The reason could not be more ridiculous, and it has to do with the traditional greeting of the Jedi (“May the Force be with You”). In English this expression of respect with which believers in this cosmic religion are fired at the end of a conversation is said “May the Force be with you”, which can be heard as “may the fourth be with you”, or “May 4 be with you.” A simple pun. The first to perceive this humorada were the English, great lovers of this kind of jokes. On May 4, 1979 Margaret Thatcher began her first term as UK prime Minister, and the London Evening News used that little game of words, as a clear reference to the film (released in 1977) and the power of which some consider the Darth Vader of real life.
A reproduction of the original notice of May 4, 1979
There are those who believe that this story was invented by the European press, since there are no records of that edition of the newspaper, but the phrase became a legend in English politics, and although its origin is questioned, was indeed repeated by the member of the Parliament Harry Cohen and the former mayor (and Thatcher’s political heir) Boris Johnson in the speech he launched his re-election in 2012. Star Wars fans, on the other hand, had not adopted the date as an occasion to celebrate-the official conventions took place Around May 25 (date commemorating the premiere of the first film, in 1977).
“Star Wars” (or what we now know as “episode IV”) was a public phenomenon since its premiere
In the ‘ 90s the chat culture and Internet forums re-popularized the old pun, and in the mid-decade it was called May 4 “Star Wars Day” or “Luke Skywalker Day” and began the first enthusiastic meetings of the saga (which between 1983 and 1999 No t Uvo a single film delivery). Just in 2011 the date would become “official” with an event in Canada organized by the Toronto Underground Cinema collective that would be replicated the following year by several fan clubs around the world. At 2012 Disney bought Lucasfilm, put episode VII into production, and set out to revive the flames of the Star Wars brand, beginning the search on the same forums and social networking groups that had kept the franchise alive. In 2013 they organized the first official celebration of May 4 in their theme parks Disneyland and Disneyworld.
In the theme parks, even Mickey takes on the celebration
At first the fans, who at that time distrusted Disney’s plans for Star Wars, they resisted an “official” celebration date, but soon the event was retorted throughout the world, other brands joined the festivities, and on May 4 commemorates CO N Series costumes and special guests in international television programs.
The Legion 501 is the most active fan club in Argentina, and usually collaborates in different causes that have to do with the charity
But what can be done in Star Wars Day? The local fan clubs offer different proposals to spend the day. Admiral Brown’s Landa Sabarís Cultural Center will project six saga films along Saturday and Sunday. Each enthusiastic organization (such as the Echo Base of Mendoza) prepares together in their respective cities. At the University of Cinema there is an event dedicated to the office behind these films, which includes a master class of animation stop motion using Lego based on the characters. If you prefer to stay home, keep an eye on the social networks of Star Wars. Instagram, YouTube and Twitter accounts will be posting surprises throughout the day. It is not ruled out that finally we see the trailer of the series of streaming “The Mandalorian” that showed a select audience in the recent Star Wars celebration.
The cast of the highly anticipated “the Mandalorian”
In addition, as every year, Disney XD prepares a special programming full of surprises, shorts, and a marathon of episodes that refer to the series. For “door-to-door” junkies, there are several Star Wars miniature and toy closeouts on sites like eBay and Amazon, as well as several local comiques. The gamers, for their part, can enter to Steam or the virtual stores of PlayStation and Xbox to buy a collection of games of the saga at laughable prices. The most recent, Star Wars: Battlefront II, prepares a special event starring Princess Leia.
Just for this week, this version of Leia will be available in Star Wars: Battlefront II
But what if you don’t want to celebrate your fanaticism with the corporate hordes driven by the brand’s current owners? For you is the feast of the next day, improvised and irreverent, baptized in honor of another pun. “Revenge of the Sith” (the name of episode III) becomes “Revenge of the Fifth”, or “the Vengeance of the fifth”, and thus May 5 is the day they choose to celebrate the most rebellious (ironically) fanatics. In this note:
