#PeopleFirst Friday: James Raven
A long time ago, in a galaxy not so far away, Director of Creative Services James Raven didn’t know as much about Star Wars as he does now. He just wanted to play with his older brother’s toys.
“My brother is four years older than me, and he had all the original Star Wars toys,” recalled Raven. “It was definitely the younger brother wanting to play with the older brother’s toys dynamic. I would have been about four years old and wanted to play with his big AT-AT, and he would consistently tell me ‘Get away from my stuff!’ Our mom then sold all those original toys in a yard sale.”
While he doesn’t remember the age when he first saw Star Wars for the first time – “if it was ever on TV, I’d stop and watch it,” he notes – he does consider the original film, Star Wars, later canonically given the name Episode IV: A New Hope, as his favorite piece of Star Wars-related media across film, television, and streaming services.
“It can be a little controversial, because a lot of people like Return of the Jedi, but I like A New Hope.” Raven said. “In that film, it’s more about the hero journey of Luke Skywalker, going from farm boy to destroying the Death Star. All of that happened in one film.
“I wanted to be an X-Wing Fighter when I grew up,” he laughed. “It would have been so cool, but now I think how frightened I would be to do that. Who wants to get shot at with a laser? I don’t want my hand cut off. It would hurt!”
While his career moved more towards design than piloting an X-Wing, Raven’s children have been beneficiaries of his Star Wars fandom, even if they don’t necessarily realize it. Each of his three children – Lucas, Hannah, and Benjamin – were given their names based on the Star Wars universe, maybe a bit to his wife’s chagrin.
“Our oldest is Lucas, named for Luke Skywalker. At the time he was born, my wife was into a show called One Tree Hill, and the lead character’s last name was Lucas, so I played off of that,” Raven said. “My first words ever to him were ‘Lucas, I am your father.’
“My wife didn’t think I’d try it again for our second, Hannah,” he continued. “She didn’t make the connection between Han Solo and Hannah, so I was able to sneak that one through. For our youngest, Ben, my wife had no idea that Obi-Wan Kenobi’s name was actually Ben Kenobi. She knows now, though!”
Despite the names, Raven notes that his children don’t share his passion for all things Star Wars.
“Lucas doesn’t like it at all, but when Hannah was born, she would watch Star Wars: The Clone Wars when she couldn’t sleep. During her childhood we watched the entire Clone Wars animated series together” Raven said. “And by watched, I mean it was turned on while I would rock her back to sleep in the chair.”