May the Fourth

Human society increasingly revolves around words. Words can be written or spoken, but words are one aspect that make us human. People also like to do a play on words, for which there are many words depending upon the play. Currently, one of the most popular is a portmanteau we see or hear as Brexit, meaning British exit from the European Union. Word play is also common in certain cultural occurrences. The day of May Fourth has become known as Star Wars day. The original Star Wars movie was released on May 25, 1977, but May fourth has been usurped as Star Wars day due to a phrase in the first released movie. This is a type of malapropism that has now gone beyond the geeks, and has made it in to general culture. This post will look at May the fourth be with you.

In 1977, one phrase stuck out in the Star Wars movie (aka A new Hope), and it has been claimed by the American Film Institute as the eighth most popular phrase to come out of movies. It does not, however, beat the famous phrase in "Gone with the Wind."  The phrase, “May the force be with you” was spoken by Obi Wan Kenobi.  Playing off May the Force be with you, it is now May the fourth be with you. Hence, Star Wars' Day.  A British newspaper, the Guardian, is said to be the first to coin the day as Star Wars Day, doing so on May 4th, 2006. According to some reports the phrase had become a mainstream cultural phenomenon by 2009. I have never been one to follow cultural trends, as my wife and children will tell you, and I think I first heard about May 4th as Star Wars day just within the past few years.  It may have been cultural mainstream eight years ago, but I am proof it was not ubiquitous.

In creating this now familiar malapropism (if you know of another term to describe it, please let me know), and if I know about it, it must be familiar, the Guardian may have borrowed from a term first used in 1979 by a British publication to recognize the election of Margaret Thatcher as Prime Minister. The conservative publication used the phrase: “May the fourth be with you, Margaret. Congratulations.” As a practicing Catholic, when I hear the phrase, as spoken by Obi Wan, it made me think of the common phrase used in the Catholic, and other denomination, liturgy—“The Lord be with you” sometimes used with the word “May' added to the beginning. (To which one wants to respond "and also with you," or the now required in the Catholic liturgy the more clumsy "and with your spirit.")  Star Wars with its story lines of good versus evil, and redemption (think Darth Vadar), surely means that it could also be borrowed from Christian theology.   Star Wars preceded the Margaret Thatcher era, but it did not precede the Catholic mass.

Mass media has now taken a hold of May Fourth, as Star Wars day.  Disney having bought the rights to Star Wars does marketing and other events to promote this part of its global cultural holdings. Showing that fans of Star Wars are never quite content, May fifth, has its own malapropism—Revenge of the fifth, which is a play on another Star Wars movie: “Revenge of the Sith.”  This movie, “Revenge of the Sith,” was the last of the Star Wars prequel trilogy, and was first released in May 2005. I think I have yet to see any of the sequel trilogy of Star Wars, but saw the first three and the three prequel episodes. None of the prequels, in my opinion, compare to the original three. As quaint, or backwards, or kitschy as the special effects in the first three may seem today, the special effects were nonetheless groundbreaking, and mesmerizing when watched on the big movie screens forty years ago .

May fourth will always be May 4, and whether or not Star Wars day becomes as recognized as St Patrick’s Day, or Valentine’s Day, remains to be seen. If it does, it will be another cultural construct to add to the human collection, although one purely fictional. Our reliance on fiction to produce such a cultural phenomenon may say more about our culture than it does about the fictional account.  Meanwhile, enjoy May fourth..and May the fourth be with you.