Saturday, December 26, 2015

Forced A-wake-up Call...

We have finally watched "The Force Awakens" today. And of course, after over a week of avoiding *most* spoilers online, my family happened to be seated behind a couple of high school boys who had obviously already seen the movie because they chose to spend their time waiting for the opening trailers by recounting their favorite Episode VII scenes... including the big moment when [name redacted] [verb redacted] [another name redacted]...

I leaned forward and politely said, "Excuse me, young sirs, but not all of us in this theatre have seen this movie. Do you mind not spoiling it for us?"

The two both looked at me askance, probably as much because of my referring to them as "young sirs" as the fact that...

"You haven't seen Episode VII yet?" one reponded, aghast. "We've seen it three times already."

"They must not be *real* Star Wars fans," the other scoffed.

"That is beside the point," I said. "This movie is for everyone, not just the fans. When I first watched 'The Empire Strikes Back', I do not recall anyone spoiling the big surprise of Vader being Luke's father. I am just asking you for the same courtesy to not spoil this movie any further."

"What do you mean 'big surprise'?" The scoffing boy scoffed (again). "Anyone who saw Episode III already *knew* Vader was Luke's father."

That was when it was my turn to look askance. Aika and Isamu tried to stifle their giggling.

Namiko shook her head. "They are *definitely* not *real* Star Wars fans," she said flatly.