\'Star\' Fans

It's 5 p.m. on Wednesday. A man with a black hooded sweatshirt and a chin decorated with stubble naps peacefully on the grass outside of Showplace 11. A worn, paperback copy of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" is sprawled across his chest, and he's the only one of the 15 people on the lawn who isn't awake and discussing the movie they're all waiting for -- "Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones." \nWaiting for "Star Wars" has become a bonding experience because the majority of them don't know each other. They're just fans who skipped school or work to sit out and enjoy the nice weather while waiting for the show to start at 12:01 a.m.\n"We're all Jedis, so we're hanging out together and talking about what planet we're from," joked Bloomington resident Jay Deckard.\nThe "Jedis" have been trickling in since 2 p.m. Their universe is littered with playing cards, pizza boxes, Mountain Dew cans, blankets, lightsabers and "Star Wars" t-shirts and cereal.\nBloomington resident Jacob Helms is the unofficial leader of the group because he was the first one to set up camp. Since he had forgotten to rotate his body throughout the day, the left side of his face glares a shade of red while the right side remains pale and freckled.\nHelms and his new compadre, Bloomington resident Justin McRoberts, who had a Jedi rat-tail bobby-pinned to the back of his hair, said they would've been out all day even if the weather had been bad.\n"Even if it were raining, I would be here," McRoberts said. "I'd have an umbrella and a tarp."\nThe only thing that would put a damper on this particular day would be if someone mistook them for Trekkies. While it's possible to like both "Star Wars" and "Star Trek," they said the two are completely different and failure to see the difference stems from ignorance.\nThe topic of Jar Jar Binks also elicited numerous moans from the group.\n"I had no problem with him when I walked out at 2:30 a.m. in 1999, but by the third time I'd seen it I wanted to throw something at the screen," Helms said.\nWhile everyone admits Binks's character is irritating, they also agree he's more complex than he appears. \nIU alumnus Lito Valasco spoke eloquently and forcefully against the misconception that Binks is supposed to be a satire of African-Americans. He fiddled with his light saber as he explained that Jar Jar and his tribe represent primitive cultures with their own dialects and rituals that are destroyed by stronger cultures trying to change them.\n"We get so pissed because people are missing the point," Valasco said. "They're reading it too simply. George Lucas knows a lot about history, culture and sociology, so he's telling the story on that level. Not an MTV level."\nLucas also knows a lot about technological advances and abuses, which, despite his best efforts, has not been able to prevent information about the movie from leaking out.\nWhen asked what their expectations were for the movie, two fans admitted they already knew what to expect because they had seen it on a video CD they had downloaded off their computers. Neither of them thought the use of VCDs was wrong.\n"Lucas thinks it's going to hurt their sales, but it's not. I don't want to watch 'Star Wars' on a shitty little computer window," Helms said. "That's only enough to wet my appetite. I want to see it on the big screen."\nHundreds of others shared Helms's sentiment of wanting to see "Episode II" on the big screen and began showing up later in the evening. \nSeveral employees with matching shirts and bow ties herded the group away from the tightly monitored, roped-off entrance to the theater. Some were perturbed with the slew of comments made by some of the less mature fans.\nEmployee Nathan Gables didn't fail to see the humor in some of them, though. He said the best lines were "Will you stroke my saber?" and "Is this the line for 'Van Wilder?' "\nGables was in better spirits than most employees because he was hired specifically to accommodate audience demand for "Episode II: Attack of the Clones." He said he was one of eight employees transferred over from Showplace 12. \nGables said Showplace 12 was originally slated to play the movie, and it took on 20 new employees. But, they ended up laying them off and switching theaters because of Lucas's strict instructions that he wanted his movie to play at theaters with the most seats. Since "Spider-Man" was already playing on four screens, they had to relocate to Showplace 11. \nIf concession and ticket sales continue to be as high as they did opening night, eight employees might not be enough. After they had ushered all the fans into the movie, they said work that night had "sucked" and "Star Wars" fans were "annoying."\nRay Cappa gave a possible explanation for the mentality behind so many fans coming out to the movie and being overzealous about getting into the theater. \n"Everyone's antsy to get in," Cappa said. "I think it's just so people can say they saw it when it first started. I'm one of those people who would come out here at midnight for the opening even though I could just as easily come another day."\nCappa had been relaxing on the curb and quietly observing the crowd for a good hour when he noticed a humorous and pointless trend that began to develop.\n"The line just keeps morphing into different shapes as people think they have a better idea on how to get to the front by going around the side or sneaking through the middle, and it doesn't work because more people follow their lead," Cappa said.\nCops cruised by the crowd several times throughout the evening to make sure "Star Wars" fans weren't getting unruly. Other people stopped and asked if the line was to buy tickets, not knowing they had sold out earlier in the day.\nPolite fans just laughed at the question while rude fans came up with a new way to ridicule anyone who asked it. One man told them "No, this is the line for us to look at you and say 'you're S.O.L.' " \nFans weren't the only ones making catcalls at employees and passers by -- people from the apartment complex across the street hollered for the group to "go home" and "get a life, you freaks!"\nOne man commented that the crowd "doesn't smell like a circus…not like a used car lot -- like a State Fair! No, more like a county fair."\nRegardless of smell, catcalls or people trying to cut through the line, Bloomington resident Niles Arena said the "Star Wars" opening is an event no one should miss. \n"This is an experience," Arena said. "'Star Wars' is an American icon. It's part of our culture. What other movie comes in on a Wednesday morning and has crowds waiting?"\nMost fans weren't let down by their expectations or the wait. They got to see Yoda whip and flip around in a lightsaber battle. Natalie Portman showed off her assets and ability to hold her own against enemies and lovers. Hayden Christensen spit game and got his hand chopped off. There was also a "Gladiator"-esque fight scene and a flying-car chase. Some fans couldn't get enough of them.\n"I thought [Star Wars] was good, but the fight scenes definitely should've been longer," said Bloomington resident Liam Cooper.