I had a fun fan experience at Target yesterday. I was browsing the end cap of Star Wars toys and in the aisle was a young boy around 10, who was a dead ringer for a young Harry Potter, and his younger sister. He was checking out the SW figures and counting some cash from his pocket. His sister went off to look at girly things. I'm not being sexist here in assuming that was where she was headed, she actually said she was going to look at girl toys.
I moved from the end cap into the aisle to look at the figures there and heard him say something. Not thinking he was talking to me, I didn't pay it much attention. After a few seconds, he repeated his question, "Do you have a son?" I kept browsing and told him that no, I did not. He followed up with "Oh, are you looking for a present for someone?" Not wanting to be rude to a fellow fan, I stopped my browsing and turned to him. Seeing where his logic was going, I answered with a slight smile, "Nope."
This seemed to confuse him. I let it hang in the air for a moment and told him I'd been into Star Wars since I was younger than him. After a couple seconds more he replied, "Oh, you mean the old movies." With an emphasis on old similar to the disdain many people my age would use when talking about Jar Jar or the prequel movies. "I don't like those that much," he said, "the new ones are better." He then continued on for a minute or two about how awesome the new Clone Wars show is, as if I couldn't possibly be aware of it, much less watch it. There was also a gripe about how the Stormtrooper blasters were in front of the Clone Trooper blasters on the shelf.
Having finished my browsing, I said goodbye and decided to leave before his mom came back to find her son talking to a 40 year old man in the toy aisle.
Everyone likes what they like. But maybe when he gets older, he'll recognize the significance of those "old" movies in the overall saga of Anakin Skywalker.
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