I think people in the US and UK (the places where the movies were made) seem to think that they have more global significance than what it really is. For example here, I'd say most people would know Vader, of course, but the rest of the characters are not that mainstream than what you would think. Fpr example, if I said that some guy looks like Jabba to my friends, even if they would know who Jabba is, they would look me like if I was a geek or something. There are fans, yes, but outside the fans not that many really care. Especially younger people.

And the comment about Star Trek isn't that true, either. I bet that maybe less than 1 percent of people here would know some ST reference, and I'm also most certain that SW is way bigger than ST. They haven't even show the old ST films here on TV in the 2000s at all, I think.