Alejandro Cabrera’s Lone Star Wars State of Mind

Alejandro Cabrera wasn't born a Star Wars fan, but he became one as fast as he could.

How much of a fan is he? Enough that he's made his own documentary about George Lucas' era-defining sci-fi epic, In the Lone Star Wars State, which screens at the Bullock Texas State History Museum as part of their May the Fourth celebrations.

But it's not a film about Star Wars, or even about his fandom. It's about the fandom, most especially in the San Antonio filmmakers home state. “We live in Texas,” he said, “and there was always this thing of everything is bigger in Texas.”

That definitely applies to his film, which started off in 2015 as a small project about fans anticipating opening night of The Force Awakens. Does that supersized Texas thinking extend to the fandom?

Well, for a story that has touched every corner of the world, Texas still has an outsize love for the Skywalker family. In his new documentary, Cabrera talks to collectors, costume makers, droid builders, archivists, and cultural historians from around the state – and most especially around Austin. Holocron, the dedicated Star Wars store, is featured heavily, as is is the enormous collection of local megafan Chris Kelly, the Texas Toy Museum, the Star Garrison of the 501st Legion of Imperial cosplayers, and the more Force-sensitive souls of Jakku Temple Saber Guild. There's even a more academic component as he interviews former Bullock curator Franck Cordés, who created the Star Wars-inspired 2019 exhibition, Cowboys in Space and Fantastic Worlds.

One of the questions he would ask everyone was simple: What was their first Star Wars memory? Unsurprisingly, everyone has an answer. “Most things they don't remember,” Cabrera said, “but Star Wars is so big, and it imprints.”

Of course, it’s a question that Cabrera is used to answering in return. His first memory is from back in 1996, in the summer between first and second grade. His parents were divorced, and his mother was a dentist with her own practice. One weekend, he said, "We went to Suncoast Video, and she brought the entire trilogy on VHS." As they watched the movies, his mom tried to get him interested by explaining that Luke and Leia were fraternal twins, just like Alejandro and his own sister. “And that's Darth Vader,” she snorted, “like your father.”

Three years later, The Phantom Menace is released, and Cabrera’s fandom was ensured. He even wanted to be Darth Maul for Halloween, but his parents wouldn't let him "because he looked like the devil, so I went as Anakin."

That’s how Star Wars became what he called "a thumb tack to a very special time in my childhood.” As he started making the documentary, he increasingly realized that was true for everyone. “Very few films have that impact,” he observed, with maybe only Frozen and the double whammy of Barbenheimer having that same impact of everyone remembering where they were.

Of course, nostalgia plays a role, and nostalgia is a key part of millennial culture – as Cabrera pointed out, two of the biggest movies of the last couple of years were Barbie and The Super Mario Bros. Movie, both based on icons of childhood. “As a culture, we're in a state of nostalgia,” he said, but that’s not a bad thing: after all, nostalgia can take you back to the emotional resilience of childhood, helping you process trauma in your adult life.

It's that durability of Star Wars that makes it so special, as well as its universality. It is for everyone, whenever they want it. Cabrera recalled what one fan told him: “Disney doesn't own Star Wars. Disney owns the right to profit from Star Wars. It's such a bigger idea. ... You can find your space in it.”

Since In the Lone Star Wars State isn’t just a catalog of people’s toy collections, those traumas are often core to the story. Nowhere in the film is that more true than in the story of Daniel Fleetwood, a resident of Spring, Texas, diagnosed with terminal cancer who wanted to see The Force Awakens before he died. Cabrera followed both the grass roots campaign by the Star Wars community, and what has happened to Daniel’s wife, Ashley, as a result of this strange burst of fame at the most challenging time of her life. In her life, he saw an echo of something central to the Star Wars saga, the idea of the here’s journey, a concept envisioned by cultural anthropologist Joseph Campbell, and deeply influential on George Lucas. Cabrera said, “In our lifetimes we have so many hero’s journeys, and it's not about rescuing someone else. It's about rescuing yourself."

For Cabrera, the Campaign for Daniel was an essential part of the story, especially as so many people have struggled to process their own unexpected loss, and construct new communities, in the wake of the pandemic. However, he also descried the campaign as “very inspirational … The beautiful thing was how everyone became united and wanted to grant this person's wish. When we use our voices for the greater good, what can happen?”

And there’s another echo of Star Wars to be found in his own experience as a filmmaker. In the Lone Star Wars State may seem like a standalone project, much as the original film did in 1977, but there’s a lot more story to be told than in the 90-minute film screening on May Fourth. Cabrera plans to turn it into a five-chapter series, centered on the release of the sequel trilogy. When it’s done, he said, “It will be like reliving it in real time."

In the Lone Star Wars State
10am, May 4
Bullock Texas State History Museum
thestoryoftexas.com