Not the Droids You're Looking For: Media Meditation #1

I'm a film major, so most of what I end up doing is watching movies or talking about movies or thinking about movies to watch and talk about. "Star Wars" is a big, epic franchise that is impossible to ignore. In fact, four of the six movies are on the list of top 50 highest-grossing films worldwide.

A few months ago, my friends Emily and Brian were talking about Star Wars. "I've never seen any of the prequels," Emily said. Brian was horrified. "We should watch all of them one night!" he exclaimed. His Star Wars Social Extravaganza was born.

Brian's roommate is a member of CHAMP and helped him run the event, a screening of all six Star Wars movies in order (starting with Episode I and ending with VI). I'd never seen the prequels either and decided to go.

"They aren't worth it," said Brian, "but you should watch them at least once."
I was treated to about four and a half ours of high caliber acting like this:


...before realizing I could blog about this. I considered the different ways my brain and our tool sets were interacting with this crazy experience.

My limbic brain and neocortex were stoked for all the visual stimulation they were getting. "Oh snap, I wonder what Anakin is going to do next!" my neocortex exclaimed excitedly. "Who knows," my limbic brain said, "but check out this animation! So 2001! What do you think, reptilian brain?"

Reptilian brain sighed. "Guys, this isn't doing anything for the instincts. None of it is settin' off any alarms. All I know is that Camille is hungry, sick of sitting, ready to flee the scene, and OH MY GOD WAS THAT AN EXPLOSION?!"

It totally was, reptilian brain.

There were a lot of media culture shifts throughout this event. The technological shift was a big one; in the 70's, you could only get the true experience of Star Wars in theaters. in 2010, we were watching them via laptop and projector (and there wasn't a person there without their computer. Six movies is a looooong time, let me tell you).

The only real principles of media that were used during this event were individual meaning and value messages, since people interpreted the movies in different ways and knew different facts. Pacing, different in film and television, is also at play here.

The only persuasive techniques Brian used to get me to go was asking nicely. There was some bandwagon (all of your friends are going!) and bribery (free food!) but I mostly went for my own enjoyment and to have a crazy media experience.

Americans spend a lot of time with screens. In class, we were told that Americans spend 12 hours a day with media. I knocked it out all in one sitting, and though I probably shouldn't be proud, I really enjoyed nerding out for an entire day, surrounded by my friends and a galaxy far, far away.