By Kejsi Zyka, Staff Writer

Ten movies, more than 100 books, $8 billion in the making for everyone’s favorite, mind-blowing sci-fi genre — Star Wars. But what’s the big deal? What’s all the hype about? What are the people who haven’t seen any of these movies really missing out on?

For me, it’s “Luke Skywalker who?” And the only thing I’ve picked up on from all the movies made over the years is “Luke, I am your father,” and I am still not sure how that came to be, since Darth Vader looks like a machine/robot to me.

But it can’t just be me who doesn’t understand this worldwide obsession. I’m guessing there are others out there who would rather do something else with their lives than fill up those movie theater seats the day the new Star Wars movie comes out. At least, I hope there are.

But the worshipers have their own reasons for this adoration. It’s not just a movie to them. It’s much more important.

For some it’s about the genre — science fiction seems to be all the rage , going all the way back to everyone’s favorites such as E.T. or the Guardians of the Galaxy sequels. I admit, it has an interesting aspect to it, but it’s all a little too unrealistic for me.

For others it’s about falling in love with these characters. Even though we are not in space fighting battles, we can still relate to some of Princess Leia’s or Luke Skywalker’s problems, and I think that’s what makes these movies so special to the fans — empathizing with the heroes of these stories.

And for the majority of all the older Star Wars fans out there, it’s about childhood. The Star Wars movies go all the way back to 1977. In a way, most of the people out there were raised with these movies. They grew up with these characters, looked up to them as heroes, as the people they wanted to be. As the years went by and the stories progressed with new movies being made, the next generation had those heroes as well.

So I admit, they don’t seem as bad as I have always made them out to be. The genre mixes action, sci-fi and fantasy, which seems kind of perfect, plus movies with sequels are my favorites. But also because friends can be very persuasive on getting you to watch them, especially when they talk about the movies so passionately, maybe I should start binge watching all the movies.

Maybe I should start right now. Only 1,214 minutes to go, and “Solo” will be out before we know it!

Sophomore Kejsi Zyka can be reached at zykake0914@daretolearn.org.