vader costume trying to use ‘the force’ around the house.
‘I thought of ——-’ he said.
I watched it. And again. And again. And again. It is a brilliant advert, evoking emotions within us 40-somethings which at once bring us back to childhood and have us enjoying the innocence of that time. We look at the child in costume and we remember, we see ourselves at similar ages, exploring with such fervor the boundaries between fact and fantasy fiction. And for a few of us, we look and see the beauty of escaping into not just these memories but these fantastic, enduring characters.
I ordered the box set of those first three films, and we watched the final two this past weekend. I had started to be a little concerned that I was so obviously pro-Vader. Did I really want my kids going with ‘the dark side’? Not very ‘responsible’ parenting is it? I had forgotten about the every end of ‘Return Of The Jedi’. Totally spaced on it. I mean, I knew that Vader was Luke’s father and all from ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ but what unfolded in the final 30 minutes was a beautiful thing.
“YOU SEE,” I squealed like a hybrid small child-pig, ” VADER IS GOOD IN THE END, VADER DOES THE RIGHT THING, VADER IS COOL!!!!!!’
And as I watched Vader pick up Emperor Palpatine and toss him to oblivion, unable to take watching his own son get hurt any longer, I felt a GSOE (genuine surge of excitement). My spine tingled. I actually felt a small rush of near-tears as Skywalker cradled the dying Vader in his arms and took off his helmet. Unbelievable. The good in Darth Vader won.
We have, this, week, been drawing landscapes in which to place stickers from the new Star Wars bumper sticker book, and I have plans this weekend to get the paints out and help paint a giant Star Wars-vader scenario. She is delighted, I am delighted, we are both children enjoying the escape, the fantasy, the really really REALLY cool helmet, the voice, the phrases…I even found myself buying a limited edition Adidas Darth Vader tracky-top via ebay this week, complete with cape in special light sabre bag and detachable button plate (I will not be wearing the cape or button plate…most of the time).
My good friend Francois mentioned that at Disneyland, a place I have avowed to avoid, there is a Jedi training camp and kids then get to fight Darth Vader. I found a video on youtube. Last night I casually asked Bea, ‘errr, would you fight Vader if you had the chance, with a jedi knight beside you?’
She nodded yes, as long as she could be Princess Leia.
I casually said I was sure she could ‘if’ the moment every arose.
It is only a matter of time before we go to Disneyland and the young jedi fights Vader…although in the end, I’ll probably have to sit down and let her fight him instead…
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