By Leonard Gray / L’Observateur / May 4, 1999

Star Wars” mania has gripped America and it couldn’t come at a better time.

We’ve gone through so much in the past several months, from Kosovo to Columbine, from David Duke campaign ads to Monica Lewinsky On Tour, that we all need pure escapism – like to a galaxy, far, far away.

One must really congratulate George Lucas for the creation of the modern mythology which is “Star Wars.” As the debut of “Star Wars: The PhantomMenace” approaches, young people familiar with the movies only through videotape and older fans, like me, who were there at the beginning, can escape the day-to-day, dreariness of the Top Story This Hour.

Lucas created a whole universe where villainy is certain, the bad guys wear black and the good guys are easy to cheer for. There’s no gray areaswhere the good guys are flawed or the bad guys have their good points. Wecan go and enjoy and come out, eager to see it again. There’s only so manytimes you can watch Bill Clinton.

Everyone got tired of Monicagate early on, and there’s only a war going on which few understand, since nothing will likely be settled.

Meanwhile, Lucas offers the public a whole mythology of Jedi Knights and The Force and robots and weird creatures and alien beings, while making us all care what happens to them. It’s an achievement for which he is stillunder-appreciated.

Mind you, his money-machine is already in full operation, with “action figures” and books and magazines and T-shirts. Just wait until the movieis out, and you’ll see more spending than ever imagined.

That flow of money will continue, as Lucas brings out the remaining two more “Star Wars” movies over the next 10 years. Could it be that Lucasand Alan Greenspan are in cahoots to keep the economy rolling high? Let’s hope so.

Leonard Gray is a reporter for L’Observateur

Copyright © 1998, Wick Communications, Inc.

Internet services provided by NeoSoft.

Best viewed with 3.0 or higher