Broom Kid said:
It’s what’s made people act like they’re special for being a Star Wars fan seem weird, to me. “Oh, congrats, you’re a super-big fan of like, the most popular things ever made for theaters. How unique.” If people are somehow made to focus less on all the CULTURAL IMPORTANCE and BOX OFFICE SIGNIFICANCE and THE POWER OF MYTH and instead have to simply reckon with the movies AS movies, without hanging a bunch of historical weight on everything Star Wars-related… that’s not really a bad thing, I don’t think.

It’s like a chicken vs egg conversation. Do people like Star Wars because it has cultural significance and a huge box office, or is it culturally significant and big at the box office because people like it? Probably some of both.

I like the movies themselves very much, they are my favorites. Part of that is the interaction with other fans online, at conventions, and at theaters, but that isn’t all there is to it or I wouldn’t have watched them all many times alone, but yes I’m sure nostalgia plays huge role in it all. I don’t feel the need to separate nostalgia from Star Wars to prove they measure up on some sort of objective scale, even though I do like to point out when I see parts that are especially well made. I like what I like and years from now I’ll have nostalgia for The Rise of Skywalker when I go see episode XII.

Does that make me “special?” No, but I think Star Wars is special.