gffa:
gffa:
Awww, George.
I KNOW, RIGHT? Like, I don’t think everything of his is perfect and I kind of side-eye him a bunch sometimes, but the more I get into Star Wars, the more I genuinely enjoy what he has to say and his motivations/methods for how he tells his story.
PLUS HE REALLY LIKES MAKING THINGS THAT KIDS ENJOY and you know how I feel about kids having joy and wonder about things.
Should I be Slightly Real here for once? I’ll go you one more and say I don’t even really side-eye him. OK: I guess if Star Wars had been mine to fashion however I wanted to, maybe there are a few things I would have done differently in places. But even then, it’s…not my story to tell?
This is maybe the thing that makes me the craziest: when people say stuff like “well and Lucas did it wrong/broke this/did such a shit job” GUYS OK BUT IT’S HIS OWN FICTIONAL STORY. He’s not some dude who showed up midway through and inserted his own vision into things. You can say YOU hated what he did, or disliked some part of it for your own reasons which are totally valid, but he didn’t TELL THE MADE-UP STORY OF BULLSHIT SPACE WORLD INCORRECTLY. It’s not a historical recreation where you have actual evidence to the contrary. I don’t show up in people’s fanfic comments to be like “OMG YOU DID IT WRONG”.
I do think he actually loves/loved Star Wars (maybe he doesn’t anymore, and who could blame him?) And I, too, love that he loved making things for kids. I have kids and I can confirm that Star Wars speaks to them. Also George is a ginormous Dweeb with a solid appreciation for Drama and he’s visibly super awkward when he talks sometimes, too, and while I personally LOVE the spotlight, I know MANY people who remind me of his exact flavor of Nerd. Maybe that’s what endears him to me, I dunno.
I tried to sit down and not jump in on another wordy post today, but you know me, I CAN’T HELP MYSELF.
In terms of telling the story that he wanted to tell, I AM COMPLETELY ONBOARD. Do I have criticisms or things I’d have done differently? Of course, who doesn’t! Especially when we’re looking at a series of movies that started coming out almost twenty years ago. The cultural and societal landscape and what we’re aware of are very different now and that doesn’t take value away from those things, but it does still provide context for how these movies were made.
And George is pretty open with his faults as a writer/director, he calls himself the “king of wooden dialogue”, but that’s a style choice he makes. Maybe we don’t like it, maybe it’s out of step with modern audience sensibilities and wants, but it’s still his story to tell in the manner he wants to tell it. And to aim it at the audience he deemed the target one, rather than nostalgic people who were never going to be entirely pleased, no matter what he did.
The one thing I will put up my fists and get into an internet fight about is that George Lucas really loves Star Wars, he cares deeply, and nothing was done without thought put into it. That he was incredibly passionate about the world he’d created and that, just because it was for kids and many things were aimed at kids, that didn’t mean he took it less seriously. Yeah, Star Wars is goofy, you have to accept that from the get-go when it comes to George’s Star Wars, but that doesn’t mean he didn’t put love and effort into crafting these movies.
With every interview I read from him, I find that I like his worldview more, you can tell that he’s genuinely fascinated by so many different things, that he falls in love all these nerdy things. Reading that bio about him George Lucas: A Life, it details how he fell in love with comics and tv shows and movies from a young age, how he’s so interested in people who have a deep craft of their own, philosophers and the like.
That guy is a Grade A Level Nerd and I love him for it.
p.s. You know my blog, I’m here for the Fun And Hilarity Hour That Is Star Wars, but I’m always ready to be Slightly Real about love and affection we have for this goofy galaxy that’s so far, far away. Always.