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#MayThe4thBeWithYou: How The Internet Is Celebrating Star Wars

A <em>Star Wars</em> fan, dressed as R2D2, arrives during the annual Star Wars Day in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 4.
Sam Yeh
/
AFP/Getty Images
A Star Wars fan, dressed as R2D2, arrives during the annual Star Wars Day in Taipei, Taiwan, on May 4.

Impressed, we are. With your #StarWarsDay celebrations, that is. The fourth is strong on the Interwebs.

It's a time for Star Wars-themed treats.

(Even here at NPR.)

And an excuse to show your creative side.

Of course, even this sacred day is not free of the presidential campaign.

After the Force Awakens came out in December, our politics team took a deep dive into Star Wars' "obsession with politics and political process." Prepare to geek out on multiple levels.

Not to keep talking about NPR ... but did you know we turned the saga into a radio drama in 1981?

"The producers had to create 13 half-hour episodes from a movie that had only about 30 minutes of dialogue," WBEZ's Derek John reported on All Things Considered last year.

NASA perhaps has more claim to this day than we do. It's rounded up "worlds that will make you believe Star Wars is real."

Meanwhile, Star Wars actors Mark Hamill — Luke Skywalker himself — and Daisy Ridley, who plays Rey in The Force Awakens, are looking to make a real impact in a charity fundraiser called Force for Change.

The lesser-known people of Star Wars will get their moment in the spotlight, too: Documentary Elstree 1976, coming out on Friday, shifts attention to the movie's extras, the Los Angeles Times reports.

"For most of these people, this was a moment in their lives, a job they did for a couple of days," director Jon Spira told the Times. "That this thing that was seemingly insignificant to them in their younger days is the thing that everyone lauds them for and gives them endless kudos for — I think that sits uncomfortably with some of them. That internal conflict is really what interested me and why I wanted to make this film."

Itching for more ways to show off your knowledge? The ShortList has this trilogy quiz.

Now work you must.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Dana Farrington is a digital editor coordinating online coverage on the Washington Desk — from daily stories to visual feature projects to the weekly newsletter. She has been with the NPR Politics team since President Trump's inauguration. Before that, she was among NPR's first engagement editors, managing the homepage for NPR.org and the main social accounts. Dana has also worked as a weekend web producer and editor, and has written on a wide range of topics for NPR, including tech and women's health.

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