For more than three and a half decades, the Star Wars franchise has continued to mesmerize old and new fans. "Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens" is the newest installment of the Star Wars series. The movie premiere will take place on December 14 and 15 in the U.S. and Europe, respectively. Long time ago in a galaxy far, far away The story of "Star Wars" first started at the end of the 1970s with the debut of "Episode IV: A New Hope," the first film of the series. The film introduced the story about the Rebel Alliance's struggle against the Galactic Empire, a classic David versus Goliath, good versus evil drama with heroes of the likes of Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia and Han Solo and villains like Darth Vader and Emperor Palpatine. Luke Skywalker along with Darth Vader in "Episode VI: The Return of the Jedi" The science fiction film was well ahead of its time, not only due to its plot line but also by its extensive use of high-end special effects and extremely detailed life-sized sets, becoming an instant hit among children and adults.
During its opening weekend the film earned more than 1.5 million dollars (more than 6 million in today's dollars), paving the way for the rest of the films from the series. "Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back" (1980) and "Episode VI: Return of the Jedi" (1983) were highly anticipated by fans and were huge hits as well. After a hiatus of almost two decades, a prequel trilogy was released with "Episode I: The Phantom Menace" in 1999 and followed by "Episode II: Attack of the Clones in 2002" and "Episode III: Revenge of the Sith" in 2005, bringing the story to a full circle. Although the prequels were strongly criticized by die-hard fans for selling their essence to Hollywood, the prequels familiarized newer generations with the "Star Wars" universe. The franchise came along with immense merchandising in the form of television series, video games, comic books and toys with the latter being a multimillion dollar industry by itself. The license for Star Wars toys is currently owned by the American manufacturer Hasbro Inc. and also by Lego, which has its own Star Wars-themed toy line since 1999.
The Danish toy maker has extended its license in multiple occasions as it is one of its most popular and best sold lines. Star Wars toys are some of the hottest items before Christmas The "Star Wars" phenomenon has also led fans to create their own theories and fan fiction of the series. Some of this fan material outside of the original works has been added to the saga. The fan fiction was officially known as the Star Wars expanded universe until 2012 when Disney purchased Lucasfilm, renaming it Star Wars Legends and ensuring that from now on all new media are non-contradictory to each other and past references of the Star Wars realm. New times, new story "The Force Awakens": The new poster imitates that classic style After acquiring Lucasfilm, Disney announced a revival of the series creating a new trilogy starting with "Episode VII: The Force Awakens," which takes place 30 years after the events of "Return of the Jedi." According to tradition and similar fashion as with the last trilogy, not much information has been shared to fans about the movie's plot, increasing the hype to a max before its release next week.
So far what we do know is that veterans Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford and Carrie Fisher will reprise their roles as Luke Skywalker, Han Solo and Princess Leia along with new heroes Rey, a mysterious scavenger and Finn, a runaway stormtrooper played by newcomers Daisy Ridley and John Boyega. The dark side will also have a new face through Kylo Ren, a warrior who is strong with the Force played by Adam Driver.The next phase of the biggest science fiction franchise just started with the premiere of Star Wars: Rebels. Continuing the proud tradition of the animated Star Wars: Clone Wars, this new cartoon will fill in the gaps between the prequel and original trilogy and set up 2015’s Star Wars: Episode VII.Rebels is a triumphant return to the Galactic Empire. Fans of the original Star Wars films will find a lot to love in Rebels. There are also some fun Firefly and Guardians of the Galaxy influences sprinkled throughout the show. It’s clear that the force is strong with Disney, the new caretakers of the Star Wars universe.
Since we’re beginning a new era in a galaxy far far away, I wanted to see if it was possible to distill the entire saga down to a single psychological idea (just like I did with Star Trek). This was quite a challenge since my buddy Dr. Andrea Letamendi and I keep finding new ways of psychoanalyzing Star Wars. After rewatching the films and the best of Clone Wars, it’s clear that the essential psychology of the Star Wars universe is all about mindfulness.“You must feel the Force around you.”Star Wars is a story about good versus evil set against the backdrop of the Skywalker family. Originally with Luke and later with Anakin, we learn that the Skywalkers are deeply attuned to the power of the Force. What exactly is the Force? Here’s how it’s described in the original Star Wars film:Obi-Wan: The Force is what gives a Jedi his power. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the galaxy together.While our understanding of the Force evolves with the prequel films (you know, with Midichlorians), the main idea behind it remains the same – with practice, Jedi gain a heightened awareness of the present moment, enhance their physical and mental abilities, and develop cool supernatural powers.
All the greatest moments in Star Wars involve the Force. But if you look closely, it’s not the Jedi mind tricks or Force jumps that get all the screen time. A heightened awareness of the present moment is the power we keep seeing throughout the saga. It’s how Luke destroys the Death Star, the skill Yoda emphasizes in his Jedi training, and what helps Darth Vader turn against Emperor Palpatine. In the prequels, this power helps Qui-Gon discover Anakin and is how Yoda and Obi-Wan unravel the threat of the Sith. It’s also the ability we see Ahsoka develop in Clone Wars and what we’re seeing Ezra learn in Rebels. There’s a name for this skill in psychology and it’s called mindfulness.Mindfulness is based on an ancient Buddhist meditation that has only recently been studied by scientists. Think of mindfulness as “the ability to quiet your mind, focus your attention on the present, and dismiss any distractions that come your way.” It’s not just about concentration – mindfulness helps you to fully live in the present moment and accept it for what it is.
While it might sound like an abstract idea, you've probably been immersed in a moment many times in your life. People are often highly focused when they’re only doing one thing at a time (like watching Star Wars in a movie theater), doing something for the first time (constructing a new Millennium Falcon Lego set), or experiencing strong emotions (when someone tells you Star Trek is better than Star Wars).But to achieve mindfulness, you have to ignore the stuff that takes you out of the present. That means shifting from judging a moment (“I hate the prequels”) to describing it (“The prequels are different from the films I grew up with”) and restricting emotions (“Don’t even say the words Star Wars Legends!”) to accepting them (“It’s okay to mourn the end of the Expanded Universe”).Mindfulness will help you become a better Star Wars fan. You’ll be able to watch The Phantom Menace without cringing at the sight of Jar Jar Binks, finish building a Millennium Falcon Lego set despite the frustrating small pieces, and listen to a Trekkie's arguments against Star Wars even though you want to force choke them.
It’s also good for your health. Mindfulness improves memory, refines focus, helps people cope with strong emotions, increases creativity, and boosts the immune system.This is what I love about Star Wars – throughout every iteration of this franchise we return to the basic idea that if you fully experience the present moment, amazing things can happen. “Using the force” isn’t a skill unique to Jedi Knights – it’s something anyone can master with a little practice.What about the Sith? Do they practice mindfulness? Avoidance is the path to the dark sideTo understand the dark side of The Force, we need to get back to the Skywalkers. Both Anakin and Luke go through similar experiences. They’re raised away from their parents, are blocked from doing the things they want to do, experience traumatic events like the murder of family members, and are thrust into galactic war without completing their training. Why does Anakin become a Sith while Luke remains a Jedi? Anakin desperately avoids painful experiences while Luke has mastered mindfulness.
Anakin struggles with something called experiential avoidance (the opposite of mindfulness). It’s hard for him to live in the present moment, feel emotions, and remember painful memories. By avoiding, controlling, and restricting experiences, Anakin initially feels relief. But this causes long-term problems. He starts to get nightmares, acts impulsively without thinking of any consequences, and becomes obsessed with protecting Padme because he never wants to feel grief ever again. Darth Sidious capitalizes on Anakin's obsession with avoidance and that's how this Skywalker becomes Darth Vader.There’s a good reason why Anakin struggles with experiential avoidance. He was enslaved at an early age and probably suffered a lot of physical and verbal abuse. We know kids who experience these types of traumas feel powerful emotions and have a hard time managing them. By comparison, Luke had a relatively normal childhood with two stable caregivers.I don’t want you to think shutting down uncomfortable sensations will make you want to wipe out a bunch of younglings.
Avoidance here and there is okay. But long-term experiential avoidance causes a lot of problems and it might be one of the root causes of all mental health disorders including depression, anxiety, substance abuse, and eating disorders.Yoda was wrong when he said, “Fear is the path to the dark side.” Fear just prepares us for dangerous situations. But George Lucas nailed it when he created a story about the consequences of experiential avoidance and virtues of mindfulness. Developing mindfulnessHow does one begin their Jedi training and learn mindfulness? There are lots of resources available on and offline. Andy Puddicombe’s TED talk is a great introduction to living in the present moment, the Mayo Clinic has a nice list of quick mindfulness exercises you can start right away, and Jonathan Kaplan’s Urban Mindfulness is a concise book about practicing mindfulness in the most chaotic of environments.I recommend starting with short awareness exercises. You could go out for a walk and focus on the world around you.
Or perhaps drink some tea and pay attention to the color, temperature, smell, and taste of the beverage. You can also concentrate on what each part of your body feels like in the exact position you're in at this moment. Throughout all of these exercises, just make sure you embrace the experience fully and if you become distracted by thoughts or feelings make a mental note of them and return to the task at hand. Once you become more mindful during these exercises, you'll be able to integrate mindfulness into other parts of your life.Some words of caution. It takes years for a Padawan to become a Jedi. While it won't take you that long to learn mindfulness, it's definitely something that requires a long-term commitment. It's also something that can't be applied 100% of the time. Do you see a Jedi use the Force every moment of every day? Of course not, that would be exhausting! Mindfulness works the same way. Use it when you want to increase your awareness or reduce experiential avoidance.