In case you hadn't noticed, the Star Wars franchise is back in theaters, and one local expert is among the throngs seeing it opening night. Dale Pollock is a biographer of director George Lucas, and teaches cinema studies at the UNCSA School of Filmmaking.
Pollock first saw Star Wars when the original film debuted in May 1977. Though he doesn't consider himself a “fanboy” of the franchise, he says he's enjoyed watching the series develop and passed down from generation to generation.
He says the films still resonate today because George Lucas tapped into something very deep, and very powerful.
“People ignore the fact that George Lucas did two full years of research into worldwide mythology. He studied the work of Bruno Bettelheim, of Joseph Campbell, of (psychologist) Erik Erikson," he says, "and so there was a lot of psychological depth that was planned in this series, and I again believe that's part of the reason it remains so popular."
Pollock says when he was writing his biography of Lucas, he was shown the outline of 12 films. Lucas only ended up making half of them.
While he says the new film apparently doesn't follow Lucas' remaining storylines, Pollock acknowledges he's still excited to see the franchise get a new life with new creative ideas.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens, the seventh film in the series, premieres locally Thursday night.