Star Wars is everywhere. Huge posters are found all around town, figurines, stickers, lego kits for all ages, gadgets of all types. The most disturbing thing is that a large part of this merchandising eventually glorifies the dark side of the force. For one, Darth Vader and the Sith get much more visibility than the Jedis in any toys’ shop. For two, let’s take a honest look at the attires. Between the monastic Jedis’ robe and Vader’s hematite fancy armored suit… you have a doubt on which costume your kid would choose? Sure, you would hope the kid would go for the simplicity of the Jedi’s apparel, symbolic of selfless compassion and a life of modesty and humility… But the odds are, Vader’s fearsome outfit wins the contest. After all why would you want to project humility and selflessness when you can project physical strength, intimidation and control?

So the inevitable happens: one day, your 5 year-old kid drags you in that kind of conversation:

“Mom, I wanna be like Dark Vader”.

“What??”

“Yes, I wanna be Dark Vader, he’s cool”

“Sweetie, you don’t even know who he is…”

“Yes I know! It’s the man in black with a laser sword”

“It’s called a lightsaber” (great, now I’m a Star Wars expert)

“Wow! Can you buy me a lightsaver like Dark Vader?”

“It’s DarTH Vader and a lightsaBer and he’s mean and you don’t want to be like him”

“Yeees! I wanna be like him, Darth Vader is my favorite superhero”

“Darth Vader is not a superhero…”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because… I know the story, I saw the movie” (good job, now I’m doomed)

“Can I watch the movie?” (see?)

“No… it’s not a movie for children your age”

“ok, then… Can you tell me the story” (he’s got a point)

Easier said than done. Where to begin and how to introduce the characters without watching the movie? I looked around for an illustrated book, but wasn’t happy with those I found… Then I thought of printing the pictures of the various characters… so I could use them as flash cards and show him who was Luke, Leia, Han Solo as I unfolded the story. Eventually, I ended up printing over 400 screen shots of EPISODE IV, and put them together in a what now resembles to a photobook (pdf available here, in case you want to use it with your kid and don’t feel like printing 400 screen shots…  episode IV part 1 and episode IV part 2).

We’ve gone over the story again and again since then… Yesterday my kid said he wants to become a Jedi.

Mission accomplished.

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