If you’ve never seen Star Wars, you might think that it is a movie about space and aliens, but you are wrong. The entire franchise is a story of political unrest between an oppressive, violent Empire and its Rebels, both trying to take control of the galaxy. Today, we see similar unrest all over the world that causes the same divisiveness. Most of the Star Wars movies focus on the ideas of The Force and the Skywalker family, but Rogue One– a true war movie- was much more relatable to the human experience in that it showed the dark side of a political rebellion without the distractions of Jedis and The Force.
Shots of Rebel planets and Imperial war zones drew parallels to Aleppo and places like it that have been massacred by their governments, and it was hard to ignore the idea that although this story takes place in a galaxy far, far away, people face similar challenges right now in places that are unsettlingly close. All eight of the Star Wars movies, particularly Rogue One, have lessons to offer that millennials need to hear at this point in history more than when they first came out almost 40 years ago. Here are four of the big ones:
1. Always have hope.
When a team of young Rebels wants to stop evil and oppression from taking over but lack the support of the Senate, they take their can-do attitudes and their hope and do everything they can to fight for their cause, and they accomplish some pretty big things. This is an important message to anyone who has ever felt like the government is not supporting them. Even if you feel alone in your fight, it does not make it less worth fighting for and it does not mean you cannot be successful.
2. Success belongs to dreamers, but only if they work hard.
Star Wars has always loved the underdog. Luke Skywalker started out in Episode IV as a farmer who knew a little bit about droids, Chirrut Îmwe from Rogue One was nothing but a blind man guarding an old temple, Rey of Episode VII was just a young stray on a desert planet, and the list goes on.
All of these people were major heroes of The Rebellion, but only because they had big dreams and they dedicated themselves to their goals. They prove to all who watch them that you have no idea what you are capable of until you do it, and that with enough tenacity and faith in yourself you can accomplish nearly anything you put your mind to.
3. When women do well, we all do well.
Star Wars has done an amazing job of giving us brave, strong and independent female role models to look up to. Since the late 70s, a time when the state of women in society was much different than it is now, women in this galaxy have held important government positions, impressed audiences with their brain power, fought in battle and contributed in major ways to the downfall of the Empire.
Star Wars also does a brilliant job in the recent remakes of not sexualizing its female heroines or limiting them to being the love interests of the leading men, the way so many other action movies tend to do.
Even though they always have to prove themselves more than their male counterparts, they never fail to save the day in the end. It will always be important for people to watch young women rise above what is expected of them and every single Star Wars movie is perfect for that.
4. Even if you do not get to see the effects of your efforts, it does not make them less important.
This is arguably one of the most important takeaways from all of the films and it came from the newest installment, Rogue One. Nobody who fought to destroy the Empire’s weapon of mass destruction (AKA the Death Star) got to see the actual destruction of it, which takes place in the next movies. They fought for something that they would never see come to fruition, and they do not even get credit for their efforts in the future. This is an important reality for everyone to see because so often it feels like we are fighting in battles that we are not going to see the end of. Things like global warming, gender inequality and race inequality are not problems that we can fix overnight or even in the next five years.
You might spend your whole life fighting for something and never see it improve, but that does not devalue your fight. You might go down in history a nameless fighter, but that does not devalue you. Especially today, this is something that we need to remember.
So, if you’ve ever felt hopeless, scared in the face of your government, unmotivated, or like you cannot affect change, GET YOUR BUTT TO THE MOVIE THEATER. Star Wars is not only a must-see for movie lovers, but it is also becoming so socially and politically relevant that you can’t write it off as being for nerds only anymore. Watch it in order 4, 5, 6, 1, 2, 3, 7 and Rogue One. Or: 1, 2, 3, Rogue One, 4, 5, 6, 7. However you want to break it up, just get to it.
Rest in peace, Carrie Fisher, our Space Princess.