When I was younger, I feel in love with a specific cinematic adventure: Star Wars (1977, written and directed by George Lucas: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/). Everything about the movie series was special to me; the characters, adventures, and storyline all reached out to me and piqued my interest like nothing in my life had done before. The thing that really hooked me into Star Wars was the universe that George Lucas had created.
See, I did not just enjoy the movies. I bought the action figures, the trading cards, and the books. All of these items took peripheral things within the movies and created substory upon substory within the Star Wars Universe. Within the cantina scene in "A New Hope," (1977, the first movie in the original Star Wars trilogy: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/) there are just random extra creatures in the background while Han Solo and Obi Wan Kenobi are talking. At one point, I owned a book that talked about the side stories of the characters who are in the scenes. This change of media out of the direct control of George Lucas had helped the Star Wars universe expand exponentially. The story was no longer about the Rebel Alliance versus the Empire, but about the regular creatures that live within the larger story.
For a young kid who was already blown away by the imaginative scope of the Star Wars franchise, these alternative storylines provided more sophisticated stories and details took me hook, line, and sinker. I could recite literally everything anywhere near related to Star Wars ( a skill that I still possess, to a degree). It was not until now that I really realized how powerful the fan culture was toward Star Wars. I have seen footage on the news or random TV programming about massive Star Wars conventions, where people would take on a completely new persona, an avatar in the form of a character from the Star Wars world. These people had massive amounts of power when it comes to directing the future of the Star Wars franchise. Also, the authors who wrote the books that continued to define Mr. Lucas' world completely changed the fan bases' perspective of Star Wars (for example on this, please see http://www.amazon.com/Sacrifice-Star-Wars-Legacy-Force/dp/0345477413/ref=sr_1_11?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1212063346&sr=1-11). It was a universe to explore, and the fans began to further define this world. The fan passion is what truly made the Star Wars craze just that: a craze. The fans who exhibit this passion are a small group, but their love for Star Wars is unbridled; their existance also allows for a fan community that welcomes new converts. In my opinion, this supportive and creative fan base is what truly made Star Wars so popular.
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