When I found out George Lucas was going to speak at San Diego Comic Con for the first time ever, I knew I had to be in the room where it happened.
Even if I only had a week to make it happen.
SDCC is typically an annual pilgrimage for me, a summer retreat to the mecca of all things nerdy. But this year, my heart wasn’t in it.
Until I heard George Lucas would be speaking Sunday morning in Hall H. And so I frantically worked out logistics, managed to get one of the last wristbands distributed on Saturday night, and lined up at 7AM on Sunday morning for the 10AM panel.
And even now, weeks later, I am so glad I did. Never in my wildest dreams as a little girl did I think I’d be in the same room as George Lucas. This was the man behind the very first nerdy thing I ever loved: Star Wars.
That’s right, your girl’s a HUGE Star Wars fan. I fell in love with Ewoks on Endor before I started kindergarten. I would wake up early in elementary school just to pop one of the trilogy movies into the VCR before I had to catch the bus. And on the weekends, I would handwrite the script on notebook paper just to have another way to immerse myself in this world. All from the mind of George Lucas.
Not to mention my 10th birthday coincided with the 20th anniversary of A New Hope, and of course I begged for the limited edition merch for my very first double-digit birthday. Thanks, Mom!
But the best part of being in the room for George Lucas’ first ever San Diego Comic Con experience was discovering what he was there to talk about: his newest project, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art.
Now, I don’t know that he is describing this museum as his legacy, but I sure am. Because even as someone who has loved all things Star Wars for over 30 years, I am also deeply in love with the art of storytelling. Human beings are wired for story. It is what kept us alive since the caveman days, it is still the only way to win hearts and minds today, and it is one of the most beautiful, uniquely human experiences that we have.
And to hear the man whose movies I obsessed over for so many years speaking on stage about not just storytelling and narrative art, but its purpose, its role as mythology and what that means for societies?
I didn’t know I could fangirl any harder for someone I thought I was already fangirling at maximum levels.
Lucas described the museum as a “temple for the people’s art,” and a place that will enshrine stories that have become mythologies for us as human beings, for societies, for civilizations. Especially as we look around the country and the world today and wonder, “How did we get here?”, this museum could not be coming at a better time.
Alas, it will not be open until 2026. But in a world that hasn’t given me much to be overly excited about in quite a while, your girl is excited.
I’ll see you there opening week, and may the force be with you.
