Fanboys

Imagine yourself surrounded by men dressed up like wookies, a woman walks by in Princess Leia's slave outfit, and you hear "PEW PEW" and "SHWOOOM SWOOM CHANG." Are you on the set of another Lucas Film? No, you're at a Star Wars Convention. People around the world have created such a die-hard fandom for Star Wars, hundreds across the country gather to rejoice all that is the Force. However, in Fanboys, four men take their fandom even farther. They travel across the country to break into George Lucas' home. The movie mocks Star Wars fan culture, though in doing so, it also celebrates the kind of friendship that can grow out of extreme love for a franchise and can be embraced by the fans it mocks.

Star Wars is the kind of franchise with "books, hooks, and looks." Hooks included the love story between Leia and Han, the desire of Anakin to find and save his mother, and the good v. evil dichotomy. There are plenty of highly recognized looks in this franchise. Some of which include "Luke, I am your father", "May the Force be with you", the many sounds of light saber battles, the sound of Darth Vader breathing, the unmistakable storm trooper garb, as well as many, many others. Plenty, if not all of these, are included in fan boys. They even put a fake R2D2 on their van.

This parody, not of the Star Wars franchise, but the Star Wars fandom, is the perfect example of ways in which companies can capitalize on fan culture.

While researching this movie, I came across a question as to whether LucasFilm had anything to do with the production of this movie. It did not, surprisingly, but after viewing the film, George Lucas approved and offered the rights to sound effects from the Star Wars movies.