Dark Vader

     My husband started our 4 year old son on his first Star Wars (Episode 4, the true original) movie today.  I have mixed emotions about this, but I'd been leaning more towards "no" for awhile now...  I was in the living room today on the phone when I heard what sounded like thunder, only to realize it was the surround sound system in the playroom.  No biggie.  I happen to check Facebook and notice that my husband had posted, an hour before, that he was thinking about showing "Star Wars" to Quinn... sure enough, in a playroom not so far away, I hear the epic musical score coming to life.
      I think I must have been about 4 when I saw the <first> movie.  I vividly remember being scared to death at several parts (when Luke's aunt and uncle are burned in the fire, anything Darth Vader, the bar scene, when Obi Won is killed...) and very confused by it, too (the inuendo and sexual tension, and later, in Return of the Jedi, was Leia wearing that bikini?).  Overall, the original Star Wars trilogy was, and still is, simply amazing and life altering, so imaginative, a childhood-affirming volume of stories that I certainly want to share with all my children someday.  (And what goes better with the original trilogy than Episodes 1 through 3 that were produced much more recently).  I just always thought they'd have to be a bit older to really appreciate it, and I am worried that Quinn will be up now with a whole new realm of nightmares.
      Anyway, soon I'm off the phone and on my way downstairs, along with two babies who just woke up (Kelsey had freaked out for 45 minutes, her whole body red and splotchy from crying, hyperventilating... beside the point), and Doug and Quinn are watching the tv, Quinn sitting on his stuffed tiger chair, two feet from the television, mouth hanging open.  It's the part where Obi Won is killed by Darth Vader <tear>, and Quinn says "Mommy, look - Dark Vader just got Obi Won!"  Then Obi Won's voice comes over and tells Luke to run, and I tell Quinn that it's okay, he's still with Luke, and he goes back to the movie. 
       I run upstairs to change the bedding in the girls' cribs (Sierra's diaper leaked into her crib, and I may as well change both at the same time, especially since I'm doing laundry anyway).  When I get back downstairs, it's during one of the space fight scenes between the tie fighters and the x-wings, and my darling, little Kelsey is sitting on the loveseat with Daddy, toothy grinning away, arms bent and fingers pointing on each hand like she's holding guns, going "tst, tst, tst", bouncing as if she's pretending to be in her own fighter, and she's loving every second (and Daddy is proud as can be).  It's hilarious to see Kelsey do that, because she's usually oblivious about so many things, but I guess she liked the sounds so much and just felt it in her, that she had to move!  Sierra's crying because she's scared of the loud explosions and such, so I pick her up, and Quinn is enthralled, staring at the television, processing, taking it all in. 
       I sit and watch the end of the movie, from when all the X-wing fighters launch to shoot down the Death Star (just in time to try to explain what the Death Star is, to a 4 year old, like a planet, but made of metal and stuff, that it's the bad guys space ship/space station...), until the end.  Sierra lays on my lap, Quinn asks a question here and there about "Black Vader" and "Dark Vader" and overall wondering what is going on at different times, but mainly, I can see that he is still figuring it all out. 
       I doubt he will have any nightmares tonight, because I think it is still too soon for him to understand what most of the movie was about (though, Doug has agreed to get up with Quinn tonight).  I would bet that he will have a million questions about the movie tomorrow though, after havings some time to think about it.  I will be interested to see if he gets more into it now - I think my brother, Andrew, and I were enthralled by it but we also had each other to bounce ideas off of, and could try to scare each other with different characters and really get into it by repeating lines from the movie.  I know his friends Mason and Jude have seen it, but I don't know if other kids exactly his age have been introduced to it yet. 
     Only time will tell.  Until then, may the force be with you.