NORTHERN LIGHTS, UKAHALA–May the Fourth be with you on National Star Wars Day! Senior Reporter Arne is here to give us a rundown on this cosmic holiday and how RFCP celebrated!
May the force be with you.
-Obi Wan Kenobi, 1977
Star Wars is one behemoth of a franchise. Conceived and written by George Lucas and inspired by Flash Gordon and The Planet of the Apes, it took the world by storm. I am personally a big Star Wars fan: I own a lot of merchandise (I’m currently wearing a Star Wars shirt over my Star Wars pajamas with my Star Wars figurines and my Star Wars plushies holding my toy Star Wars lightsaber), and of course I have seen every single movie.
But what’s all the fuss about?
Star Wars is a sci-fi space opera that debuted in 1977 with the episode “A New Hope,” starring Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher. The story follows a boy named Luke Skywalker, who finds two droids that are carrying an important message that could change the tide of an intergalactic war. Oh, and of course there are laser swords.
This movie was a revolutionary experience back then, with special effects, music, characters, and overall immersion unlike anything audiences had seen before. Granted, it’s a little dated now, but it still holds up well as a classic. One of the key themes in the story was that of The Force, a mystical force that flows through all living beings, which can be manipulated in good or bad ways, leading to the Light and Dark Sides of the Force.
It then spun into a massive franchise with 9 films, two spinoffs, multiple TV series, many video games, and merchandise. One of the main characters in the film, Obi Wan Kenobi, said the well-known quote I presented at the beginning, and it has become iconic within its fanbase.
But if you tweak the spelling a little bit, you get “May The Fourth be with you.” The British Conservative Party thought it was hilarious, and they congratulated the newly inducted prime minister Margaret Thatcher with that phrase in a letter, but what they didn’t know is that they just accidentally created a new holiday. It didn’t become quite widespread until the age of the internet, when several news outlets like Forbes and NBC reported on the holiday’s existence during May the Fourth of 2009 on their websites.
May also happens to be the birth month of George Lucas. Now it has become a pop culture mainstay. In fact, if you Google “May the Fourth be with you” as of today, this will happen:
There’s even a second Star Wars holiday, Revenge of the Fifth, (another hilarious play on words), named after the third episode in chronological order called Revenge of the Sith, that’s celebrated by the self-proclaimed Dark Side of the Force users the day after May 4th. Both are admittedly unrecognized by the government, but Disney (the current owners of the Star Wars franchise) has capitalized on May 4th, with Star Wars-themed marathons on their TV channels and premieres on that day. Just today, they launched a new Star Wars series on Disney+.
But enough about how Star Wars fans celebrate May 4th. So how does the RFCP celebrate this holiday? Well, we’ve had a long history with the Star Wars franchise. The earliest mention that I could find comes from August 14th, 2019, when we hosted a Star Wars-themed practice battle on beloved Northern Lights, and it seems that it was a fun time.
Red Baron Opino3 and retired Red Baron Jamie were well-known Star Wars fans, with Jamie even going as far as to name his team in the Snazzy Summer competition (which I reported on) as Team High Ground, a reference to Revenge of the Sith. Our own Corporal Stitches is a notable fan of “The Clone Wars” series, with a Star Wars-themed profile picture. So naturally, we had to celebrate, and cereals were going out of style after all, so a new server takeover began:
There also was a Star Wars-themed practice battle! It was a lot of fun and we maxed 6!
Today was also Major Aquastarr’s birthday! May the Fourth be with you on your birthday, Aqua!
Star Wars has united many generations of people together. My mom grew up with the original trilogy, and I went to see the pretentious fanfictions known as the sequel trilogy in the cinemas! I even had a party with my friends where we went to see the premiere of Star Wars 8 aka The Last Jedi because the date landed the same day as my birthday!
This saga means a lot to many people and it is a truly beautiful thing when people are able to unite over a common fandom. We do that every day in the amazing and rich fandom of RFCP.
Also, Star Wars 9 is terrible and it should be removed from the general canon of the saga. Arne’s out.
What is YOUR opinion about Star Wars Day? Let us know in the comments below!
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