Linda’s Star Wars Celebration Anaheim Fan Interviews: Annalise Ophelian
| Interviews by Fans | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Linda’s Star Wars Celebration Anaheim Fan Interviews: Annalise Ophelian |
| Interviewer: | Linda Hansen-Raj at FANgirl Blog |
| Interviewee: | Annalise Ophelian |
| Date(s): | July 6, 2015 |
| Medium: | online |
| Fandom(s): | Star Wars |
| External Links: | [1], Archived version |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Linda’s Star Wars Celebration Anaheim Fan Interviews: Annalise Ophelian is a 2015 interview with a Star Wars fan.
Excerpts
What did you enjoy the most at Celebration Anaheim? The least?
It’s hard to overstate how much I loved Celebration Anaheim. First, it was amazing to be in a space so singularly focused on the Star Wars universe. Practically every single panel and presentation was something I had genuine interest in. Also, the attendees were such fun. I’m used to men outnumbering women at geek conventions by 10 to 1, and that wasn’t different at Celebration Anaheim, but the guys I was in line with or sitting next to were so well behaved! I had all these great conversations with folks, and at any given time there was a passionate conversation happing within earshot. Of course Han shot first, and of course the prequels were a mess, there was broad consensus on this. But the level of detail in conversations about Mandalorian armor, or the correct use of “parsec,” or why Sebastian Shaw should have definitely stayed in the last scene of Jedi were all a hoot.
I also loved the Celebration Anaheim anti-harassment policy, which was clearly posted all over the con and on screens before the panels. As a queer woman with a transgender partner, it felt especially amazing to see things like “no bathroom policing” listed in the policy. Yeah, the Celebration was overwhelming white cisgender straight guys, but I really felt like the organizers had my back and took discrimination and mistreatment seriously.
The content of everything I saw was also amazing. My brother and I changed our original flight to get to Anaheim on Wednesday afternoon hoping to catch the J.J. Abrams panel that kicked off the Celebration, and when we arrived there were already people in line. We decided to sleep in a real bed and head down early Thursday morning, we got in line around 6am, and actually got into the Celebration Stage to watch the opening panel live. Seeing that many filmmakers, the original cast and the new folks, and especially seeing so many women in executive level positions, was really wonderful.
Annalise Baby LeiaI think everyone would say they liked the lines the least. They were bananas. We waited on average three hours for everything we went to, but we got a good groove on in terms of sitting not standing, and taking turns fetching provisions. Lots of folks were very upset about the line situation, but they did make for good people watching.
What does being a Star Wars fan mean to you?
Honestly, I think I was a bit of a closet case about it until I went to Celebration Anaheim. I mean, it wasn’t a very successful closet, my friends have sung the Imperial March instead of the birthday song over more than one of my birthday cakes, and I get toy Stormtroopers as gifts a lot. But being connected to tens of thousands of other people who love this story as much as I do was really amazing.
For me, being a Star Wars fan is about connecting to a multi-generational media phenomenon that started in my childhood in the 1970s and has influenced the childhoods of every generation since then. While I clearly identify with the Rebels, I love the characters in the Empire, we all cheer for Boba Fett and I get a little weepy when I see Imperial Guards and big assemblages of Stormtroopers. And if you make Darth Vader’s respirator sounds in a crowd, everyone knows what you’re doing, and someone will shout out “I am your father!”
As a queer woman and as someone who works for social justice, there have been so many times when I’ve sought out community that shares my experience and mirrors me because it’s safe, but also because it’s nurturing. It’s so soothing not to have to explain myself, to feel connected in a struggle against injustice, to have a band of comrades who are working to effect serious change in the world, and who inspire me. We hold each other up. And in this strange way, Celebration Anaheim felt really similar. I was joking with my partner that it was so weird being among so many straight dudes and feeling really connected by our mutual love of R2-D2. I could just relax into my complete geekdom and be this 41-year-old fangirl clapping and yelling at a video game trailer. And in the Celebration Stage, when the lights would dim and all these folks held up their lightsabers, it was overwhelmingly wonderful.
Does Star Wars intersect with your activism?
I generally think Star Wars intersects with my self-care, which is about having these escapes into non-reality and tapping into something really joyful. And self care is so important when you’re trying to effect grassroots change, or working in vicariously traumatizing jobs. I don’t bring Star Wars into my activist circles so much, because I have a thing for Stormtroopers. I think they’re awesome. And of course, they’re the militarized fist of a fascist regime, and in prison abolitionist circles it simply doesn’t go over too well to be like “Yes, I want to end the prison industrial complex and de-militarize police, but when I get around a group of folks dressed up as Stormtroopers I get super shy and want to have my picture taken with them.” But you know, we’re all complex creatures, it’s part of what makes humans so interesting.
I was watching A New Hope for the zillionth time at Celebration, as they’re destroying the Death Star, and thinking about revolutionary movements and anti-colonialism, and how the story of Star Wars is really the story of an organized guerilla insurgence defeating imperialism. The prequels, as much as I dislike them, really hammered home the similarities between the fledgling Empire and the second Bush administration. So I can look at how Star Wars was a huge part of my childhood and how this notion of rebellion was instilled in me early on.