What’s Your Favorite Story?

A reflection of storytelling through the lense of a pandemic pastime

My pandemic pastime is rewatching entire franchises of content. In 2020, my wife and I rewatched the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe from start to finish. 2021 is devoted to the entire Star Wars empire — not just the films, but all the canonized tv shows as well.

So far, we’ve watched the three prequels (meh), the amazing Clone Wars show, the even more amazing Rebels show Solo, and Rogue One. Next up is the original trilogy. I also snuck in a complete playing of the Star Wars: Fallen Order video game that takes place around the same time as Rebels. I am a completionist.

Both Star Wars and the Marvel Cinematic Universe have one major thing that makes them timeless treasures. Yes, they’re both owned by Disney, but that isn’t why they are iconic. Both franchises engage exceptional storytelling.

Because of the vastness of content and scope, there are thousands of characters in each franchise. They span time periods, genres, and locations, so it’s easy to add new characters and stories that are equally compelling as the ones we know and love. But Marvel and Star Wars both tell compelling stories that are fun and engaging. Their stories draw us in and make us want to cheer when the characters succeed and mourn…