Let’s talk about records for a second. At the time this blog was written, Box Office Mojo reports that Star Wars: The Force Awaken (the 7th film in the franchise) currently sits as the number 1 grossing movie in the U.S. at $819,687,937 and climbing ever week! It stands as the number 3 highest grossing movie of all time at the worldwide box office at just under 2 billion dollars (about 400 million behind Titanic and a billion behind Avatar). It was the fastest film of all time to reach a billion dollars (12 days). And those are just a few of the many records this movie has broken.
But forget about records, if you haven’t been living in the stomach of a Tonton for the last year, you’ll know that this movie has been everywhere! People have been going crazy about this film! I know many people who’ve never seen a Star Wars movie in their life but marathoned the other 6 (God bless you for getting through the prequels) just so they could head into the most recent movie and be a part of the action. Heck, I went to a Wednesday afternoon, WEDNESDAY AFTERNOON, showing of this movie with my siblings, two weeks after the movie premiered, and we had to to sit in the very front row in a nearly sold out theater! It was crazy! So, with all that in mind, I’ve been asking myself a question…why exactly has this movie exploded the way that it has?
Now, before I get all deep, let me just say that I know there are a ton of factors to consider when talking about this movie’s success. A lot of people grew up on these films; they’ve played a big part of people’s lives and our pop culture for a long time. That’s all very true. Also, I have to recognize the fact that it was an overall good movie! It currently sits at a 93% on Rotten Tomatoes, and if it was up to me…I’d give it a 4.5 out of 5 Croz’s (maybe one day I’ll actually do some Croz Blogz movie reviews). But a lot of people really liked this movie as a film! There are plenty of other reasons as to why this movie has had the success it’s received…but I think there’s another big reason which has contributed to all of this:
People long to be a part of something.
You see, many industry analysts have described this film as more than a movie…they describe it as an event! Being a part of the conversations meant that you were a part of what the world is talking about! Many people wanted to see the film as soon as they could because they simply didn’t want to be left out of the hype. This is way many people have begun to get into Star Wars, marathoning all of the movies and familiarizing themselves with all of the lingo, because nobody wants to be left out of the water-cooler conversation. But we see this not just with Star Wars…we see this in many different ways every day! Remember the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge? It was a great cause and I’m thankful for all the money raised for those with sclerosis; however if most people were being honest, a lot of their motivation behind participating wasn’t to raise awareness for an illness, as much as it was to be apart of the latest social media craze. It’s been reported that teenagers spend up to 14 hours on their phones every day! Many people (teens and adults) literally can’t put down their cell phones for more than ten minutes without developing this subconscious fear of missing out on the latest Facebook, Twitter, News outlet, or Snapchat post. A lot of us simply can’t bare the thought of being left out and left behind.
So, if this is all true… why are we like this? The Bible tells us that we as humans were created special and wonderful by God in His own image (Genesis 1:27). And we see that God Himself is a God of community. He is one in three persons (Father, Son, Holy Spirit) and His heart’s desire is to be in community and relationship with us. Even when sin came into the world, God chose to bridge the gap between our rebellion and His perfection through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. He truly longs to love us! He also created us to be in community with others. He often describes the uniting of His people as a body, a family, or even as stones being built up together. This is where a lot of the desires of our hearts come from. A lot of secular studies have even come to the conclusion that loneliness and isolation can end up being unhealthy and deadly to the human psyche. We were created to be in relationships with others and ultimately God; this is what our hearts are longing for.
Unfortunately, because we live in a world of brokenness and lies, a lot of us have fallen into the trap of thinking we need to work to be accepted by others. “We need to keep up with the latest trends, otherwise, we’ll be left out!” “We need to act and look a certain way because this is what society says!” “I may not know it, but I need to see Star Wars because this is what my friends, the media, and the world is talking about! If I see this movie, maybe in some small way, I’ll be accepted.” I understand that this may not be the case for everyone when it comes to this flick (this movie just got me thinking about this topic). However, I think if we’re all honest with ourselves, we all do/act/feel certain things out of the desire to be a part of something. Thankfully, even though this effort often feels like a tiring day of chasing after the wind, God remains open to us with a heart full of love. He desires to fulfill this need we all have, and He does it in a way that says “I love you, accept you, welcome you, and want a relationship with you, not based on what you’ve done/seen/look like/…I welcome you into community with me simply because I truly do love you.” This blows my mind every day, especially with how counter-cultural this is for us.
So, go and enjoy the galaxy far far away…just remember that you are loved and accepted unconditionally by someone really really close.
CROZ BlOGZ 