May 4th is a holiday for fans of the Star Wars saga. “May the force be with you”: How fans of the legendary film saga celebrate their main day of the year

On May 4, fans of the world-famous film epic “Star Wars” celebrate their holiday - Star Wars Day, which is also called the Day of Luke Skywalker, one of the main characters of the saga. The character Luke Skywalker was originally supposed to be a girl, then an old, seasoned general. The hero’s name was Luke Starkiller, which means “star killer,” but after the start of filming the first film, he became Skywalker—“sky wanderer.”

The holiday owes its origin to a funny play on words. The fact is that famous phrase Jedi knights from the movie: “May the Force be with you!”, is very consonant with the phrase “May the 4th of May be with you,” as one of the adherents of the movie saga noticed at one time, so it happened that the celebration of Star Wars Day takes place precisely on May 4, and not on May 25, the day the film premiered.

Initially, “Star Wars” could have been called differently, since representatives of the film studio 20th Century Fox were unhappy with the name. It seemed to them that such a name for the film carried a certain negative. There was even a competition for a more sonorous and appropriate name, but interesting options was not found, and it was decided to leave Star Wars.

The first film of the film story, called " New Hope", was released on May 25, 1977. It is noteworthy that in the USSR the film was officially presented to the audience in 1988 as part of the “US Cinema Days in the USSR.”

The first mass celebration of Star Wars Day was held in Canada, in the city of Toronto, in 2011. The celebration was accompanied by flash mobs, a costumed procession, video presentations and show programs. Now fans of film history hold such celebrations all over the world.

The Star Wars universe was created by an American George Lucas. The project was born out of desire Lucas to create an action adventure in outer space, a kind of space western, with chasing and shooting, with the confrontation between good and evil in the classical form. The idea was drawn from popular comic books and television shows of the time, inspired by Edgar Burroughs' John Carter series on The Mars.

The word "Jedi" that Lucas used to call his space knights comes from Japan. Jidai geki, which literally means historical drama, is a genre of Japanese cinema that tells the story of samurai, their folklore and way of life. Lucas liked the word "jidai" and brought it into his project, changing the sound a little.

It should be noted that future movie Lucas was not taken seriously at first, as famous film directors of the time were saturating Hollywood with so-called “smart” cinema. This was associated with the then difficult domestic and foreign policy situation in the United States and in the world. The country was at war in Vietnam, tension remained from the possibility of a nuclear disaster in the confrontation with the USSR, there were internal conflicts in society, and Lucas’ fairy tale, as he himself called it, was considered unnecessary and untimely. In addition, no one wanted to take on a big-budget science fiction for teenagers (namely, Lucas was targeting a young audience), no one believed in a film in which there was not a single famous artist, it was predicted to be a fiasco and a failure at the box office. Lucas was strongly advised to make a movie like his previous film, American Graffiti, again. Hollywood did not yet understand that changes were coming to the film distribution industry, and the release of Star Wars would play a big role in this.

The appearance of the first Star Wars in 1977 changed the idea of science fiction on big screen. Lucas managed to create a fantastic and at the same time realistic world, which became a breakthrough in cinema. In addition, Star Wars turned out to be a project that brought unprecedented profits, a real media franchise.

But The popularity of Star Wars is due not only and not so much to the box office success of the project. Lucas' film appealed to a huge number of people for many reasons. Film critics of the time praised Lucas for almost single-handedly reviving the family film genre by turning science fiction into a real fairy tale. ABOUT Lucas was written that he, along with Spielberg, was the first in Hollywood to start making genre films that were understandable and enjoyable for millions of viewers.

“Star Wars” has a straightforward plot, without halftones, and this is also what makes it the favorite picture of millions of viewers. White in the film is white, and black is black. Positive and negative characters the viewer perceives and understands from the first minutes of viewing, no effort is required to identify the characters, which makes picture of light in emotional perception. By the way, Lucas, after the premiere of the first film, re-edited the scene with Han Solo and the smuggler Greedo, adding humanity to the latter so that he, the only controversial character in the original trilogy (with the exception of Darth Vader), did not look like an outright villain. By the way, in the original version, Han Solo was supposed to appear to the viewer in the form of a green alien monster without a nose and with gills. Harrison Ford was chosen for this role by chance; in addition to him, Kurt Russell, Nick Nolte and other actors were also considered for it. And the role of Chewbacca was given to Peter Mayhew, who worked at the hospital as an orderly and had an impressive height of 2 meters 18 centimeters. The character Chewbacca himself was based on George Lucas' dog named Indiana. The language he speaks was made by merging various animal sounds, including those made by the polar bear, badger, walrus and camel.

The events in the epic film take place in some distant fictional Galaxy, moreover, in the past. In the Star Wars universe, there is a mysterious energy called the Force. Strength is a kind of spiritual, mystical knowledge that gives its owners supernatural abilities. Those who are gifted with it receive unusual abilities and are able to use the skills of telekinesis, telepathy and clairvoyance. The force is divided into the Dark and Light sides, the adherents of the sides are antagonists, whose ideals and aspirations are opposite. Everyone who has innate Power must choose a side. Followers of the Light Side are Jedi Knights fighting to preserve the best human qualities. Followers of the Dark Side strive for unlimited power over the world. Power based on cruelty, violence and suppression of any free will.

Lucas showed that the film's fate does not end at the box office. The first Star Wars film was Starting point to form an entire universe, what is called a franchise, which includes toys, books, video games and much more. George Lucas's space saga became the first film to penetrate related entertainment projects. Based on the films, many books and comics have been written, animated series, board and computer games have been created. An endless number of consumer products and entertainment gadgets have been released with attributes of the Star Wars world.

In 2015, another episode of the Star Wars film epic entitled “The Force Awakens” was released. In the film, viewers saw a new generation space heroes, on whose shoulders fell all responsibility for the further development of the plot.

The Star Wars movie saga has been awarded several the most prestigious awards Oscar, and the episode of film history called “The Force Awakens” is one of the three highest-grossing films in the world in the entire history of cinema.

In the near future, the next part of the franchise is preparing for its premiere, the hero of which will be the fighter and smuggler Han Solo. By the way, in this part, viewers will finally find out how he became the owner of the fastest ship in the Galaxy - the Millennium Falcon truck.

March 1, 2018 at Central Library them. A. S. Pushkin hosted the first party in the style of “Star Wars”. This meeting was organized for fans of the cult fantasy saga. The opening of the evening began with the presentation of new Star Wars books . Then the theatrical action unfolded. The participants in the performance took their roles from the book “Star Wars by William Shakespeare. Episode IV". This treatment for everyone famous heroes couldn't help but please the fans. Also organized intellectual quizzes and games on the topic, lecture by Ivan Dmitrievich Tuzovsky, candidate of cultural studies, associate professor of the department of cultural studies and sociology of the ChGIK “Mythological borrowings in the original trilogy of “Starry” wars": a miracle that even the author could not repeat", space toy library board games. In addition, the fiction subscription department hosted screenings and discussions of the most famous moments from the Star Wars films and books. A bright continuation of the evening was the cosplay competition.

Where can I sell cigarette ashes? The story that cigarette ashes are very valuable, and pharmacies and some enterprises are willing to pay a lot of money for the ashes, has migrated from real life to the network. And the gullible Buratins have no idea that if cigarette ash were worth the money they offer for it, then cigarette manufacturers would simply burn their products! So where did the legend of priceless cigarette ash come from?
It's all due to ordinary human greed and the desire for easy money. And if there are naive people who believe in wonderful and easy ways to make money, then there are enterprising people, ready to make money on naive simpletons. Moreover, the scheme that scammers use is very simple: an advertisement is placed for the purchase of completely useless nonsense such as cigarette ash, or some other tempting offer, in general - the main goal is to interest a person in something.

Surely almost every active RuNet user knows about the online legend about the incredible expensive coins, which, nevertheless, can end up in everyone’s pocket. Of course, I want to write about the legendary 10 kopeck coin from 2001.
As befits a modern legend, despite numerous refutations, a rumor of this kind persists: “Market the cost of a 10 kopeck coin from 2001 is from 29,000 to 40,000 rubles. The price depends on the condition of the coin. For example, 10 kopecks from 2001 sold for 50 thousand rubles at auction! And you just have to imagine how much it will cost in a few years! The number of coins is decreasing, the price of the remaining ones will increase every month, so hurry up!!!"

What if you don’t have a corkscrew at hand, but you need to open a bottle of wine? Eat different ways solutions to this problem, I’ll tell you about them below:
Method number 1. The simplest and most effective. To open a bottle of wine without a corkscrew using this method, you simply need to hold the bottle horizontally with one hand and gently tap the bottom of the bottle with the palm of your other hand.
If possible, wrap the bottom of the bottle with a towel. (otherwise the bottle may break!), and lightly tap the wall. With a successful combination of circumstances, in a few minutes the wine will be ready to be poured into glasses. It is extremely rare, but it happens that this method takes too much time, so we move on to the next method. I warn you again! There is no need to use excessive force or hit the bottom of the bottle with hard objects, otherwise the bottle will break.

Method number 2. You can simply push the cork inside the bottle using any object, for example, reverse side forks or spoons, marker, pen, pencil. Attention! Ub...

I could not miss such a significant event for the fan - Star Wars Day, which is celebrated on May 4th. Let me be a little afraid, but I’ll still speak out on the topic: why Star Wars- Fine.

1. The vastness of the world, numbering at least a hundred planets, is simply immeasurable. You can put any story in them, even remaking Romeo and Juliet, Titanic, or Major Payne. In addition, pollutants actually have a limited time frame, and more or less detailed history The Expanded Universe takes place on a time scale of 40,000 thousand years and a scale of many thousands of light years.
2. Despite the current craze among school kids and hipsters, Star Wars is a sci-fi classic, one might say a celestial, standing nearby with the Chronicles of Amber and Middle-earth. Moreover, this world found its embodiment not on the pages of works, but on the movie screen, which is also surprising. In addition, "Wars" raised the bar for the quality of special effects and gave birth to Pixar, Lukasfilm and ILM, which created so many "bdysh-bdysh-pew-pshshsh" in films that Michael Bay smacked his lips and asked for more.
3. Oddly enough, Star Wars merchandise is always wildly popular. Even the Adidas line is the height of cool. Not to mention my own clothes and other cross-projects. In addition, the franchise has an impressive supply of products for every taste - from a bunch of action figures to condoms. And even those who are disgusted by blasters and spaceships would obviously like to get light sabers.
   
4. The erotic fantasies of any lover can find their satisfaction in Star universe Wars. Since the humanoid type is still in the majority there, then we're talking about about the beautiful female body(or male, for that matter) with various variations processes and skin color. After all, Twi’leks are the dream of many nerds.
5. Strength - it can. Yes, Americans are sometimes stupid (as are Russians, by the way). But the official religion “Jediism” is an indicator. The idea and philosophy in the spirit of “Zen-by-edal” fits quite well with the general norms of morality and ethics that are propagated by the majority modern religions(including monotheistic " Golden three"). And the eternal conflict between the Sith (I want to write it that way) and the Jedi is generally a wonderful example of Yin-Yang. In addition, in Saga, children from both sides of the barricades promote a healthy lifestyle and spiritual development. Otherwise, no lightning from your fingers.
6. Charismatic villains business card ZV. Even the most stupid Greedo was honored to have his own line of comics (albeit a small one), and as for Grievous, Bane and others, there are generally separate volumes. You can see that the bad boys of this world are motivated and consistent, and not just running around wildly and killing everyone left and right (the good ones are more likely to suffer from this). In general, there is only one villain as such in the film versions so far - Palpatine. The same Darth Bane simply had a difficult childhood and youth). Well, Darth Vader (nyah, darling) is generally recognized as one of the best villains of all time.
   
   
7. Minor characters often play a leading role, oddly enough. R2-D2 and C3-PO, little old troll Yoda, Commander Cody, Boba Fett and a billion other NPCs are not inferior in popularity to the main characters, and often surpass them in ratings, later becoming equally important pieces of the puzzle.
8. The style of the Imperials and Clones (not all, of course) is beyond praise. It is difficult, even in our country, to find a TP who would not be able to recognize a stormtrooper helmet (even without knowing what it is called). Many may not agree with me, but in this regard it really sucks. Imperial March, Duel of the Fates and Cantina Mos Isley are as recognizable as Beethoven's symphonies and Pugacheva's hit. And the design of starships has long been a trend for games and science fiction films. In addition, the Death Star, for all its absurdity, is the most total fault in the history of the Doomsday Weapon. And the fact that one of the already former candidates Darth Alekseevich Vader is running for president of Ukraine, and someone with the last name Palpatine sits on the Odessa City Council, already talking about the super-popularity of the topic.
9. The modern rise of geek culture has given rise to many jokes on the topic of Star Wars, without neglecting our topic. The Blue Harvest parody and sequels from the creators of Family Guy are made by fans and for fans, but everyone can laugh. In addition, Star Wars Detours, which should soon reach our latitudes, continues this theme. But there are also some jokes in “Robot Chicken,” “,” and the entire series of films in the universe (for those who don’t know, “Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back,” etc.).
10. Even an excellent failure in the form of “stormtrooper syndrome” ultimately became a victory. If only because the senseless club-handedness of the imperial troops became a household word, and all subsequent henchmen simply copied the strategy of “don’t get hit even once and use armor that doesn’t even protect you from stones.”

Regardless, you can find a quintillion reasons why Star Wars is cool. As well as the reasons why Star Wars is no longer a cake, it has slipped into despondency and self-copying, which is not to the liking of true fans of the saga. The holivar will flare up regularly - you don’t have to go to a fortune teller, especially since JJ Abrams and Disney opened new page stories “far, far away a long time ago.”

So, we congratulate everyone on this wonderful May day and let's hope that the franchise does not wither. The good news is that we will always have the Original Trilogy, the Expanded Universe and the Clone Wars, and the new owners can rub “banta puda” into their gums.

May the Force be with you, IT Jedi. Today is a bright day for all fans of the Skywalker family, including the Black Lord Darth Vader, various exotic aliens and the Death Star. In other words, today is Star Wars Day. Just in case: the day of a series of science fiction films. By the way, you have no reason to grin, there are still people (from the generation of thirty-year-olds!) who have not watched a single episode!

May 4th became Star Wars Day not because someone was born on that day. Not the director, not the actors, not even any of the characters. It's all about the play on words. Let's go back to the very beginning of this post: "May the Force be with you." In the film, the phrase is pronounced as “May the force be with you.” This is from “May the fourth be with you.” As you know, fourth is translated as “fourth”. And the word may means both “may” and “let it be,” which results in the literary “may it be.”

It's hard to say how quickly Star Wars fans started using this pun. But probably soon after the release of the first episode. In any case, May 4th has long been a full-fledged holiday for all fans of lightsabers and R2D2. All kinds of cosplays are usually held on this day, themed parties and others holiday events.

By the way, about lightsabers. Here are 13 facts that even many Star Wars fans don't know:

1) Lightsabers were created by adherents of the Dark Side.
The first proto-sword was called forcesaber (sword of strength). It was a directed flow of dark energy (not to be confused with dark matter), formed into a blade using crystals and alchemy. Therefore, if a Jedi picked up such a sword, then there was a great risk of his immediate transition to Dark Side. So the Jedi created their own version lightsaber to resist the weapons of evil.

2) Lightsabers use compact energy sources.
The first swords did not have a built-in power source. Owners were forced to carry a supply of batteries in backpacks or belts connected by a cable to the sword. The first to create a compact, built-in power source for lightsabers were the Sith.

3) At first they were called “laser swords” (lazersword).
In the first drafts of the script, George Lucas used this exact term.

4) Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader's swords were made from camera flashes.
And the hilt of Obi-Wan's sword was made from a part from a Rolls-Royce Derwent Mk.8/Mk.9 jet engine

5) The lightsaber can be any color.
The color of the blade is determined by the crystal that focuses the energy. The Sith's weapons were characterized by red colors, the Jedi's - blue and green, since they used crystals from the planet Ilum, where only these two colors are found in nature.

6) The lightsaber can even be black.
There is only one copy, Darksaber (Dark Sword). This ancient weapons Jedi, which was kidnapped by Mandalores. The blade of the Dark Sword follows the shape of a steel weapon - it becomes thinner towards the edges. At the same time, the blade is slightly curved, like a checker, and its upper cutting edge has a serrated serrator (somehow...).

7) Green sword Luke in Return of the Jedi was supposed to be blue.
However, during filming Lucas decided to make it Green colour, because during the battle in Sarlacc the blue blade was hard to see against the sky.

8) In the Empire, lightsabers were illegal weapons.
In addition to his desire to destroy the Jedi, Emperor Palpatine outlawed the possession of lightsabers. It was even forbidden to trade crystals for their manufacture. Darth Vader was given special permission to wield a lightsaber.

9) The animation of lightsaber blades appeared due to the imperfection of special effects in the 70s.
At first they tried to make swords from long triangular reflective rods. The rods were rotated by a motor around an axis, and their flickering should have merged into a long glow. In practice it looked disgusting, so I had to add animation. Then Lucas decided that the blades should be different colors, although they were originally supposed to be white.

10) Lightsabers are not the only weapons that use a similar principle.
Lightsabers can be made into pikes by attaching them to long shafts. Such weapons were used by the Jedi guards, and then the emperor's guards borrowed the idea. One of the assassins in the emperor's service, Lumiya, used a light whip, whose deadly beam had several degrees of freedom. There were also tonfa swords that had a special hilt. Double-sided swords could be separated into two separate swords connected by a cord, creating light-emitting nunchucks. There were even light clubs, which were simply huge swords.

11) There are seven fighting styles using lightsabers.
1) Shii-Cho, or “Way of the Sarlacc”;
2) Makashi, or “The Way of Ysalamiri”:
3) Soresu, or “The Way of Mynock”;
4) Ataru, or “Way of Hawk-Bat”;
5) Shien/Djem So, or “Way of the Krayt Dragon”;
6) Niman, or “The Way of the Rancor”;
7) Juyo/Vaapad, or "The Way of Vornskr."

12) A lightsaber cannot cut everything in the world.
There are several materials that resist a lightsaber blade. They are often used to create protective armor. The most popular material is cortosis. Unfortunately, natural cortosis is deadly to humans and requires preliminary purification. Also, the skin of some creatures, such as the lava dragon, is not susceptible to destruction by a lightsaber. Well, how can we not remember the Goblin with his “body armor made from the skin of… a dragon.”

13) Cutting off someone's hand with a lightsaber is a fighting technique.
It's called Cho Mai, and it involves cutting off a large portion of an opponent's limb, usually the arm holding the sword. The Mou Kei technique is designed to cut off multiple limbs of an opponent in one attack.

Some fans of the saga prefer to celebrate Star Wars Day on May 25, because Episode 4 premiered on this day in 1977. However, this, in our opinion, is too simple and trivial an approach. We are for May 4th, and may the Force be with you!

Fans of the famous film epic “Star Wars” celebrate an unofficial holiday, popularly called Star Wars Day. Was involved in filming famous director from America George Lucas. The date of the event was not chosen by chance. It came about as a result of a funny play on words. IN english alphabet There are many words with different spellings and meanings. Despite this, they are pronounced virtually identical. This is where the curiosity of the situation lies. Known all over the world and already becoming a cult phrase, uttered by the main characters, “May the force be with you” is written in English as: “May the force be with you.” One of the fans of the saga, apparently having an excellent sense of humor, once played on the parting words spoken in the film as “May the Fourth of May be with you,” emphasizing the fact that the word from the English alphabet “May” can be translated as spring month, and “force”, which means strength, replace “fourth” (fourth).

It is also worth noting that on May 4, 1979, when the premiere film of the epic celebrated its almost two-year anniversary, in the UK news column, party allies congratulated Margaret Thatcher, who had received the post of Prime Minister of England, with just this phrase: “May the 4th of May be with you, Maggie.” . The premiere film of the saga debuted on May 25. In Russia, the official screening took place in two cinemas in 1988 during the “American Cinema in the Soviet Union” program. In 2007, on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the screening of the first film, which took place in Los Angeles, May 25 was designated as a holiday. However, May 4th is the most popular among fans. The first large-scale celebration of the solemn date took place in 2011 in the Canadian city of Toronto. The event was accompanied by a costume ball, a festive procession, video programs and various colorful shows. Since then, the holiday has been held every year, and social networks also contribute to its massive popularity.

There are many things connected with this saga. interesting facts. In 2007, the monarch of Saudi Arabia, better known as Abdullah, Western countries considered one of the cruelest dictators and enslaver of human rights and freedoms, arrived in England as part of official visit. On this occasion, the British Guard Band, which usually accompanied state events with the participation of its queen, played the famous march from the cult saga “Star Wars” instead of the standard melody directly during the ceremony.

The creator of Master Yoda, who appeared on screen in all three parts of the epic, is artist and makeup artist Stuart Freeborn. To model the character, he crossed two looks. He used his own face as a base and diluted it with the characteristic wrinkles of the scientist Einstein.

Princess Leia's swimsuit, which turned every man's head, was invented and brought into reality by Edgy Gerard Rogers. In her interviews, the designer shared that the director gave her only general instructions about the actions in Jabba's castle, while he clearly wanted something special for the bikini. A total of two versions of the suit were modeled - the first made of metal, repurposed for stationary scenes, the second rubber for action scenes.

On May 4, Star Wars fans rewatch their favorite film, organize costumed performances and all kinds of flash mobs, re-read comics and magazine reviews dedicated to the characters of the epic, spend the whole day watching computer games. Since today “Star Wars” is not just a movie that includes several separate series, but also cartoons, comics, computer arcades, children's toys, clothes with prints of heroes, etc.