May the Fourth: Celebration, Insincere, or Somewhere In Between?

Seeing “scruffy looking nerf herder” on a DoT traffic sign on May the Fourth made me realize how much things have changed for Star Wars fans. In school, I did not advertise my Star Wars affinity. I had no shirts or sweatshirts —no backpacks or trapper keepers. I even had my mother sew a reusable book cover to hide the book title I was reading. Advertising would have thrown a bottle of lighter fluid on an already blazing fire of unpopularity. I didn’t have the fortitude at the time to stand my ground against the weight of peer pressure.

Now, it’s a different story. Star Wars is no longer niche or fringe — if it ever was. All three original trilogy movies were the highest-grossing films in the years they were released. That’s a lot of people shelling out money to see Star Wars.

As a kid, I was not armed with this fact, and I doubt many of my generation were. Yet, how many of you have or have heard others tell stories of being the only/one of the few Star Wars fans growing up? 

So how does a movie franchise that blew its competition out of the water get the label of niche/fringe?

There are many factors for this disconnect. One that sticks out is connectivity — or lack thereof. Conventions predate Star Wars’ release, but how many could afford to travel to these events? And how many were there each year? It’s nowhere near the number today, so feeling isolated in your interests was much easier.

Of course, this means there are a lot of fans who grew up thinking they were alone, which sucks. However, as one of those many fans, I find the rise of this punny holiday impressive. Witnessing others openly express their affection for the saga is something that, if you had asked my younger self, I wouldn’t have believed would be such a wide-reaching thing.

For better or worse, the internet has played a significant role in May the Fourth’s popularity. It’s helped shine a light on how much people love this franchise. 

I would love to sit here and type – and all Star Wars fans lived happily ever after – but I would be lying.

Not everyone embraces the unofficial holiday. Critics of the day say a lot of things against it:

• It’s not when Star Wars was released, so it’s not really Star Wars Day,
• Corporations are taking advantage of and commercializing the fandom,
• It brings out all of the fake Star Wars fans,
• and on and on.

May the 4th was not the official release date for any Star Wars movies. I’d argue that it was a miss by the marketing teams, but who am I to say? Most of the Star Wars films were released in time for Memorial Day weekend to try and capture the summer crowds. Memorial Day Weekend…May the Fourth…Close enough? It is an odd hill to die on, and it’s tied to the third criticism above, which I’ll get to in a second.

The critique of commercialism is intriguing, but it has always been part of Star Wars’ story. Otherwise, Mel Brooks’ Spaceballs merch joke wouldn’t have landed so hard. 

I wasn’t an eyewitness, but there’s photographic evidence that 1977 was a Very Merry Star Wars Christmas at our house, and I would bet that my family’s house wasn’t the only one participating.

But in the spirit of fairness, do we need Lego, Disney, and every other company making a yearly grab for our money? My bank account and sense of financial responsibility would say no. The lack of space for more Lego sets would agree with that assertion. 

My inner child would undoubtedly disagree.

I have to be neutral on this criticism. It’s not all that damaging or out of character for movie franchises. It’s an avenue of opportunity to keep the fandom growing.

This brings me to the other criticism—it brings out fake Star Wars fans. This infuriating concept is not unique to the Star Wars fandom, but it is far more prevalent here than in others.

What is a fake Star Wars fan? What’s a real one, for that matter?

Any answer to the first question would be subjective. It’s putting up an imaginary goalpost and expecting others to be able to hit it — gatekeeping in one of its most rabid forms. 

What defines a ‘real’ Star Wars fan? The answer is simple: A Star Wars fan enjoys Star Wars. There’s no need to measure or compare our levels of fandom. 

I get wanting to protect something like Star Wars. For those of us who felt isolated from our peers because we were “too nerdy” or “too geeky.” Maybe that wasn’t why Star Wars was so important to you. Whatever the reason, Star Wars was a much-needed escape from whatever reality you were facing and didn’t want to.

But keeping it away from other people — disallowing them to discover and appreciate something with so much to offer — doesn’t seem right. Shouldn’t we be the ones making sure that no one else has to celebrate Star Wars undercover?

May the Fourth provides that opportunity for the fandom to grow and evolve. For me, May the Fourth is a good thing. It underscores that Star Wars has always been part of the mainstream. In a galaxy not so far away, thousands and thousands of fans are enjoying the same thing I am.