Monday, January 4, 2016

I Was Never Told How Great Star Wars Was



In light of the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, I’ve noticed some negativity towards the film and, somehow, a negativity towards Star Wars in general. While I don’t wish to contribute a review of The Force Awakens (Okay, I do: It was actually great, get over yourselves), I do have something to say about what I’m seeing written:

I was never told how great Star Wars was when I was a kid. I watched them over the course of a couple days at my grandparents' house, on cable, on a tiny TV that had a slightly green tint because of its age, when I was around 9 or 10 years old. I was enamored by the wonder of A New Hope, the visual mastery of The Empire Strikes Back, and the ease with which Return of the Jedi hid a depth behind a light narrative. These are memories of feelings I had before I really fell in love with movies.

Even after that, I hadn't yet become a Star Wars fan, even with the release of The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, though I saw them multiple times, and I liked them (at the time). It wasn't until my friend Jimmy, an avid Star Wars fan, made me really want to watch the Original Trilogy again that I became a fan. This was around 2003, and I was in love with movies, and sure of my desire to be a filmmaker. So I watched them, on my own, and the familiar feelings of wonder, awe, and joy I had as my younger self were present, and they still are when I watch them to this day. (By the way: Thanks Jimmy, I wouldn't be half the Star Wars fan if it wasn't for you) 

But from the first time watching them, I was never told how good they were, they were just that good.

I was also never told what they did for moviemaking, but I saw it. Miniatures, Chroma-keying, Rear-projection, Go Motion Animation, Animatronics, Puppetry, Muppetry, Motion Control, George Lucas and Industrial Light and Magic used every special effects trick in the book and even created new ones to tell the story of Star Wars throughout the Original Trilogy. I knew that I had seen so many of these things done in movies afterwards, but it wasn't until becoming a fan and learning about the legacy of Star Wars that I learned that people weren't using many of these in the way that Lucas and ILM did until Star Wars made it popular and accessible, for filmmakers and film-goers. (Note: Although the Prequel Trilogy were not good technical movies as a whole, the advances in filmmaking, like using digital cameras, as well as some of the optical and computer-generated effects, were revolutionary at the time, and are used today) 

With the Internet influencing how written media is produced right now, we are reaching a boiling point with how we talk about the art of movies. We are talking about Hollywood like they are the only ones who make movies. We are presenting our opinions, our feelings about movies, educated and not educated, as myopic, insulated, and circularly-logic'd facts about why a movie is good or bad, without having any real conversations (since they are "just movies"), or presenting any real analysis (nobody wants to read more than 1,000 words, they just want to know if the movie sucks or not).

However, it's more than just whether a movie sucks or not. You can see the lineage and influence of a mediums history; Fine Art, Pop-art, any Art, through the years, and Film is no exception. However for some reason cinema history and appreciation is not made as accessible to many, whether it's perception or apathy, and this is seen in the way we talk about movies (again, they're "just movies"), with the release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens, and Star Wars being the topics of a lot of this talk recently. 

I've now read that George Lucas is "...an incredible businessman, but not a genius." I've read that even the first Star Wars itself "was just as contrived as the new one”, which has then led to statements like "There's a reason we don't talk about The Hidden Fortress (a huge inspiration for Star Wars, and an amazing film), THX 1138, and American Graffiti (two of Lucas' previous films. Both incredibly underrated) today."

We don't talk about The Hidden Fortress today because only cinephiles talk about classic cinema, and believe me, we talk about The Hidden Fortress. We don't talk about THX 1138 because only cinephiles talk about Art Films, since they blur the line between Fine and Pop-art in a way that many casual viewers aren't sure how to view. We don't talk about American Graffiti because it got buried by Universal Pictures because those studio bozos didn’t like it. The film itself made well over its budget back in its original run and its subsequent theatrical re-releases by the studio, was well-liked by viewers, critically acclaimed, and was even nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. It also rekindled interest in 50s and 60s American culture, allowing other films and TV, notably Happy Days, to find success.

It’s true that George Lucas has hurt himself as an artist, and hurt his product over recent years, and that has understandably caused some to (arguably) rightfully question his status as a genius, but when you look at the donut and not the hole, you'll see that he's always been more “George Lucas: Creator of Star Wars” and much less “George Lucas: Director of Howard the Duck”. When George surrounded himself with people who challenged him, like a good collaborator does, he rose to the occasion, instead of just steamrolling them and forgetting to tell us a well-crafted story, like he did with the Prequels. But Hollywood constantly doubted him, drove him away, and created the George Lucas that made that Prequel Trilogy “how he wanted to”. That doesn't make the Prequels any better, but with that understanding, you can go back and remember to appreciate George for the filmmaker he was in his time and the good things he did for Pop-cinema as a whole. (Note: It also wouldn’t hurt if you go back and watch THX 1138 and American Graffiti, because they are truly great movies, and will show you much more of the artist George Lucas was)


I discovered at a young age that we need to love movies for their imperfection, and it eventually drove me to learn their history, much like you would do with any medium of Art. I've also spent years studying Cinema, and that's not just watching movies. I've watched countless documentaries about their history and how they are made; read countless books about making movies and trade magazines about how they are made; I've even made my own films. While it doesn't take years of study or making your own movies, I do believe that only through education and experience can you understand the medium and talk about it with a sense of knowing. It's one thing to feel a certain way about a piece of art, but how we perceive, analyze, and discuss it is another, and it is happening so unintelligently, being lumped in with "our opinion", and it's hurting all of us. Most are so concerned with having strong opinions that they forget to have strong ideas, or provide good criticism or analysis. We then close our minds to discussion, so quick to “agree to disagree” and move on. If we really want movies to be better, we have to talk about them better, and that won’t happen the way it is right now. So if you like movies, watch movies, learn about movies, and talk movies. Don’t be afraid to like what you like, but also don’t be afraid of others’ ideas, don’t be afraid of analysis, and don’t be afraid to think critically.