What’s a <em>Star Wars</em> Film Without John Williams?
Star Wars was already deeply embedded in American pop culture by the time I was a kid. There were numerous video games, toys, comics, spin-offs, and an entire new trilogy of films by my twelfth birthday, and characters like Darth Vader, Luke Skywalker, and Han Solo had long been cultural icons. The villains of my youth were imitating shadows of the Dark Side, clad in capes and cybernetics, and the heroes were paler imitations of the didactic duos of Obi-Wan and Luke.
In the 39 years the franchise has been in existence, creator George Lucas has had a lot of help in its success and integration into popular culture. Of course, there are the actors themselves, and the legions of mimics in science fiction and fantasy. But for, , and fame. Williams’s music has been as vital to my love of as have light sabers and giant weapons with rather conspicuous weaknesses. So when I found out that would be the franchise’s first live-action film without Williams at its center, I was apprehensive.
