In SW, there is indeed what is referred to as “canon” and what is referred to as “EU.” Canon is referred to SW stories and product that come from Lucas or Lucas-sanctioned authors. EU is “expanded universe” which comes from licensed writers and is found in comic books, novels, etc. There are those that follow EU and those who don’t. But yes, you’re right, I probably should write about this stuff.

Now I can understand your children’s response. My friends children are exactly the same way. I do of course yell out, “You can’t have Luke fight Darth Maul!” but they don’t seem to mind. There is another variable involved here (actually there are many but hey - its Saturday morning so I’ll stick with one for now), one that is experiential. The meanings and feelings evoked from SW are clearly different to those of us who were children when the OT original came out. SW was something completely different from what we were exposed to, and SW was really the first movie in which the licensed products “took off” so to speak. We were able to relive every scene in the first SW film over and over again - something that prior to the toys, was difficult to do with films. Yeah, you had to use your imagination to create the characters or improvise. With the SW toys, you didn’t - I mean every kid on the block was recreating Luke’s home planet in their backyard sandbox with their Tusken Raider action figures. It was “grab and go” - a shared imagination if you will. We could bring our toys to eachothers houses and we knew “exactly what to do.”

And now all my students who read this blog know exactly how much of a huge nerd their Consumer Psych prof really is. (Well, those who have never been to my office.)

But you’re right, at some point I’ll put this all down on paper - I still need to hone my CCT chops first!