He Stole From Me.
Jun. 25th, 2005 02:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rinueWhat it comes down to is this: I moved all the time as a kid. (Still do.) I had four first day of elementary schools. I could not rely on shared culture or shared experiences to make friends, especially since my family is so unlike most families. I was charismatic, yes, but I was also always the weird kid, the outsider, the one who was in some respects a genius and yet often oblivious to emotional subtext.
But the other kids had always seen Star Wars. I had Robin Hood in common too, but it's more open to intepretation. Star Wars was consistent. You might disagree in interpretation, but you'd watched the same movie. There was a solid foundation to build on. I didn't always think of myself as a girl, or as an American, or as a student, or as religious, but I did always think of myself as a fan. And I wasn't alone. I've heard this same story from several friends who moved a lot as kids - the common ground of Star Wars. Normally, the more times a kid had moved, the more of the film he had memorized.
But the prequels flatly contradict the original trilogy until it doesn't make sense anymore - how the heck could Luke and Han disguize themselves as stormtroopers if all stormtroopers are clones who look and sound the same? Luke is short, and neither of them sound like Jango Fett, and yet they can walk into cellblock 1138 like it's nothing? Why can Ben Kenobi identify that a TIE fighter is a short-range ship with no hyperdrive if he's never fought them before? Why couldn't Vader find Luke on Tattooine if Owen Lars is Anakin's brother instead of Ben's (as Lucas said in the 80s)? Why wouldn't Ben remember R2, or Chewbacca? Why would Vader say "when I left you, I was but the learner, but now I am the master" if he's saved Ben's life countless times and had Ben acknowlege his superiority? In light of the prequels, almost every scene of the original movies falls apart. (For instance, how sad is it that in Return of the Jedi, when Leia remembers her mother - and Luke assumes it's his mother too - it isn't.)
You can argue that it was Lucas's right to destroy his own work, but that's ludicrous. If Edison rose from the dead and declared that all lightbulbs should be shaped like penises, he would be ignored and scorned. Nobody would defend his artistic vision. If Versace poured pea soup all over the clothes I was wearing, I doubt I would think "well, it was his to destroy." No. It's mine. I bought it. I accepted it into my home and my life. I developed an emotional attachment that changed what it meant. It's more mine than his, because I'm the one who wears it every day.
But the other kids had always seen Star Wars. I had Robin Hood in common too, but it's more open to intepretation. Star Wars was consistent. You might disagree in interpretation, but you'd watched the same movie. There was a solid foundation to build on. I didn't always think of myself as a girl, or as an American, or as a student, or as religious, but I did always think of myself as a fan. And I wasn't alone. I've heard this same story from several friends who moved a lot as kids - the common ground of Star Wars. Normally, the more times a kid had moved, the more of the film he had memorized.
But the prequels flatly contradict the original trilogy until it doesn't make sense anymore - how the heck could Luke and Han disguize themselves as stormtroopers if all stormtroopers are clones who look and sound the same? Luke is short, and neither of them sound like Jango Fett, and yet they can walk into cellblock 1138 like it's nothing? Why can Ben Kenobi identify that a TIE fighter is a short-range ship with no hyperdrive if he's never fought them before? Why couldn't Vader find Luke on Tattooine if Owen Lars is Anakin's brother instead of Ben's (as Lucas said in the 80s)? Why wouldn't Ben remember R2, or Chewbacca? Why would Vader say "when I left you, I was but the learner, but now I am the master" if he's saved Ben's life countless times and had Ben acknowlege his superiority? In light of the prequels, almost every scene of the original movies falls apart. (For instance, how sad is it that in Return of the Jedi, when Leia remembers her mother - and Luke assumes it's his mother too - it isn't.)
You can argue that it was Lucas's right to destroy his own work, but that's ludicrous. If Edison rose from the dead and declared that all lightbulbs should be shaped like penises, he would be ignored and scorned. Nobody would defend his artistic vision. If Versace poured pea soup all over the clothes I was wearing, I doubt I would think "well, it was his to destroy." No. It's mine. I bought it. I accepted it into my home and my life. I developed an emotional attachment that changed what it meant. It's more mine than his, because I'm the one who wears it every day.
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(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-25 10:37 pm (UTC)The only argument I've heard consistently is the one you last mentioned — Lucas' right to alter his own work. But I've always been a believer in the contract between author and audience. Once you release a work as complete, you are giving it over for your audience to interact with. If he was so unhappy with his "incomplete", imperfect, or defective films, he had no business releasing them as finished products in the first place. He's violated the contract, and he's admitting to entering into it dishonestly besides.
Apparently even Lucas supports eminent domain.
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Ciro
(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-26 12:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-26 01:54 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-26 06:02 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-26 08:37 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-26 08:06 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2005-06-27 08:59 pm (UTC)