Why do kids today love Star Wars?

Un interesting article on the npr.org site (National public radio) brings some clues and allows us to try to understand how the younger generations find affinities with a 35-year-old cinematographic saga.

Among all the Star Wars fans, there are many who have never known the Original Trilogy than through multiple DVD releases or TV broadcasts. Me, the first, I was much too young in 1977 to attend the release of theEpisode IV: A New Hope At the movie theater.

How does a universe like that of Star Wars succeed in staying in fashion all the time and attracting new generations where other so-called cult universes are struggling to survive technological developments and changes in mentality? It's very simple: A universe filled with action, spaceships, lightsaber battles, various and varied creatures, a basic scenario with the story of a family fighting for control of the universe, endearing (sometimes annoying) heroes who allow everyone to identify with the one with whom they have the most affinities, emblematic villains (really very bad), cubs, a kid who drives a racing machine and the cause is heard.

Star Wars becomes for the youngest the equivalent of the cowboy against the Indians, of the knight who fights against the dragon to save the princess, etc ... the projection in a technologically exciting future in addition. The Star Wars universe has grown so much that it's impossible to know every nook and cranny. It is possible to spend a lifetime learning about characters or planets, learning about technologies, following spin-offs and other parallel stories out of the imagination of third-party authors ....

Derivatives obviously play an important role in the survival of this universe among the youngest. How many children play with LEGOs from the Star Wars range without ever having seen the movies? Their parents buy these toys because they deal with a universe they themselves are nostalgic for and thus convey their own interest in the saga.

I prefer, but it's very personal, to give my son an X-Wing than a garbage truck, or a Tie Fighter rather than a backhoe loader. I prefer to hear him reproduce a space battle in his room than to see him go around an imaginary city to empty the garbage ... The part of my dream that I have left of Star Wars, I transmit it through these toys and I thus have the impression of perpetuating it in my own daily life.

The animated series currently broadcast like The Clone Wars obviously help to snatch the youngest in the Star Wars spiral. They discover the characters that we adults already know and I can speak with my son of Anakin or Obiwan as a common acquaintance. He tells me about their animated adventures, I tell him what I saw in the movies. The bridge is there, the link is made and we each have our bearings but in the same universe.

And it is this common universe that drives us to still consume Star Wars in all its flavors today: T-shirts, LEGOs, DVDs, etc ... Star Wars has this ability to resist all the fads and to all age groups. A kid with a Star Wars t-shirt stays in the game, just like a teenager or an adult. It's less obvious with the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Ben 10 or the Power Rangers ...

And you, if you are a fan, how did you discover this universe? At what age ? You can give your impressions in the comments.