March 18, 1999
Star Wars: The Force-ful return of a modern myth
Even past the mask, we knew
Darth Vader was agonizing in con
flict: watching Luke Sky walker, his
son, being destroyed by The Em
peror. Vadef’s gaze turned to Luke
and to his master, and for the briefest
of times we saw a man’s heart
pierced by conviction of his own
wrongdoing and the longing for re
demption.
That was the first time I expe
rienced “catharsis,” along with
about 300 other people crowded
into the theater that first Saturday
night of Return of the Jedi's show
ing backin‘83. It was also the most
berserk I’ve ever seen a movie audi
ence get. When Vader betrayed the
Emperor the whole place erupted
with screams and applause and mad
laughter, mine included. For six
years Darth Vader had been the
ultimate symbol of evil in the Ameri
can conscience, and injust over two
hours we went from loathing him...
to loving him. How did that hap
pen? I don’t think any of us left the
theater quite the same as when we
entered.
It’s been 22 years since
George Lucas first blessed
storytelling with his Star Wars saga,
his tale set “a long time ago in a
galaxy far, faraway...” The movies
so far, A New Hope, The Empire
Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi
told the tale of a lone farmboy, Luke
Sky walker, catapulted by fate into a
larger world of fantastic places,
wondrous faces and secrets of dark
ness and light. Along the way we
were introduced to Han Solo and
Chewbacca, Princess Leia, the iras
cible Yoda, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Boba
Fett and dozens of other characters
that have become endeared to mil
lions.
From the getgo, ^
Star Wars was something
unique. It wasn’t science-
Chris Knight
The Pendulum
knigr5cO@elori.edu
fiction, but more of a fan
tasy/fairy-tale influenced
by everything from Flash
Gordon to Joseph
Campbell to westerns to
the films of Akira
Kurosawa. It was new, and yet so
familiar: Alongside exotic aliens
and vehicles, there were kindly aunts
and roguish scoundrels. There was
Abbott and Costello re-created in
R2-D2 and C-3P0. There was
heartaching loss... and love. It was
the things of life we always know of
painted over in bold strokes of new
imagery and names: “What the
heck’s a Wookiee?”
What is it about Star Wars
that has had appeal across genera
tions? It all seems so unlikely... I
mean, think about how hokey the
name “Star Wars” sounds. If you
were writing a sweeping epic, would
you call it “Star Wars”? Why not
something like “Gone with the
Wind” or “Lord of the Rings?” “Star
Wars” sounds almost too cheesy.
And not just the name either, but
consider the dialogue: “You’re my
only hope,” “I’ve got a very bad
feeling about this,” and dozens of
other bad cli
ches... enough
cheese to run
Kraft out of
business.
And
yet, the story
hits on some
thing that’s
hard to let go
of. Say what
you will of
how outra
geous the
films’ spirit gets at times, perhaps
that’s part of the quality that makes
Star Wars a classic. Apart from the
Old West, it’s the only mythology
that America has created that’s
uniquely its own. Every culture has
had its great heroes: England’s
Arthur, Sumeria’s Gilgamesh,
Scandinavia’s Beowulf, all the
myths of heroes and good against
evil. That’s what Star Wars is for
the modern era: The great hero ar
chetype given new life. The power
in myth is to inspire and pass down
legends to the younger generations.
However or wherever that story is
told, it is timeless, and will be told
Williamson Ave.: Main Street, Elon style
Mark Richter
SGA Executive President
richm5s0@elon.edu
Have you ever strolled past
the quaint little village of Elon Col
lege? Besides the College Coffee
Shop, a couple places for you to get
your hair cut, and a few small res
taurants, the downtown area is pretty
pathetic. Why does it seem that
every other store front on
Williamson Avenue has the name
“Elon College” in front of it? “Elon
College Accounting,” “Elon Col
lege Information Systems” and
“Elon College Faculty Offices.”
Why is it that these offices
are located in the down town area,
taking away from small businesses
which could more productively op
erate in these areas? I know the
campus is pressed for space to house
these offices, but the need for small
businesses on Williamson is essen
tial.
A few years ago there was a
music store located on Williamson.
Although I never went in there, and
apparently neither did most people.
that was the type of business our
town needs to attract. Could you
imagine an expansion to vhe exist
ing College Coffee Shop? With its
popularity, it has already outgrown
the existing building. What if the
Elon College Accounting Offices
were not located next to the coffee
shop? Maybe that facility could be
the coffee shop annex.
As I was speaking with people
about the downtown area, other
ideas for small businesses on
Williamson came up. How about a
bookstore, a “Dunkin’ Donuts,” a
pharmacy, a travel agency?
OK, of course the college may
not be able to support every type of
specialty store, but as our enroll
ment approaches 4000 students, we
are becoming a small city. A book
store in the downtown area could
offer some competition to our own
college bookstore. A bookstore
would also allow for us to access
more books, promoting a more aca
demic climate on campus.
Ask anyone who has ever vis
ited a Dunkin Donuts and they’ll
tell you it is a must for any town.
for ages to come long after we are
gone.
It’s been 16 years since the
Rebels won the Battle of Endor.
During that time the myth has been
sustained by a series of novels, com
puter games and toys... and the fans.
In the last few years fans have used
the Internet to keep the faith: you
can go to TheForce.net and watch
“Troops,” an intensely clever parody
of stormtroopers and TV’s “Cops,”
or you can download sound files
and gossip with fellow fans.
The faith is about to be re
warded. On May 19 the first chap
ter of the saga, The Phantom Men
ace, will be released. Episode 1
focuses on the early adventures of
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor,
inheriting the light saber from Alec
Guiness). The cast also includes
Liam Neeson, Natalie Portman,
Samuel L. Jackson and Jake Lloyd
as 9-year old Anakin Skywalker:
the future Darth Vader. Episodes 2
and 3 will chronicle the fabled Clone
Wars, Palpatine’s rise to power and
Anakin’s fall to the Dark Side.
This new crew has their work
cut out for them. Boba Fett, Yoda
and the rest have become legends.
The next batch of characters sounds
as if they fell off the Lollapalooza
tour: Padme, Darth Maul, Watto,
Mace Windu, and more.
Still, who wouldn’t want to
play a small part in it all? Ever since
my childhood I’ve dreamed of be
ing one of the Jedi Knight in the
Clone Wars, or one that Vader wipes
outinEpisode3:Fighthard then die
and disappear... yeah, that would
rock!
Here’s a secret I’ll share with
you: No matter how old you get,
keep one little bit of your childhood
alive. Something that will always
hold a bit of that innocence that you
can share with your own children
someday. Do that, and you will
always stay a child at heart.
My thing is Star Wars. And
injust over two months, childhood
will get relived by millions of people
around the world.
May the Force be with you...
always.
Easter break anyone?
My best idea so far for the
Willamson Avenue Revitalization
Project (WARP) is to attract a “Gap”
clothing store to the area. I know it
does sound a little far fetched, but
Gap has been opening up their stores
on more and more Main Streets of
America.
Picture it; it is Friday night
and you and your friends are get
ting ready to go out for another
night of boy hunting. Just when you
look through your closet and think
you don’t have a thing to wear, you
can run to the Gap, whip out daddy’s
credit card, and voila, you’re look
ing beautiful.
I know that not all of these
ideas will fly. Maybe none of them
will. What good are we doing by
locating these offices where small
businesses could locate. By en
couraging some growth in Elon Col
lege, we will be giving greate op
portunity to students, without hav
ing them travel to Burlington or
Greensboro. With all of our new
buildings on campus, we certainly
need to focus on ridding our main
street of Elon offices.
lisa McChristian
The Pendulum
r ve been perpiex«d by aceir-
tain situation for the last few weeks.
Ion, a supposedly Chfistiaa
school, does not provide students
with an Easter Vacation,
We receive a fall break* win
ter holiday (a.k,a. Christmas vaca
tion)* winter term break* spring
break, and we honor Martin Lutiier
King Day by forgoing class; yet,
we have no Ba$ter Vacation*
This may sound like Uttlekid
whining to get out of classes but
Easter is major Christian holiday
lonoting and celebrating the death
and resurrection of Jesus Christ.To
many on the Elon campus thishoU*
day is religiously and emotionally
significant.
Baster has always been a
major holiday for my family. We
would get up early in the morning
and have a big breakfast together
while the Kttle kids in the family
would hunt for their Easter eggs.
Afterwards everyone would get
di^ssed in their Sunday best and
head to church for a sermon on:
love, sacrifice and salvation* In the
afternoon sisters, brothers, aunts^;
uncles, cousins, etc. would get to
gether for food, talk and basically a
happy d^.
Fm not going to turn this
column into a sermon on the reli
gious tmportanceof Easter, I know
many students on campus have dif-
ferent beliefs and hold different
Cteiigious faiths and I respect that,
fm writing this column to draw
attention to a major religious holi
day that sottte students are not be
ing allowed to properly celebrate.
I know some of you are say-
ing/^YooWe gotSaturiiy^dSun-
day, that^s plenty of time to get
home.” Well I have several prob
lems with that
First, many students (myself
included) suffer from hungry-wal
let syndrome. Plane tickets aren't
cheap and buying a ticket home
would be an extra burden on an
already stressed financial situation.
A flight to and from home would
almost cover a semester of books.
No flight means a road trip
Personally I have a combined 12-
hour drive, 6 hours to and from
‘ Maryland, That eats up a majority
of the weekend right off the bat.
There's another added problem for
students without cars, they either
have to hunt down a fellow traveler
or con vince Mom and Dad to make
a run down to Elon to pick up their
beloved offspring.
Whatharm would giving stu
dents two extra days off for this
holiday do? If the school doesn’t
want to consider extra days, why
not move Spring Break? Then
students would h& able to decide
what they want to do with their
time. If they want to be with their
family to celebrate the holiday they
would have the opportunity.