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Sad Sorry Star Wars Story by jeep 03/19/2005, 11:39pm PST
Mischief Maker wrote:

Lucas wrote:

That's not my job, to make people like my movies. They either like them or they don't. That's completely out of my hands."


WHEN WILL THE WORLD UNDERSTAND I NEVER TOOK A JOB IN THE ENTERTAINMENT INDUSTRY TO MAKE ENTERTAINING FILMS??!


Lucas, like Dennis Hopper way back when, was never really welcome in Hollywood as a filmmaker. There was this documentary on the other day saying Francis Ford Coppola dragged Lucas "back from exile" to make American Graffiti, and Lucas had to beg 20th Century Fox for the money to make Star Wars. Lucas went directly from no credibility and no money to Palm D'Or and richer than the Catholic Church. So you have Scorsese, Spielberg, Coppolla, DePalma, Lucas, and a couple writers like Paul Schraeder and John Milius all sort of networking amongst themselves. They spent a lot of time fashioning themselves as art renegades, but in the end all they had in common was living far outside Los Angeles. These guys, except for Spielberg who gets lumped in there unfairly but is really more a Hollywood guy than any of them, made some good movies but were, for various reasons, not really all that welcome in the entertainment industry.

Minus Star Wars, Lucas never would have been welcome out there at all. He never 'paid his dues' in the eyes of the establishment, but more than that, he was out of sync with his own country: He liked japanese films and old fantasy stories, where american cultural tastes will always veer back towards our common delusions of realism. So Lucas' ambivalence towards other people's ideas of good filmmaking isn't terribly surprising, the delusional positioning of himself as a renegade isn't anything new, and the addiction to sycophants is more of a cheap excuse for everyone else than a real crutch for him. We assume he's surrounded by yes men, because what else explains his recent inability to make a good movie?

The reality is he's never made a good movie. I loved Star Wars, but for the same reasons everyone else did: as a child it spurred my imagination and as an adult it reminds me of that experience. It's the thin story of that first film that was the difference, there's enough there to get your mind running, and thirty years later we're still going. The films after it, he had all the money he needed, he could make the images he could only imagine in the first one, and it turns out his imagination isn't as spectacular a place as we'd all imagined for ourselves. His dialogue was cliched back when Cooper used it for novels about cowboys and indians. His science fiction isn't much of either. His tastes in art, culture, fashion, music are worse than terrible, they're too bad to loop around to be trash art again. As an auteur, the man just sucks.

This in no way takes away from his influence on modern film. I suspect that people will look back on 1975-2005 as the "ILM Era" in Hollywood, since just about every movie has their tag on it. Computer effects, blue screens, thx sound, summer blockbusters, and home theaters all owe a lot to that guy. It also in no way takes anything away from his abilities: after Star Wars he focused on ILM for years and it's clear he's been the very best at it for a long, long time.

But the culture veers back: the children he enchanted years ago wonder why the films haven't grown with them, the stupid clothes and the Princess Leia hair and inane cantina jazz seem unnecessary to telling a good story, and stripped of that you can see he simply can't. He didn't just forget all that Joseph Campbell, it's like it was only a passing thought for him, a flicker in his head for a minute before he got back to skeleton animation and Ewoks and shit. He's a refugee from the other end of the tech pool, some kind of Alf-like creature, chomping on cats and telling unfunny jokes. What do you do if you're a passing fad that never passes? Can you imagine me and Zseni making a sitcom? No one would understand it and when they asked us wtf we'd start talking about old Nichols and May routines and the baroque nature of japanese litigation.

So I'm going to go way (way, way) out on a limb here: George Lucas is the John Carmack of the entertainment industry, and these Star Wars movies are Doom-style tech previews, hardware demo scenes, infomercials for a service he's offering other filmmakers: buy my graphics and your movie could be the next Star Wars. Except people don't want Doom, they want Half-Life and the man just can't provide it.

/jeep/
...puts away his snotty film critic hat for a few more years.
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Crashing into people. by Worm 03/13/2005, 1:53am PST NEW
    Thanks, ICJ! by Mischief Maker 03/13/2005, 4:50pm PST NEW
        And who reads sites like ogrish anyways? by Creexul :( 03/13/2005, 6:11pm PST NEW
            Ogrish has words? NT by Bill Dungsroman 03/13/2005, 7:47pm PST NEW
        Back atcha, MM! by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/14/2005, 1:55am PST NEW
            The Emperor sure aged badly. by Fussbett 03/14/2005, 6:57am PST NEW
            Re: Back atcha, MM! by Mischief Maker 03/14/2005, 7:02am PST NEW
                Re: Back atcha, MM! by bombMexico 03/15/2005, 12:58am PST NEW
                    Re: Back atcha, MM! by FABIO 03/15/2005, 2:09am PST NEW
                        Re: Back atcha, MM! by Mischief Shai-hulud 03/16/2005, 9:57pm PST NEW
                            Just you and the guy who wrote that guide by Mysterio 03/17/2005, 12:23am PST NEW
                                He's talking about the colonel. :( NT by Worm 03/17/2005, 1:24am PST NEW
            Revenge of the Sith news by Fussbett 03/19/2005, 3:50am PST NEW
                Re: Revenge of the Sith news by Creexul :( 03/19/2005, 4:39am PST NEW
                Re: Revenge of the Sith news by Ice Cream Jonsey 03/19/2005, 4:59am PST NEW
                    Re: Revenge of the Sith news by Mischief Maker 03/19/2005, 10:04am PST NEW
                        Re: Revenge of the Sith news by FABIO 03/19/2005, 1:55pm PST NEW
                            Re: Revenge of the Sith news by Bill Dungsroman 03/19/2005, 2:19pm PST NEW
                                Re: Revenge of the Sith news by Chairman Mao 03/19/2005, 2:36pm PST NEW
                                    Re: Revenge of the Sith news by Creexul :( 03/19/2005, 7:17pm PST NEW
                        KOTOR 2 spoiler. by Creexul :( 03/19/2005, 7:12pm PST NEW
                            Doesn't that sound an awful lot like Asimov's Foundation? NT by Casual observer 03/22/2005, 3:32pm PST NEW
                        Jedi Order = Big Brother by Andrew 03/21/2005, 1:38pm PST NEW
                            Welcome to the forum, Kevin Smith. NT by Mischief Maker 03/21/2005, 1:42pm PST NEW
                        It's kind of sad that you've paid that much attention to the politics of Star Wa by I need clarification 03/23/2005, 12:04pm PST NEW
                            NERDS! NERDS! NERDS! by Mischief Maker 03/23/2005, 4:53pm PST NEW
                more gay quotes! by bombMexico 03/19/2005, 12:43pm PST NEW
                    RE: more gay quotes by Mischief Maker 03/19/2005, 1:19pm PST NEW
                        Sad Sorry Star Wars Story by jeep 03/19/2005, 11:39pm PST NEW
                            The thing that always shocked me about Star Wars. by Creexul :( 03/20/2005, 1:21am PST NEW
                            Re: Sad Sorry Star Wars Story by George Lucas Family Photos 03/20/2005, 9:07am PST NEW
                            KUDOS ON THAT EPIPHANY by Choson 03/20/2005, 9:22am PST NEW
                                Re: KUDOS ON THAT EPIPHANY by Fullofkittens 03/20/2005, 10:53am PST NEW
                            Mostly agree by Fussbett 03/20/2005, 11:38am PST NEW
                            Re: Sad Sorry Star Wars Story by Electronic Arts & Zseni 03/21/2005, 4:39am PST NEW
                                The cn Microseries was better than episodes I through III (yes, III). by Casual observer 03/21/2005, 10:56am PST NEW
                                    Re: The cn Microseries was better than episodes I through III (yes, III). by Creexul :( 03/21/2005, 3:23pm PST NEW
                                        I sense your anger. by Casual observer 03/21/2005, 4:06pm PST NEW
                                        TRIZZOLLED NT by bink 03/22/2005, 8:04pm PST NEW
                                            You were better liked before you went XXXtreme to the MAXXXX! NT by Casual observer 03/22/2005, 8:23pm PST NEW
                                                ROCKIN NT by bink 03/22/2005, 10:22pm PST NEW
                                    General Grievous versus Admiral Angry by bombMexico 03/21/2005, 6:19pm PST NEW
                                        Re: General Grievous versus Admiral Angry by Bill Dungsroman 03/21/2005, 7:25pm PST NEW
                                            He's a cyborg, there is a biological head in there. by Chairman Mao 03/21/2005, 8:10pm PST NEW
                                                you were like cyborg, and i was all Huh? but then you explained it, THANX by bombMexico 03/22/2005, 1:18am PST NEW
                                                    My dedication is to the truth, yo. by Chairman Mao 03/22/2005, 9:01am PST NEW
                                            Re: General Grievous versus Admiral Angry by Choson 03/21/2005, 10:50pm PST NEW
                                I guess you figured nobody googles anymore. by Bill Dungsroman 03/21/2005, 2:03pm PST NEW
                                    Re: I guess you figured nobody googles anymore. by Electronic Arts & Zseni 03/21/2005, 4:37pm PST NEW
                                        Re: I guess you figured nobody googles anymore. by FABIO 03/21/2005, 4:51pm PST NEW
                                        Re: I guess you figured nobody googles anymore. by Casual observer 03/21/2005, 5:47pm PST NEW
                                            You mean nothing, Z-grade irrelevant little pedant. NT by Electronic Arts & Zseni 03/21/2005, 6:16pm PST NEW
                                                I am but ashes, while you're just blubber. NT by Casual observer 03/21/2005, 6:25pm PST NEW
                                            Yeah BDR, enough with your Hidden Fortress theories, Japanophile. NT by Fussbett 03/21/2005, 6:29pm PST NEW
                                                JAPS NT by Creexul :( 03/21/2005, 7:35pm PST NEW
                                                    I could've posted that myself. :( NT by Creexul :( 03/22/2005, 7:48am PST NEW
                                        This was your chance to blow me away, not RUN away. by Bill Dungsroman 03/21/2005, 7:59pm PST NEW
                                            DEAR ZSENI: NOTICE ME by Love, BDR 03/21/2005, 10:10pm PST NEW
                                                Actually, and this is only if I've gotten the gist of it... by Casual observer 03/21/2005, 10:45pm PST NEW
                                                my troll is better than co's, don't even bother with his CLICK HERE by bombMexico 03/22/2005, 1:30am PST NEW
                                                    Re: my troll is better than co's, don't even bother with his CLICK HERE by Fullofkittens 03/22/2005, 8:23am PST NEW
                                                        guess we'll have to agree to disagree...unless you wanna THROW DOWN by bombMexico 03/22/2005, 1:53pm PST NEW
                                                            Partially amusing, weak delivery, no clear justification. Meh, 5/10. NT by Casual observer 03/22/2005, 2:04pm PST NEW
                                                                You gave his posts a rating? God you're such a fag. NT by Mysterio 03/22/2005, 4:24pm PST NEW
                                                                    General lack of balls. 0/10. NT by Casual observer 03/22/2005, 4:27pm PST NEW
                                                                        LOOK OUT! HE'S GONE META!!!! by Entropy Stew 03/23/2005, 12:13am PST NEW
                                                                            Re: LOOK OUT! HE'S GONE META!!!! by Casual observer 03/23/2005, 12:40am PST NEW
                                                                Meh = negative 1,000,000,000,000/10 for maximum faggotry. NT by Creexul :( 03/23/2005, 1:21am PST NEW
                                                Ahem... self-delude much? by Caltrops Kids Club 03/22/2005, 12:28pm PST NEW
                                                    When Mysterios ATTACK by bombMexico 03/22/2005, 1:44pm PST NEW
                                                        That one was pretty awesome. NT by Chairman Mao 03/22/2005, 1:57pm PST NEW
                                                            Agreed! NT by Casual observer 03/22/2005, 2:03pm PST NEW
                                        Re: I guess you figured nobody googles anymore. by Mischief Maker 03/22/2005, 10:49am PST NEW
                                            Re: I guess you figured nobody googles anymore. by Love, BDR 03/22/2005, 10:54am PST NEW
                                                Re: I guess you figured nobody googles anymore. by Casual observer 03/22/2005, 11:07am PST NEW
                                                Re: I guess you figured nobody googles anymore. by Mischief Maker 03/22/2005, 12:26pm PST NEW
                                                    Re: I guess you figured nobody googles anymore. by Zseni: Warrior-Poet 03/23/2005, 4:42am PST NEW
                                                        Re: I guess you figured nobody googles anymore. by Choson 03/23/2005, 6:51am PST NEW
                                                        Re: I guess you figured nobody googles anymore. by Mischief Maker 03/23/2005, 7:29am PST NEW
                                                            Re: I guess you figured nobody googles anymore. by Zseni: Warrior-Poet 03/23/2005, 11:14am PST NEW
                                                                No, we're arguing over your lack of taste in Samurai movies. NT by Mischief Maker 03/23/2005, 12:31pm PST NEW
                                                        Unfortunately : Ninjas are primarily... chinese. NT by Casual observer 03/23/2005, 10:00am PST NEW
                                                            Its true... by Chairman Mao 03/23/2005, 12:54pm PST NEW
                                                                It totally is! by Robert Hamburger 03/23/2005, 1:37pm PST NEW
                                                                    Ninjitsu was a chinese import. by Casual observer 03/23/2005, 1:50pm PST NEW
                                                                        Holy shit, I'm totally updating my site, RIGHT NOW! NT by Robert Hamburger 03/23/2005, 1:55pm PST NEW
                                                                            Don't forget to add that manga is Chinese too. by Fussbett 03/23/2005, 3:38pm PST NEW
                                                                                I don't know why ANYONE is mentioning anything AZN with Zseni here. NT by Bill Dungsroman 03/23/2005, 3:53pm PST NEW
                                                                                    Re: I don't know why ANYONE is mentioning anything AZN with Zseni here. by Robert Hamburger 03/23/2005, 8:22pm PST NEW
                            Re: Sad Sorry Star Wars Story by laudablepuss 03/21/2005, 12:03pm PST NEW
                                Maybe if you laced the radio in his car with dutrium. NT by The Elusive Robert Denby 03/21/2005, 1:37pm PST NEW
                                    THERE WASN'T A GRAM OF DUTRIUM IN THAT JET NT by Brian Doyle-Murray, Pharmacist 03/21/2005, 1:37pm PST NEW
                                        It was sabotage. That means Bob Denby. NT by Leonard 03/21/2005, 2:13pm PST NEW
                                            Rigid grille structure, cargo hold, et cetera (nt) by balistic 03/30/2005, 3:57pm PST NEW
                                Sometimes an oblivious troll is the most effective of all {mysterious music} NT by bink 03/22/2005, 8:14pm PST NEW
                            Re: Sad Sorry Star Wars Story by John Williams 03/21/2005, 1:47pm PST NEW
                            Ah, fuck all that boring boo-hoo bullshit. by Bill Dungsroman 03/21/2005, 3:13pm PST NEW
                                Re: Ah, fuck all that boring boo-hoo bullshit. by John Gulp 01/05/2023, 8:09pm PST NEW
                why doesn't he just make "star wars" in space? NT by Anime Scholar 03/30/2005, 9:33am PST NEW
                    I wonder who this dude is talking too or about. NT by Fussbett 03/30/2005, 2:11pm PST NEW
                        He's saying "star wars in space" would trump my "titanic in space". AS IF NT by CGI George Lucas 03/30/2005, 2:15pm PST NEW
                a brief moment of light by bombMexico 04/02/2005, 4:54pm PST NEW
                    Re: a brief moment of light by Bill Dungsroman 04/02/2005, 7:44pm PST NEW
                        Re: a brief moment of light by Mischief Maker 04/02/2005, 8:25pm PST NEW
                        Lucas dyslexia - a disease for dorks by bombMexico 04/02/2005, 10:02pm PST NEW
                            Re: Lucas dyslexia - a disease for dorks by JW 04/09/2005, 2:35am PDT NEW
                                You'll notice nobody actually said they weren't going to see it. by Bill Dungsroman 04/09/2005, 11:58am PDT NEW
                                    I'm not going to see it. NT by Creexul :( 04/09/2005, 1:28pm PDT NEW
                                        Those chairs aren't going to paint themselves!!! NT by Moom 04/09/2005, 1:32pm PDT NEW
                                            I could paint a million chairs to see a million movies and still not see SW3. NT by Creexul :( 04/12/2005, 8:45pm PDT NEW
                                Re: Lucas dyslexia - a disease for dorks by Fussbett 04/09/2005, 12:28pm PDT NEW
                                Lucas apologists i liken to Nazi apologists by bombMexico 04/10/2005, 1:58am PDT NEW
                                prequels are what happens when ideas run out NT by FABIO 04/10/2005, 2:48am PDT NEW
                                    =( NT by God of War 2 04/12/2005, 8:19pm PDT NEW
 
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