Star Wars in the cultural imagination

Any regular reader here knows that I share Tim Bisley's opinion on Star Wars.

[to a Star Wars: The Phantom Menace fan]
Tim Bisley: You are so blind! You so do not understand! You weren't there at the beginning. You don't know how good it was! How important! This is it for you! This jumped-up firework display of a toy advert! People like you make me sick! What's wrong with you? Now, I don't care if you've saved up all your fifty 'p's, take your pocket money and get out! [the little boy runs off, crying]
Tim Bisley: What a prick.

But I do still have a residual love for the first three movies - that's the three released in the 1970s and 1980s, before all this nonsense about Episode IV got added into the narrative. The current travesties only demonstrate Lucas can't direct for toffee - and don't try to convince me from the example of American Graffiti. Not-so-great movie made memorable by its soundtrack. Seriously though, I do really like the original Star Wars, The Empire Strikes Back (definitely the best of the three), and even The Return of the Jedi (ewoks aside).

So I was intrigued to read that the young and lovely Casyn on the other side of the globe with her exceptionally well-formed DVD collection hadn't got any Star Wars in her collection (okay, I only have the original three on video, but it was from when they got nicely cleaned up by the LucasCorp (moderate spit). And then I read this:

Perhaps the reason I don't own the original Star Wars isn't because I am resisting letting into the hype of the new films. I think, in some bizarre way, they are cheapening the legacy of the original. And I'm sure I'll be slapped by any serious fan of Star Wars by saying that.

On that basis, I refer my readers here back to my quote and state "Casyn, you get no trouble from me..."