A Yuletide Salute to the Maker of Myths: Thank You George Lucas
Welcome to a long overdue edition of The Geek Beat. With Christmas around the corner and The Force Awakens hitting cinemas everywhere, I decided that now seemed like the right time to look back and remember George Lucas - the man who started it all. Before we jump in, please allow me to point you in the direction of Indie Gravy's new YouTube channel; as well as writing regularly for Den of Geek, I will also soon be presenting one half of Indie Gravy's outstanding coverage of independent comics - hit up the trailer below and subscribe to follow. It's going to be wild!
Christmas can be a difficult time to be alone. Everybody celebrating and making merry whilst you nurse the pain of a broken heart. Logs on the fire and gifts on the tree (On the tree? Really Cliff?) but no will to rejoice in the good that you see. And you know what else? It’s especially lonely if you’ve just broken up with somebody; even more so if you have to watch her parading around with some younger guy, looking a lot more attractive than she has in a while. And what really hurts… what really feels like a stake of holly through the heart is that she… your beloved, the one to whom you’ve dedicated your entire adult life; poured your heart and soul into for what seems like decades now – she looks more like her old self again than she has for a long, long time.
As The Force Awakens finally releases to feverish anticipation and positive early reviews, it’s easy to forget George Lucas’ role in bringing the movie to life; it’s also easy to forget how difficult the film’s release might be for the myth-maker himself. In spite of the attempts to preserve the secrecy of the film’s plot, Episode VII has endured a very public production and yet in all of the tumult, Lucas, the creator at the heart of the Star Wars saga has become an increasingly peripheral figure. When Disney first announced the buyout of Lucasfilm back in 2012, it was announced that Lucas would serve as a “creative consultant” – however, as the film rumbled closer to release it became apparent that Lucas’ involvement was little more than a courteous addition; the creative team behind the film eschewed all of Lucas’ original ideas for a fresh trilogy and the man himself has recently done a round of interviews where he expressed what could well be a modicum of resentment regarding Disney’s decision to walk down a path that he cannot follow:
"The issue was ultimately that they looked at the stories and they said ‘we want to make something for the fans. People don’t actually realise it’s actually a soap opera and it’s all about family problems – it’s not about spaceships. So they decided they didn’t want to use those stories, they decided they were going to do their own thing so I decided, ‘fine…. I’ll go my way and I let them go their way’’.
With Lucas’ name being conspicuously absent from The Force Awakens posters (Gene Roddenberry got a namecheck on the Abrams-directed Star Trek), one has to wonder if the decision to distance the franchise from its All-Father was indeed made for those very fans that Lucas referred to in his interview. Lucas’ famed tinkering with his original movies and the failure of the prequel trilogy to live up to the classic saga’s quality resulted in his relationship with the fans becoming toxic; they, justly or unjustly blamed him for everything from Jar Jar Binks to Han no longer shooting first; he in turn swore off the internet and spent the next decade grumbling about fan negativity.
Let’s be clear: this article is in no way an attempt to reconcile fans with the prequels whilst we bask in the release of a new and hopefully better generation of Star Wars films. The prequels were nothing but a letdown, a Death Star-sized series of missed opportunities produced by a filmmaker divorced from the traits that once made him a visionary. Nor am I a Lucas apologist: having shelled out the vast majority of my hard-earned student loan back in ’99 to go watch The Phantom Menace stateside (there was a six-week gap between the U.S. and U.K. release dates - and I hate spoilers), I have more reason than most to feel irate with the guy. It’s not even because it’s Christmas and that means goodwill to all men - it’s simply this:
Without George Lucas, there would be no Star Wars.
Never mind that the guy managed to get A New Hope made despite studio stutters, budget cuts and set-destroying sandstorms; put a pin in the fact that in making the film he developed technology that revolutionised the way we view cinema; ignore even the idea that the innocent science-fantasy genre (hello Marvel!) would never have exploded without him and you’re still left with the fact that he created Star Wars!
Of course, one can argue that he borrowed liberally from pulpy action serials and the films of Kurosawa but the facts remain: George Lucas changed the popular culture landscape forever and if you’re reading this website, then Star Wars fan or no, his contribution to genre entertainment in some way influenced whatever it is that you love. For many of us the association with Star Wars runs deeply, linking to our childhood; although the films may have traditionally been summer releases, there’s something harmonious about the marriage of Christmas and Star Wars that simply feels right - as a child, there was only one portly, bearded guy who brought Star Wars toys to my world and it sure wasn’t Santa. Opening up a Han Solo Kenner action figure or maybe even shredding the gift wrapping of a promising-sized box to reveal a glimpse of an X-wing fighter toy on Christmas morning was a moment that was nothing short of magical. Don’t believe me? Go back and watch the recent Sony PlayStation Star Wars: Battlefront advert to see just how closely the franchise trades off its relationship with our childhood by evoking the magic and wonder that we sometimes struggle to find as adults - and let’s face it: there’s nothing that conjures up magic and wonder quite like Christmas.
As a duo, Christmas and Star Wars made for quite the potent pairing; some of you out there will be lucky enough to experience it again this holiday season through the eyes of your children; whether watching wide-eyed in the enchanting darkness of your local cinema or sat under the tree amidst a sea of wrapping paper, marvelling at the exploits of a remote-controlled BB8 as it zooms around your living room, a whole new generation are about to feel the force. To feel the surge of excitement that you and I felt the first time we saw the Millennium Falcon blast through a gaggle of swarming TIE fighters; feel the same sense of breathless wonder that blasted through us the first time we watched a lightsaber ignite; to feel the same surge of hope and possibility that we experienced when with Luke, we gazed at Tatooine’s twin suns and beyond to a galaxy of infinite potential.
It feels auspicious then, that Star Wars and the festive season are together once more and closely intertwined, more now than ever before. But whilst we are reunited this year with Han, Chewie, Leia and Luke, there’s one person that won’t be. At least, not in the way that perhaps he would like to be… and he’s closer to them than any of us. Because, although they’re ours, they’re also his. As the weaver of dreams, George Lucas birthed these characters into existence and watched as the world embraced them, claimed them as their own before turning their back on him. As if that wasn’t difficult enough to contend with, he then chose to part with his beloved creation to give the world the Star Wars movies it wanted; films that he realised he was no longer able to create. It was never about the money - in fact, he’s giving most the proceeds of the sale to Disney to charity. It must have been a terrible wrench for the former USC prodigy to admit, however privately, that he didn’t have another good Star Wars film left in him. In interviews this year, Lucas has gone on to compare leaving his films behind to experiencing a break-up, stating that to get past his connection with Star Wars, the first and most important rule is distance:
“When you break up with somebody, the first rule is no phone calls. The second rule, you don’t go over to their house and drive by to see what they’re doing. The third one is you don’t show up at their coffee shop and say you are going to burn it… You just say ‘Nope, gone, history, I’m moving forward.”
Christmas can be a difficult time to be alone. So whether you were in line at the midnight premiere this week in your Kylo Ren cosplay, or maybe queueing this weekend with your children as they gleefully engage in mock-lightsaber battles; perhaps like me, you might be watching all six movies back to back before heading out to see The Force Awakens; however you share in the magic this week, spare a thought for the man who was behind it all. The dream weaver. The myth-maker - the man who was once Star Wars’s beating heart and now, hopefully is just a fan like you and I.
Thank you George. Merry Christmas. And May the Force be with You.
That's all from The Geek Beat this week folks. This has been a Vertigo production.
Head back this way next week (or maybe in a couple!) for something else... .
Until then be sure to follow me @VertigoDC but remember... i'm not locked in here with you, you're locked in here with me!
Merry Christmas!
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