The Popcorn Stand: A cultural force

With the danger of upsetting Star Wars fans, I know little about Star Wars. Have never seen a Star Wars movie, so I guess that makes me a cultural moron.

The only George Lucas movie I’ve ever watched (and it certainly isn’t Howard the Duck) is Lucas’ first and in my opinion best movie (although how can I say that when it’s the only Lucas movie I’ve watched) American Graffiti. And my guess is a lot of devoted Stars Wars fans don’t even know Lucas was the director of American Graffiti or even have heard of the movie in the first place.

But I digress. The point of me bringing up Star Wars is the Dallas Morning News has righted a travesty even though it took the newspaper 40 years to do it. On May 26, 1977 in its review of the original Star Wars movie, the Morning News incorrectly referred to Chewbacca as a “Wookie.” The correct spelling is “Wookiee.” What difference the extra e makes I have no idea, but I do know in 1977 Chewbacca was the “Wookiee of the Year.” (Couldn’t resist).

Or when Chewbacca’s having fun, he’s making “Wookiee.” (I have a million of them).

And of course when Chewbacca lets a secret out, it’s known as “WookieeLeaks.” (Couldn’t resist again). Anyway on Thursday, the Morning News admitted to its error and ran the correction.

This week is the 40th anniversary of the release of the original Star Wars movie and the Star Wars franchise has certainly had a tremendous impact on our culture. So much so and as a demonstration of just how culturally deficient I am, there’s a whole page devoted to Star Wars slang, Wookieepedia, which I had no idea existed.

So yes, I’m going to use the most cliche pun of them all, Star Wars has definitely been a force.

— Charles Whisnand