Avatar has eclipsed Star Wars as a family saga

The whole concept of Star Wars being a family-driven story — “the Skywalker Saga,” as the main nine “episode” movies were rebranded toward the end of the sequel trilogy — has always been a little more tenuous than filmmakers let on. Yes, the twist revealed at the end of The Empire Strikes Back, that Luke Skywalker is actually the son of much-feared galactic fascist Darth Vader, shifts that trilogy into a story about a son redeeming his father, rather than the tale of a plucky orphan (or a child suffering for his father’s sins).