Got tickets for the new “Star Wars film?” Neither do I, but I really want to go.

I think the assumption is that everyone who is capable of going to a theater will be in one this weekend as “Star Wars” is a pop cultural phenomena that transcends age, gender and any other demographic classifications you can imagine.  

Of course it is not. There are people who have never seen the first six “Star Wars” movies. I have one on my staff. This unnamed reporter said she or he – I promised not to reveal the identity – just hasn’t taken the time to watch the films.

If the marketing people at Disney heard that they would undoubtedly clutch their chests and keel over with a massive heart attack.

How could someone have avoided “Star Wars” if they are somewhere between the age of 60 and zygote?

This reporter’s admission made me think about the nature of popular culture. The folks selling popular culture – music, books, TV, sports and movies – make the assumption these properties are ubiquitous.

Everyone is supposed to be aware of the hot trends, stars and properties – everyone.

Haven’t read the Harry Potter books? “Fifty Shades of Grey?” Haven’t bought the new Adele album? Are you watching “Game of Thrones?” “The Walking Dead?” What the hell do you mean you didn’t follow “Breaking Bad?”

NASCAR? Don’t you follow NASCAR? Aren’t you American? Dude!

And let’s not even bring up the Red Sox or the Patriots. If you live in Massachusetts you are supposedly an automatic fan of these teams.  Heaven help you if you are an ignorant guy like me when it comes to sports. Your patriotism, your masculinity and your basic humanity are challenged.

This is the myth of popular culture. There is no pop culture that is so popular everyone embraces it.

The other myth is that pop culture lives forever. It can, if new generations see reasons to make it their own. For people of my generation and my parent’s the Lone Ranger was a staple of radio, motion pictures and finally television. Yet due to the last horrible attempted re-launch of the property – that awful movie with Johnny Depp – it may never be truly part of the living popular culture again.

By the way, that was another Disney production.

Years ago, if you reveled in any sort of pop culture that didn’t turn up on “The Ed Sullivan Show,” you were an outsider. The word “underground” or “fringe” was used to describe your interests. Eventually words such as “nerd,” “geek” or “fanboy” were coined to describe a person’s whose tastes were seen out of the mainstream.

Today we can see the mainstream embraces a lot more than it once did.

Most mornings, I catch the first 20 minutes or so of “Good Morning America.” ABC is owned by Disney, which in turn owns the “Star Wars” property. I’ve seen so much hype about the new film on GMA that it borders on turning their show into an infomercial.

I love “Star Wars,” but all of the hype isn’t creating a demand for seeing the new movie in me as much as it’s making me dread the experience a bit.

The fact is there are plenty of people who’ve never seen the films, and will not see the new one – as incomprehensible that fact is to Disney marketers.

I’m no snob. I like lowbrow stuff – professional wrestling, drive-in movies – and I like highbrow stuff, but I don’t love everything. No one loves everything.

Today, the marketing scheme is to hype something slowly but relentlessly. Let’s “sneak” a photo from the set of the new Superman/Batman film and watch the Internet explode over the new Batman costume. Now let’s release 30 seconds of footage, then a “teaser” trailer that runs a minute, then an initial trailer and then a longer trailer. Let’s release the longer trailer during a football game or other sporting event. The trailer will then get huge media coverage the next news cycle.

Let’s hope all of the hype is actually for a good film.

As someone who loved the first three “Star Wars” films – now episodes four through six – who has met both Dave Prowse and Peter Cushing, as someone whose animation magazine was read by Mark Hamill, I am somewhat invested in the franchise.

Ultimately though a film, book, album or other pop culture artifact must be discovered and embraced by a new audience for it to transcend beyond merely being a trend.

I’m hoping the new “Star Wars” film will be so worthy and my reporter will think so as well.

Agree? Disagree? Drop me a line at news@thereminder.com or at 280 N. Main St., East Longmeadow, MA 01028. As always, this column represents the opinion of its author and not the publishers or advertisers of this newspaper.