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> I used to work with someone who never watched Star Wars.

I never really watched Star Wars. I've seen part of it, and it never seemed all that interesting. I know enough to "get" the references, and I'll even make them myself, but I never really cared much for the films. As far as I'm concerned the best Star Wars film is Spaceballs (but I can't seem to find my DVD copy right now, but I'll comb my living room for it later).

I'm not trying to be the "cool kid" or something; I'm just saying there's a lot of variation in what people watch, read, listen to, and generally do with their time.

My grandfather died (in 2008) and he had never eaten pizza in his life.

Just a few weeks ago I introduced a woman in her 50s to chickpeas.

A few years ago I mentioned Stephen Hawking to a group of coworkers (I was the only programmer, working in the sales office) and no one knew who he was. "You know, the scientist in a wheelchair, with a robot voice". Nope, no idea.

But then a few weeks later they mentioned ... someone ... I had no idea who they were on about. Apparently it was someone who was on TV all the time, but not the programmes I watch I guess (I have obviously forgotten who).

The first time I heard about this Kim Kardashian person was with the introduction "you must have been living under a rock if you don't know who the Kardashians are!" Yes, this Patrick.

I can go on and on with people who "have never done X" or "have never seen Y", for all sorts of values of X and Y.

> Yes, this Patrick.

a non trivial number of folks won't get that reference either

I certainly didn't.

That was kind of the joke/point :-) If I had more time and/or creativity I would have edited in more references to various things.

oh boy! 3am!

> have to be careful not to spoil the "I am your father" reveal

I'd never thought about it before, but the prevalence of star wars in pop culture made it so basically my whole generation had that reveal spoiled in cartoons and different parodies way before any of us actually watched the movie.

I've experienced something similar with my kids where they're at a deep cut level of familiarity with all the StarWars, Indiana Jones trilogy, Marvel, DC, Jurassic Park, etc. from having played the Lego games of all of them.

Well, she doesn't, and I hope it stays that way until we watch TESB...

In my first job, one guy called me the brute squad cause "I was big like Andre the Giant". I was a huge wrestling fan and never knew about the movie. I rented it that weekend. I'm glad I watched it, ha.

> I used to work with someone who never watched Star Wars. I found it hard to imagine.

I've never watched Star Wars and I'm mid 30's. The movies just doesn't interest me; as doesn't the Lord of the Rings.

It's not that I'm dismissing them as great movies they just don't hook. I've seen clips and eh'. But I am from Europe, not the US so maybe that's why.

I never gravitated towards the Lord of the Rings books but resolved to read them in college because they were a reference point for so many of my friends. They really rubbed me the wrong way, and I had to force myself through them. A decade later, I greatly enjoyed the movies while watching them with friends but found that they bored me when I watched them alone.

I'm a sucker for Star Wars, though. I'm sad to say I've paid to see some of the newer ones even when I knew better.

Interesting. I love LotR the books, but I dislike the movies a lot - maybe they are good as "standalone" films, but they change so much important stuff from the books that they were a very sore disappointment for me.

interesting, I had just the opposite reaction - I could imagine them being a bit thin-feeling as standalone films, but as illustrations for the books they worked beautifully.

I don't think it's because you are from Europe

> I've seen clips and eh'.

I think it's because you've watched clips instead of watching a story, and judging it based upon today's films being so shallow that they can be summed up in a clip.

Not that Starwars is deep, but it's a lot deeper than anything out of the Marvel stable.

Well, the whole point is, they are so prevalent in pop culture that it's difficult to understand some things/references not knowing these works, at least superficially. It's very much like the list of compulsory books at school - they give the whole generation (even more generations) a common language.

I find that something being prevalent in pop culture means I don't have to watch it; I already know the basics without ever having seen it. Citizen Kane, for example.

That is a great Citizen Kane joke since its greatness is that each shot was carefully planned and storyboarded. The films brilliance is the visuals.

Over 40 and never seen star wars or lord of the rings or probably any marvel movie

Lord of the Rings has its roots in Norse mythology.

Lucky you! My ten year old has zero interest in watching the movies I grew up with in the 80s with me. When I had a kid, I started building up this fantasy that one day we'd sit down and go through the movie vault and watch all the classics together, but we tried and she's just not into it. It's a combination of the (to her) immense runtime of a typical movie and the slower pacing of media from decades ago. She got through about 15 minutes of Star Wars and was obviously bored.

I don't force her. She knows the offer is always on the table. "Kids these days!"

I started them on Ghibli at a young age and so they generally trust my recommendations. I've had a couple of bad misses lately though. Old movies I remember fondly that don't hold up. I'm trying to remember to watch them once by myself first before I suggest watching it together, lest I break the spell.

one of my best friends going back to college (we're over 40), has never seen any Star Wars movies and it makes my wonder why we're even friends

years ago, I had a coworker from Pakistan; he liked to watch movies, but it took several Office Space references before he got around to it