The Empire Strikes Back is 41 years old today! This, the second of the Star Wars films to be made, the fifth film in what has now become known as the ‘Skywalker Saga’ and, without a doubt, the best Star Wars film made to date (I defy anyone to disagree), was released in the US and, I believe, the UK, on the 21 May 1980 (some sources state the 20 May, so please clarify if you know better).
My mentioning this has nothing to do with wanting to share that bit of trivia with you and then attempting to find some spurious angle retrospectively (no, not at all). I can still remember the excitement of being taken to see this film in the summer half-term of 1980 and queuing round the block with my mum and brother hoping we would get three seats at the Beckenham Odeon. (I am sure my mum didn’t really want to go but given we had been made to sit through Grease at the ages of 6 and 8 – I know! – in 1978 we reckoned we were owed one). In those days, of course, the first glimpse you often had of a film’s content, unless you had been lucky enough to see the trailer, was the poster and I remember also looking at that and wondering how the images would play out in the narrative (Darth Vader had clearly survived the icy vastness of space, so how were our space heroes going to deal with him this time?).
If, like me, you are a bit of a nostalgic person, you have probably reflected on notions that it is not good to dwell on the past and that living in the moment is the best way forward. In fact, in the 17th Century, it was considered by at least one practitioner to be “a neurological disease of essentially demonic cause”. It seems that only in recent years this image has been rehabilitated and considering and reflecting on our past experiences (both positive and negative) is seen to have considerable benefits to our mental health. I am not a scientist so I will leave any tricky explanations to our Psychology department, but my understanding is that some nostalgic reflection is very good for our children’s mental health and, in these tricky times, this could be another useful tool in our armoury as parents and teachers to help the children cope by looking back on good and bad times and using this to grow.
There are, apparently, many benefits to nostalgic reflection which can boost mood but also improve empathy, stress levels, ability to cope with the natural transitions in life and also happiness in general.
According to one expert, we should actively build nostalgic memories and keep these in our ‘repository’ for an instant mood boost. That said, comparing the past and present is not a helpful way to use these memories and should be avoided.
I am sure that we are all looking forward to the summer period which is one of those times when families typically build those positive shared experiences and memories (mostly at home this year of course – or the Falkland Islands!). I think I will certainly be taking a more mindful approach to thinking about our experiences, what they have meant for us, what has gone well and not so well. I might even watch an old film or two.
News Senior Leadership Team Blog
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