I remember childhood days of watching The Empire Strikes Back from under the cover of my Rebel base canopy (a picnic blanket propped up on some chairs) with a model Millennium Falcon between my fingers. If you’ll allow me to get personal – because commemorative holidays are all about individual anecdotes and sentimental memories – Star Wars means a lot to me, and May 4th sends me spiralling into nostalgia’s Sarlacc sinkhole. It’s brilliant, and a day devoted to acknowledging just how joyous and awe-inspiring the movies and extended multimedia are is the very least that Star Wars deserves. To further belabour the point and eulogise George Lucas’ franchise, I contend that Star Wars is the greatest pop cultural icon of the modern age.
