18: Some People are Never Happy!
No, there’s no pleasing some people. Early ‘Cosplay’ woes! Who did you most identify with from Star Wars? Luke, Leia. Han? – or Vader?
As a kid, I wanted to be Luke! As a 46 year old? I’d like to be Han Solo. But Happy Star Wars day, and May the Fourth be with You! – Star Wars fans!
There are some nice teasers being released at the moment in connection with the new Star Wars film. They’re really pandering to us older, orginal Star Wars fans, attempting to ‘tick all of the boxes’. I wonder if they’ll make no visual nods whatsoever to the loved/hated Prequel films?
Above: An exciting new image by Annie Lebovitz for Vanity Fair Magazine! See today’s just-released video!
The Enfield Haunting
And in other news… I watched this new drama last night on… ahem… SKY Living Channel and loved it (I hate SKY) . It’s a feast of 70s style production design. Because of this, I went back into the artwork of today’s strip and created the cupboard that you see behind Jim on the left. Apparently it’s based on a ‘true’ story. I’d no idea until I looked it up online this morning!
Above: At least three great actors in this drama series. You can’t go wrong with Timothy Spall!
Above: I only just discovered that it’s based on a ‘true’ story. This real bedroom is brilliantly recreated in the series. Recognise any of these posters? My sister Maria had some of them.
But did it really happen?
Above: I loved Luke’s hairstyle in this as a 9-11 year old!
I can’t say whether the haunting really happened, but my own hairstyling attempts did! John S certainly wouldn’t have cut up his dad’s jacket – he was too well-behaved a kid for that. A great kid!
Yes, I certainly locked myself in my bedroom a couple of times with my sister Maria’s hairdryer, referencing the poster of Mark Hamill on my wall. Perhaps it was after one of these ocassions that my mum took this photo of me?
Above: Mum photographed me in 1978, at home in Ballymore Eustace with my brand new Star Wars T-Shirt from Penney’s! John S got one too. You can see that I’m stretching it down so you can see the picture and is that a Luke hairstyle I see?
Who did you most identify with from Star Wars? Luke, Leia. Han? – or Vader?
If you enjoy today’s strip and article, please leave a ‘comment‘ so that I know? And please ‘Share’ it – in whichever way you prefer. Every bit helps, to get my comic ‘out there’ – and – encourages me to stick at it.
Thanks!
** Stay Groovy, all you 1970s kids! **
– John White
Jim was sat in his bedroom, at his dressing table mirror - door firmly locked - curtains closed. He no longer noticed the increasingly insistent knocking on his door as he attempted to scrawl the first black side-burn to the left side of his face with a very large, wedge-tipped, permanent Pentell felt marker. He occasionally referenced the Han Solo poster on the wall behind him, as reflected in the mirror over his right shoulder as he proceeded with his work.
Knock - knock - knock - "Jim? This is your father..." came the muffled voice.
In a world of his own, Jim thought, "Why couldn't I have wavy brown hair like Jack?"
Knock - knock - knock - "Jim, do you have my Sunday-best suit jacket in there?"
"Lucky so and so" he thought.
"And the scissors? Jim?!?!" Knock - knock - knock -
Jim's pinstripe Han Solo waitcoat was looking pretty good though, even if it was a bit big and ragged where the sleeves and lapels had been cut off. Good thing dad didn't want his old suit any more.
While, at Jack's House
Jack sat, at his dressing table mirror - door firmly locked - curtains closed. He no longer noticed the thunderous banging of his sister Martha's fists on his door as he attempted to style his hair, with a rounded brush to match the Luke Skywalker poster behind him, as reflected over his right shoulder in the mirror. Referencing the poster and his own hair, he noted with some satisfaction that it was proceeding quite well, but the colour was an insoluble problem.
Bang - bang - bang! "Jack - open this flamin' door!" came a barely muffled yell.
In a world of his own, Jack thought, "Why couldn't I have straight blonde hair like Jack?"
Boom - boom - boom! - "Open it!!!"
"And a chin dimple - like Jim?" he thought.
BOOM! - BOOM! - BOOM! - the room was almost shaking with the door now, "And gimme back me flamin' hair dryer!"
A thought occurred, then - simultaneously - to Jim and Jack: some people - other people - are never happy.
Happy May the Fourth! I completely identified with Luke. Even the whiny bits. Especially the whiny bits, cause I was, you know, 7 years old. I thought Leia should have been with Luke. When Han said, “whaddya think, a princess and a guy like me,” and Luke quickly replied “no,” I was totally, “yeah, you tell him, Luke!”
Happy Star Wars Day Phil 🙂
I never thought he was whiny, but I know he gets a lot of stick for that nowadays. Hamill played the teenager very very well.
You’re right about Leia and Luke. I think it spoiled Star Wars a little when Han and Leia aditted they loved eachother. Their sparring was so entertaining – and then… nowhere else fun for the characters to go. It created some great amusing and dramatic scenes in EMPIRE but after that, Han couldn’t really be the rogue anymore.
At 7 I didn’t see him as whiney, but I certainly identified with and understood his position. When he complained about his plans to go to Tosche Station, I completely agreed with his attitude! I often wondered, “Why is Uncle Owen so mean?!”
Time and my own kids have explained a lot!
I still don’t sympathise much with Owen! Old git. Well, maybe. Hmmm… maybe not.
Ha! I don’t think I’ve ever exactly said “You can waste time with your friends when your chores are done”, but throw the words “homework” and “Minecraft” in there and I’ve come pretty close.
Indeed!
Considering the choices for girls were basically Leia and Aunt Beru . . . I called Vader when we played!
Hi Grace,
Yes – women got a raw deal in the first Star Wars movie. And non-white humans were – I think – completely absent!
Superb – and it bravely takes us into an area of fandom that some of us may have tried to forget about!
By the way, after Jack finishes with that hair dryer, he can use it as a ray gun.
Thanks Darren. Bravely? Don’t you know – by now that I’m incapable of embarrassment!
Hair-dryer/Ray-Gun… how the hell did I not think of that? Brilliant! I was excited when my mum brought home a garden hose attachment that looked like a gun once. I couldn’t wait to wash the car the next day (enthusiastic for the first time ever). Afterwards, I detached it and played Space Games with it!
What Phil Custodio said. Especially about the Han-Leia-Luke dynamic. At 7, it was just *so obvious* that, “Leia should like Luke more”.
I supect Luke was the perfect identifier for most of the younger crowd. Like us, he was new to The Galaxy, idealistic and somewhat benignly simplistic. Han of course, was definitely a MAN, and a complicated one. I remember “getting” the cool factor, but being slightly uncomfortable with his gray areas. I wondered if it was “OK to like him”.
Good point Terran, about whether we should like Han or not. Maybe that was George’s dilemma up until he changed Han’s scene with Greedo. But was it that George couldn’t decide if HE should like him, or his anxiety that WE wouldn’t like him? But then… we all did like him, for about 22 years!