Has The Cantina Scene’s Status As Pop Culture Royalty Changed?

One of the things that was a rude awakening for me during the Cantina HasLab campaign was how many fans downplayed the set piece. I heard things that, as someone who experienced the scene when it was brand new, seemed unfathomable. I heard things like "boring" and "not iconic". HasLab time is now becoming the equivalent of the NFL Daft, which is lying season, so I take most of the excuses with a grain of salt. Nevertheless, hearing those things was the equivalent of someone trying to convince me that the sky is red. Who do they think I am? Nomad? I had thought that Cantina's lofty pop culture status was immutable.

The scene's importance was sanctified by Kenner back in the vintage era. Fifty percent of the first ever expansion of the Star Wars line was dedicated to the Cantina. I showed up for the 12-back, but I stayed for the quartet of Hammerhead, Greedo, Walrus Man and Snaggletooth (even though I didn't know where Snaggletooth appeared until I was an adult). I think I invented the Spielberg Face when I first set eyes on them:


The Cantina anchored me to this hobby as a six year old, and I believe it had instant and indelible pop culture relevance. I had good reasono to think this. Let me show you some proof. The first is the easiest. When Star Wars self-plagiarized for the Holiday Special, a cantina knock off/reunion was the centerpiece:


Okay, so that was a bit of a house organ, so maybe it shouldn't count, but what about another pop cultural juggernaut? When Ricard Pryor was given the keys to the Star Wars vault to use on his variety show, what scene did he pick? Yup, the Cantina:


Those two examples are in the immediate afterglow of A New Hope, so maybe there was some recency bias. But when Adidas made a Star Wars commercial a few years ago, what scene did they tap? Yup, the Cantina:


I'm saving the capper for last, and it's a little bizarre. The Billy Ocean song Loverboy came out in 1984 after Star Wars movies were reportedly done forever. Despite the fact that the lyrics have absolutely nothing to do with Star Wars or sci-fi, the video was largely an homage to the Cantina scene:


That's just a good song, and I'm not much of a pop music guy. For years, the Cantina had massive pop culture relevance. It was iconic and instantly recognizable even by non-fans. I believe it still is. I think it's timeless, just as certain scenes from The Wizard of Oz still have currency nearly a century later. I think those who were saying otherwise during the HasLab campaign were also saying a lot of other things that strained credulity.

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