--- Ok, this is pretty darn funny.
Seems more than a few fans of Star Wars can write poetry. Some of it's
filthy, of course, but they're writing odes in defense of a preemptive
shooting in Star Wars
that Lucas rearranged in the special editions to make the whole thing
more pc. Whaddya want? They're axe murderers to begin with...they're
not going to improve with time and education. I remember going to see
the special editions with the husband. He was so stoked. We got into it
and then there's the scene in the cantina with Han and Greedo---and
Greedo shot first. It was the wierdest sensation, both of us just
looked at each other in disbelief. I knew Greedo hadn't shot first, or
at least was pretty sure that he hadn't. The husband knew
that Greedo hadn't shot first in the same way some people can explain
neutrinos and quarks---those movies are one of his areas of expertise.
He wasn't as scandalized as some other people were when this came out
in the news. His reasoning: their Lucas' movies---let him do what he
will with them.
So the news comes down the pike yesterday that Lucas is finally
releasing Episodes 4,5 and 6 on DVD---but
he's only releasing the special editions...not the originals that were
shown in the theaters and originally released on videotape.
Everyone's assuming greed as Lucas' motivation here. He'll only release
the originals when 1, 2 and 3 come out in some boxed set, someone said.
I have to agree with that sentiment. But there's something more to it,
I think, and another commenter, MikeR. on A Small Victory worded it perfectly, so I'll use his words and not mine:
I have no problem with an artist changing his work of art over time.
That's a natural human impulse. However, I do have a problem with
someone taking the originals out of circulation. That's sheer
arrogance, to effectively tell people they shouldn't care about the
original work because the artist in his infinite wisdom has chosen to
make it "better". The paying Star Wars fans made George Lucas a
zillionaire, yet he seems to hold them in contempt...
Then Dorkafork said this and he, too, makes a good, and very important, point:
Well, no Matt, they aren't his movies. We could argue the
technicalities of it, the Constitution says artists should have
exclusive right to their writings for a limited time and argue how long
that limited time should be. But the import{ant) thing is to promote
"the progress of science and useful arts". What the hell kind of
filmmaker tries his best to prevent his movie from being seen? How does
preventing his movie from being seen "progress art"? This goes beyond
mere changes in a movie. I think it's great that there are director's
cuts, extended versions, etc. And I want creative people to get paid
for their work. But look at how Lucas is using his copyright. The
originals are not being shown on TV, they're not being sold in stores,
and they are never going to be shown or sold again. He is removing them
from the public domain, taking a movie millions adored and trying to
hide it from them. This does not benefit anybody, except maybe people
who get on eBay with the laserdisc version. The problem isn't with the
changes, or the relative artistic merit of Star Wars. They're archival
issues, mainly. Those VHS tapes are not going to last forever. The film
stock won't either (if it hasn't been destroyed already). Christ, the
more I think about it, the more sick it makes me.
Now, I don't think Lucas will go so far as to never
offer the originals on DVD, but I can see where this guy has a point.
It's worrying. Lucas went back and not only digitized the original
footage, he put in stuff he couldn't get the first time around. This was what he wanted with the originals,
or so he says. I don't know that you can honestly, as an artist, make
the same pronouncements about "what you want your work to project" when
you're thirty years old as when you're fifty. People change as they get
older. Their ideas change, as do their priorities, and George has
seemingly wussed out over the years about providing entertainment
that's as fun for adults as it is for kids. He seems to think that kids
should be getting all the good stuff, while he ignores first generation
that put him where he's at. We're part of his audience, too and
it's amazing how he forgets this, in fact, it's amazing he doesn't
remember he has an audience to please in the first place. Episode I and
II show this: he's arrogant enough to think that story doesn't
matter---and that bad actors can, in fact, be good. In Episode II,
Hayden Christensen is painful
to watch. Literally. He made me cringe and want to hide because he
stank the place up so bad. His anger was just so juvenile: it made you
feel as if the conversion to Darth Vader will ultimately be the result
of a teenage temper tantrum. No one appreciates me! Waaaah! I'm going over to the Dark Side!
I feel awful for Ewan McGregor---he carried Episode II along with Yoda
(who, by the way, kicked ass in that movie---if a Mexican jumping bean
looks like something, they'd look like Yoda fighting). Natalie Portman,
who is a great actress, could do nothing to save that thing. I'm amazed
she didn't force Hayden to get up to her level. I have to think when
she was done with it, she said, thank God, I'm done with that for the
time being and maybe the kid will learn how to act before the next one.
But Lucas noticed none of this. You would like to think that a
director who has his credentials could at least tell a worthy
performance from a not-so-worthy one. He can't. He doesn't know how to
do this. This is why he hired different directors for Empire and
Return. This is why he got Spielberg to direct Indiana Jones. For my
birthday, I got a nifty Target gift card with which I bought the
Indiana Jones box set. This was my first DVD goo-goo-ga-ga experience:
nothing else had tripped my trigger enough to fork out the cash. Well,
I was watching the DVD with all the "making of"'s for the first time
the other night, and it was amazing how much his enthusiasm decreased
when talking about Last Crusade as Raiders.
These were recent interviews, done with the DVD release in mind, but it
was as if you got an idea of what it was like twenty years ago when
they were making the films---he was fired up about Raiders and where all the ideas came from and how the project came to be. But by the time we watched the Last Crusade
making of, no one was saying anything about how many great ideas George
had come up with, because he hadn't come up with anything other than he
wanted to make it a father-son picture. Well, then Spielberg even
commented about how George hadn't wanted to have Henry Sr. and Indiana not
get along. George wanted a buddy-buddy happy movie. Spielberg then
described the conversations he'd had with Lucas, convincing him that
this was the way to go. It was amazing in that here you have this
cantankerous character, Indy, and you invented him, and while he does
have his soft spots and a good sense of honor, he's also a mercenary.
This is fine. Conflicted hero. We all like conflicted heroes. So, the
stage was set long ago as far as what behavior was expected of him. We,
the audience, loved this guy. We didn't want him to change. Now,
George, tell me, precisely how would it make sense to think that Indy
would be best friends with his father? It doesn't. Guys like Indy don't
become guys like Indy if they go play catch on the front lawn every day
before supper. It just doesn't happen. Spielberg practically came out
and said that the first part of the movie, showing Indy's youth with
the very delicious and very much missed River Phoenix, was a bone
thrown at Lucas for making a film where Indy didn't get along with his
father. Ultimately, it comes down the the supposition (on my part,
anyway) that Lucas likes his characters and doesn't want to put them
through any pain, so we get really weak story arcs and incredibly
sophmoric writing. Look at Episode II: he'd rather make a cariacature
of Anakin than really get down to business and write something
worthwhile for Hayden to work with. And it's a painful storyline: the
guy is separated from his mother; he feels his talents are being
ignored by the higher ups at the Jedi council; he's in love with a
woman he shouldn't be in love with---everything's there, but Lucas
softens it. He throws us an underhanded softball, when we're ready for
a fastpitch overhand. I think part of the reason why Christensen stank
so badly was because he was trying too hard. Well, when the
director/writer/producer of the most beloved series of films of our age
comes to you and tells you he wants *you* to show how Darth Vader came
about, what are you going to do? Ignore the success of the series,
ignore the absolute worthiness of what had already been created and
throw it away because it's poorly written? No, you're going to go for
it. And it's a shame: Hayden should have said no. Said to George Lucas
that this script is a piece of shit and you should rework it. Why is
George the way he is? I don't know. But I'm not going to buy the Star Wars
DVD's. The husband will buy them, so I will end up owning them by
association. And that's sad, because it confirms Lucas' notion that
he's got us by the short and curlies. Which he does. He holds the key
to the good stuff, and make no mistake, he's not going to open the door
unless he's got a really good reason.