Comic Con is this weekend, so I thought I’d use it as an excuse to write a little bit about Storm Troopers for Sociology (the geek in me is appeased):
On the outside, they all look the same: White armor, white helmets, black blaster rifles. Imperial soldiers from a galaxy far, far away, they’re loyal only to the Empire and recognizable everywhere as “Star Wars” storm troopers.
Inside, though, are different stories. Those armored clones are lovingly occupied by moms, dads, doctors, cops, lawyers, exterminators, artists and other passionate “Star Wars” fans who devote thousands of dollars and countless hours to building screen-accurate costumes and wearing them all over the world to support the beloved franchise as well as dozens of children’s charities.
They are the 501st Legion, an international, all-volunteer costuming group. And this week, they’re coming to Comic-Con.
In short, the article talks about The 501st Legion of storm troopers (which holds about 200 members) will be in full costume at Comic-Con in San Diego this week. Comic-Con is only one of the many events the Legion participates in. The Legion is also a charitable organization working with children’s hospitals, the Ronald McDonald House, the American Cancer Society, Toys for Tots, the Boys and Girls Clubs of America and March of Dimes.
According to James M. Henslin and his works, collective behavior is extraordinary activities carried out by groups of people. In this case, the collective behavior would be of the over 200 people dressing in hand-made, highly specified costumes (which can take up to 3 years to make) to work for charities and entertain. The collective mind, according to Henslin is Gustave LeBon’s term for the tendency of people in a crowd to feel, think, and act in unusual ways. For most of the public, finding out that your a hospital’s staff officer who works through the week but also shows up during the weekend as a storm trooper for the children would probably find that generous, but unusual if they were to find out.
The last sociological concept in this article is that of role extension which is described in Henslin (pg. 633) as the incorporation of additional activities into a role. In the beginning, people who were fan of Star Wars movies put time and much effort into the creation of the costumes, and when it gets down to it, many members of the Legion still say the group is “about the costumes.” However, with their collective charity work, the 501st Legion of storm troopers has come to mean much more than that.
Tags: Misc, ghost by ghost
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