Star Wars
In My DNA
May 04, 2025
by Mish'al K. Samman
WHY?!
Because I needed a way out. Even before I had the words to say so, Star Wars gave me the feeling that escape wasn’t just possible ... it was waiting. I didn’t grow up on the streets of Coruscant or the swamps of Dagobah. I grew up in Saudi Arabia. I had the desert. I had school. I had family, rules, and the kind of mundane repetition that only a child can turn into existential boredom.
And then there was Star Wars.
As a kid, it was pure imagination. It wasn’t about meaning yet. It was a sandbox universe so vast, so untethered, that anything felt possible. The lightsabers. The droids. The cantinas full of weirdos. I didn’t care what the Empire stood for. Darth Vader was scary and somehow... cool. The bad guys had the better outfits. The better music. But Luke? Luke was a boy like me. Stuck. Responsible. Waiting for something big to come knocking. And then it did.
It mirrored my life without me realizing it. Summers in America, winters skiing in Europe, the blazing heat of the Saudi sun. Tatooine, Hoth, Endor. Home was home, but out there ... everything was happening. The galaxy was expanding, and a tiny part of me believed that one day I’d get to be part of something like that too. Not just witness a story, but live one. My own.
In high school, Star Wars changed shape. It wasn’t just a place to play anymore ... it started speaking back. That one line. "Do or do not. There is no try." That wasn’t a script. That was a gut punch. I was 16, scared I wouldn't graduate, stuck on my couch watching Empire Strikes Back when Yoda looked into Luke's soul and said, "That is why you fail." I felt like he was looking at me too.
Star Wars became part of my DNA. I started telling stories to friends every morning before school. Some were real, some I made up, some were movie trailers I never even watched, but elaborated like I had. I became the storyteller. And I owe that spark to a galaxy far, far away.
Even now, the music doesn’t remind me of scenes. It reminds me of me. I hear the Imperial March before walking into a tough meeting. I play Binary Sunset during long drives when I need quiet. These aren’t just tracks. They’re emotional landmarks. They remind me of who I was, who I still am, and who I’m still becoming.
And yeah, I’m disappointed in a lot of what’s happened with Star Wars recently. The corporate reshaping. The shallow attempts at inclusion that feel more like checkboxes than character arcs. It feels like someone took the magic and boiled it down to marketing points. But when Dave Filoni and Jon Favreau work their magic, I feel that flicker again. That sense of real adventure. Of reverence. Of storytelling that expands the lore instead of rewriting it to sound safer.
Star Wars doesn’t need to be politically correct. It needs to be emotionally true. And the truth is: this galaxy isn’t about lightsabers or spaceships. It’s about identity. Belonging. The battle between who we are and who we could become. The fears we try to hide. The courage we didn’t know we had.
It gave me the language to imagine. It gave me the structure to dream. And it taught me that standing up for something bigger than yourself doesn’t mean rebelling.
It just means choosing the light. Even when it’s hard. Especially when it’s hard.
Star Wars (1977) – a highly successful American epic space opera media franchise created by George Lucas, beginning with the 1977 film, which became a global pop culture phenomenon. The franchise includes films, video games, books, comic books, and television series, with a vast and interconnected fictional universe.
About the Author
Mish’al Samman is a writer, performer, and lifelong fanboy who began his career covering comics, film, and fandom culture for Fanboy Planet in the early 2000s. With a voice rooted in sincerity, humor, and cultural observation, his work blends personal storytelling with pop-culture insight. Whether he’s reflecting on the soul of Star Wars or exploring identity through genre, Mish’al brings a grounded, human perspective to every galaxy he writes about.