I agree with Quackula. Xhonzi, you are acting a bit ridiculous and obsessive. Your kids will see the prequels one day. The prequels are not so heinous that they will destroy your children's view of Star Wars. In fact, your kids could grow a bit older and realize the only reason they liked the OT was because it was forced on them and they didn't have as much choice. Big deal, right? Whatever makes them happy. I agree that, as a parent, you should decide what influences your kids get, and personally I wouldn't volunteer the prequels because I think there are other, better movies they could spend their finite amount of time watching. But if they actually wanted to watch them, why in the world would I withhold it? I would wait on ROTS because of its violence, but the honest truth is that they will probably like Phantom Menace, and they will fast forward through 50% of AOTC and really like the other 50%. They will probably love the Clone Wars too. If its something your kids like, why deny them? They don't have to like the same things you like. And, as has been said before by CO, they will likely grow up and realise, "well, TPM makes me nostalgic for my childhood, but it's not that great...but damn, how the hell did I find ESB boring??" Because the truth is that when we were young, all the kids thought ESB was dull and ROTJ was the shit. It was the shit because it had less talking and more fighting and better graphics and mothafuckin muppets and awesome dancing and cute Ewoks. They're kids--they like dumb stuff and it gives them pleasure, just like every cartoon and most other movies they watch, and they don't care if it changes the way they see ANH, probably they will never care. They will probably never care because that is something important to you, not to them. You gotta face it man, if we were all kids right now most of us would love The Clone Wars and not have much interest in ESB. It's just generational divide, and kids don't appreciate classic films as much, which is what the OT is. I say, let them be kids and have films to enjoy.
This topic is particularly relevant because just this morning Wired Magazine wrote to me about this very thing. I'll post my entire reply here because maybe people will find it interesting, or disagree with it.
> Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 13:53:12 -0500
> Subject: Wired Magazine Inquiry
>
> To: webmaster@secrethistoryofstarwars.com
>
> Mr. Kaminski,
>
> My name is Brendan I. Koerner and I am a contributing editor at Wired
> magazine (http://www.wired.com/magazine/). I write a monthly column in which
> I answer readers' questions regarding the legal, moral, and ethical
> complexities of life in the Digital Age.
>
> For an upcoming issue, I'm addressing a reader's inquiry regarding a topic I
> believe near and dear to your heart--not philosophy, but "Star Wars." He
> asks the following (reprinted nearly verbatim): "I have two boys, ages 4 and
> 6, who I obviously love very dearly. But when I recently showed them the
> original Star Wars, they said it was dull and asked to turn it off before
> the Millennium Falcon reached the Death Star. How do I make them recognize
> this movie¹s genius?"
>
> I was wondering whether you might be willing to share a few thoughts with my
> reader, to help him through his quandary. I guess the larger issue here is
> whether we can change how people perceive art by supplying them with new
> information. But on a more practical level, is there anything that this
> father can do to enhance his sons' enjoyment of the movie? And if not, how
> might he be able to accept that his sons' rejection of the film isn't a
> character flaw?
>
> Any wisdom you could provide would be greatly appreciated. And I would, of
> course, be happy to credit you and mention "The Secret History of Star Wars"
> (as well as its website) in the column.
>
> Thank you in advance for your gracious assistance. All of my contact
> information is listed below. My deadline is this coming Monday, February
> 7th, at 5 p.m. Eastern time.
>
> All best,
> Brendan I. Koerner
>
> --
> Brendan I. Koerner
> Contributing Editor
> WIRED
Hi Brendan,
I would be pleased to impart some advice to your readers for this issue. My take on it is for the guy to basically accept that they don't like the films and move on, if that's what the case is. At 4 and 6 they might be TOO young actually, because to a 4-year old in 1977 Star Wars was the cinematic equivalent to pinball, but in 2011 it's been left in the dust and won't grab them immediately so it might require more patience. I would recommend trying again a couple times, maybe in a few more years, but in truth they might not warm up. But it's interesting how generational divide like this makes parents feel like they are in crisis.
Of course, the honest truth is that one's kids might not like the original Star Wars films and that is not abnormal if you think about it. Even more painful: if they are like the other hundred million kids in the country, they will probably dig the prequel stuff. Oh god! Right? Well, the simple truth is that kids don't like some things their parents like and parents don't like thing some things their kids like. And kids sure don't like a lot of stuff that was meaningful to their parents when they were young, because they live in a different era. If you play Deep Purple or The Doors for your kids, they aren't likely to think it's very cool music; but they probably will like the stuff that's on the radio now. Star Wars impressed us when we were young because it was contemporary to us, if not in literal years then at least in style: even in the 1990s, the style of sci-fi and fantasy movies hadn't changed very much, so the cinematography, the overall stylization and the visual effects still impressed people, and there still really wasn't anything comparable to Star Wars anyway so it's not like you had a whole lot of choice if you were into those genres. Let's face it, movies are superficial, and one of the main reasons any of us paid attention to the original Star Wars is because it was spectacular. Movies have changed a lot since the 1990s, and the original Star Wars films have become dated. Like anything else you liked when you were young. The fact that there are a ton of really good sci-fi/fantasy films in the last 15 years will only make this generational divide more apparent. Star Wars doesn't look, sound or feel the same as stuff like Iron Man or Lord of the Rings or the new Star Trek, it looks, sounds and feels like a movie made decades ago. It will not impress kids who have seen Spiderman and Harry Potter. Star Wars endured as a relevant film for so long because that style of movie didn't change much, but some time in the early 2000s we reached a point where the films no longer looked or felt very contemporary. The Special Editions tried to spruce up a few special effects and managed to get by in 1997, but the films' aging is deeper than that, it's apparent in everything from haircuts to editorial pace to shot design, which is why it no longer works. Even though some things are "classics", some children will be able to enjoy them and good for them for having wider tastes, but some won't, a lot won't. Many kids still watch Wizard of Oz, but I can also imagine that a lot would be put off by the black and white intro, old-fashioned acting, dated visual effects and the 1930s dance numbers. Just because you liked Harry Potter or Chronicles of Narnia doesn't mean you will find Wizard of Oz very meaningful or interesting the way kids of generations past did. And so it is with Star Wars.
The silver lining is that eventually kids mature, and they learn to appreciate material that was made before they were born. They also develop better tastes in things--think of all the crap you thought was cool when you were a kid. When you re-watch stuff when you get older you realise that most of the movies and shows you thought were so entertaining really weren't very well done at all. And you also realise that a lot of stuff that bored you as a kid is pretty awesome. When I was yonger, all my friends thought that Rocky III was way better; the original was so talky, had no fights, looked really rough around the edges, very 70s. Flash forward fifteen years and holy crap, Rocky III is mildly entertaining but that original film is a real classic with a lot of heart and soul. How could I have been so dumb? Well, that's what being a kid is about. You like dumb stuff, because you're just a kid. You especially like flashy, shiny, explody stuff that looks like a video game, and Star Wars doesn't cut it any more. If you're a kid now, you will probably find The Clone Wars entertaining but Empire Strikes Back not so much. But probably most when they grow up will discover Empire Strikes Back is a rich and entertaining film and The Clone Wars mildly amusing and nostalgic but not a real classic of cinema.
But the obvious bottom line is that you can't make kids like the original Star Wars, and just because you think it's the greatest thing in the world doesn't mean everyone else will. And honestly: even when the kids grow up, they might still think the films aren't very good. A lot of people just aren't into Star Wars. You shouldn't be like one of the parents trying to convince their kid that they must love sports just because you do. You might, but you might not. I think "Star Wars Parents" nowadays have misled themselves of their expectations because the films were watched as contemporary cinema even into the 1997 re-release, which was and I believe still is the biggest January opener of all time, quite astounding. But the films are becoming like everything else from eras past, which is to say they had a specific context and their relevance is not the same anymore. Just because you are a Beatle Maniac I don't think you would expect your kids to be, and if you thought Clint Eastwood was the coolest man alive in 1975 I wouldn't expect your ten year old son to think so either. If you think about it, this is really a confrontation parents have to face with themselves: they've become old! Really, baby boomers discovering that their ten-year-old son isn't blown away by Sgt. Pepper and instead wants to listen to Nirvana must have been a seminal moment for parents of the 1990s, who finally realised that they weren't so young any more. Parents can still enjoy the original Star Wars and Kids today will have their own Star Wars equivalent, just like my dad kept listening to the Beatles and I cranked up Nirvana. When I was ten I remember complaining to my dad to turn down Aqualung because it sucked so much. But my dad got vindicated in the end--a few years ago I inherited his very own vinyl LP of Aqualung and it gets pretty heavy rotation on my turntable, it's a great rock album. So you never know.
Star Wars is a classic film, just like Casablanca, Singing in the Rain, Rocky or Back to the Future. Kids today might not be into them, but they have a place in history and maybe in adulthood people will discover and appreciate them. I think you should try to expose your kids to the classics, in all mediums of art, because you never know, sometimes kids will latch on to them, and timing is important too, because older films aren't as spectacular or faced pace, so I think the kids have to be in a more patient mood. But I also think if a kid isn't in to something then let him or her be and hope that maybe one day they will learn to like it. Star Wars was ours, but kids today have their own things.
Sorry this was so terribly long winded, haha, it's a very interesting subject actually because it's something so personal to people. I didn't expect to write four paragraphs. Hope this helps add some perspective though!