It was the summer of 1977 when I drove with my fiancé’s younger brother to the Hollywood Boulevard Walk-of-Fame.  Neither of us was that impressed with the famous names on the sidewalk; we were there to stand in line at Mann’s Chinese Theater for the very first Star Wars movie.  These were the days when Hollywood was still a thing, and Mann’s (built in 1927) was a historic place to see a film.  It also boasted of the revolutionary new THX sound system.  We were blown away before the opening crawl. 

That was a long time ago…

For reasons of both nostalgia and curiosity, I sat down at home recently to re-watch Episode IV (that same film).  No longer was I captivated by light sabers, the quirky patrons of Mos Eisley Cantina, or the mysteries of “The Force”.  Our 4K HD flatscreen and Dolby Surround sound system did a respectable job of blowing me away, but the novelty of the film had worn off, and I was drawn more to the story arc and the various plot clues. 

One memorable line was delivered by Sir Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan – “I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.”  The characters soon discover that the entire planet Alderaan, with all its inhabitants, had just been destroyed.  The Force, it seems, has a lot to do with empathy – the ability to connect with the feelings of others or to feel with them. <continue reading>