h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

This is a bit of an experiment.

If I was an alien who had decided to come to earth and integrate with society here, I'd need to pick up some knowledge of popular culture in order to communicate normally with people and understand cultural references. I'd like to understand the level of knowledge I'd require to do this.

And so I'm going to throw it over to you. Let's pick the movie Star Wars (and the associated franchise) as an example. What facts would an alien actually need to know about Star Wars, in order for them to function normally in society without seeming to be some sort of cultural deficient (to put it politely)?

Icy

In the case of Star Wars, I reckon, these days, you could get away without knowing anything about it. It's probably even to deny ever having seen the films (despite what Marcus Brigstoke says)

Doesn't it depend on how you define 'Society'? I've met groups of people when I was at Uni where an encyclopaedic knowledge of at least the first three films and the first score published Expanded Universe novels was considered normal...

<BB<

Good points. Let's assume you were having a drink with some reasonably-informed people you only just met in a bar. Or maybe you were writing an article for a local newspaper.

I appreciate you will get people with encyclopaedic knowledge of these things - that's exactly what I'm trying to avoid.

Maybe I need to kick this off. I'll start with this fact (and feel free to argue whether it's essential knowledge, or whether it's either insufficient or too much knowledge for everyday purposes)

"There's a mysterious baddie called Darth Vader, who wears a black cloak, helmet and mask and speaks in a breathy voice."

Or another analogy. Let's say you go to see a stand-up comedian, and he cracks a joke which would require you to understand this particular cultural reference.

Aah. Now, as an expat (sort of alien), I miss out on many of these, and I can perhaps give an answer.

Basically, they all boil down to the same sort of thing. There are things I remember from when I lived in the UK, some things you sort of pick up, and others, you just guess from the way people comment on them. It's quite easy to feign inside knowledge if you watch what you say and keep it fairly neutral.

Or you retaliate by going off at a tangent and telling everyone about a similar thing from the planet/country you are from.

I.e. Once you have got the concept of this sort of thing, it's not hard to pick up the general gist from listening to others' comments.

There are lots of catch phrases from Star Wars which you would need to know and understand the context of. I may be misquoting them here:

Long, long ago, in a galaxy far away

Luke, I am your father

May the Force be with you

Come over to the Dark Side.

These are not the droids you're looking for.

There is no "try".

I've a bad feeling about this.

You'd also need to know the noise a light sabre makes, the sound of Darth Vader's voice, and both the sound and grammatical syntax of Yoda's speech.

You'd need a basic summary of the first film, but the plots of the other five would be irrelevant.

You'd need to know and understand the major controversies over the making of the films:

1. That the first film is Episode 4, and the odd numbering after that.
2. That Han Solo shot first in the bar scene but it was re-filmed with him shooting second.
3. The disaster that is Jar Jar Binks.

That should be enough to get by and pass as a native.

Hans Solo shot first, but it was George Lucas who got away with murder in the sequels.

C3PO was built by a six year old. Jar Jar Binks wasn't so lucky.

"Breathy"? Look, there's no way Darth Vader has a "breathy" voice. It is deep, resonating, and malevolent. Not breathy.

Also, I don't mean to come across as a pedant, but let me correct some of those quotations ---


"Long, long ago, in a galaxy far away" should be "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..."


"Luke, I am your father" technically has a "No," in front of it, but even I don't care.


"May the Force be with you" is exactly right.


"Come over to the Dark Side." has a number of different permutations, so there's not a lot of point arguing with it, but usually the verb is more along the lines of "[Give yourself] to the Dark Side."


"These are not the droids you're looking for."


"[Do, or do not.] There is no "try"."


"I've got a bad feeling about this."

---Classic.


I've never understood what everybody has against Jar Jar Binks. I mean, yes, plainly he isn't one of the better characters, but I don't think he deserves anywhere near the amount of vitriol that he gets.

I think it was because he shattered so many beliefs when he called the young Darth Vader 'Annie' in a very squeaky voice. Darth Vader should not ever have been an 'Annie'. The name 'Annie' has too many connotations of long, dreary Sunday afternoons forced watching a long, dreary film which apparently I had to watch because it has a child as the titular character...

<BB<

Good list, Gnomon.

You'd also need to know what a light sabre is and looks like, as well as what it sounds like.

I guess you'd need to recognise images of Han Solo, Luke Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Chewbacca, Yoda, C3PO, R2D2, Darth Vader, Stormtroopers and Princess Leia.

The Millennium Falcon spaceship and Death Star, possibly.

Not sure if you'd need to know all the actors, but Harrison Ford, Alec Guinness and Carrie Fisher might be the top three.

you definitely need to know that Obi Wan Kenobi and Ben Kenobi is the same person

The legs'll come off tomorrow
Bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow
I'll be in the dumps

As sure as there's snow tomorrow
All my limbs are gonna go tomorrow
I'll have stumps

When I think of the Force, of course I feel bad
I just kill a few and men and grin and say

Tomorrow! Tomorrow! The Dark Side I'll follow
And make all the Good Guys pay!

I always wanted to make a joke about how Obi Nobi got his middle name, but I could never get the wording quite right.

Missing quote:

You'll need a tray...

There's a few of those quotes I don't recognise (but I haven't watched it for quite a few years)

The question is, does this make me culturally deficient?

"I've never understood what everybody has against Jar Jar Binks. I mean, yes, plainly he isn't one of the better characters, but I don't think he deserves anywhere near the amount of vitriol that he gets." [Mr. X]

Jar Jar served a deliberate purpose: to show how societies can become so corrupt that they put fools into high office where thy can destroy everything. Look, for instance, at Kosygin and Brezhnev, not the sharpest knives in the Marxist knife rack. Money manager Peter Lynch used to say that you should only invest in business so fantastic that even a fool can run them, since eventually a fool probably *will* run them.

"Star Wars" is not just about people with lofty ideals and high intelligence.

Again, I don't see why this makes Jar Jar Binks so contemptible.

He's not contemptible per se. The contemptible ones are those who use him. He would be fine on most planets in most of the universe. I rather liked him, but I couldn't admit it to many hardcore fans.