WTF: Leave George Lucas Alone!!!

Posted by Kevin Carr (kevin@filmschoolrejects.com) on June 4, 2008

Leave George Lucas alone!

Unlike Sharon Stone last week, I am painfully aware that what I am about to say is going to get me flamed faster than a set at Universal Studios. But I cannot remain silent.

A few weeks ago, leading up to the release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, the George Lucas haters came out in full force. After the fans worldwide saw the new movie, complete with bouncing refrigerators, curious prairie dogs and Shia LaBeouf flying through the air like Tarzan, there was an uproar.

Similar to what we saw after the release of the Star Wars prequels (which was most fiery after the release of Episode I), people began to lash out at Lucas. And the amount of hate that’s flying at this old dude leads me to say…

What the fuck?

Look, I was as annoyed with Jar Jar Binks as the rest of human civilization, but I’m not letting Lucas’s goofy ideas ruin my life… or rape my childhood, as one of our writers once so eloquently put it.

Was the Tarzan scene in Indy 4 silly? Sure. Were the prairie dogs bordering on the side of “too cute”? Probably. Were most of the bad ideas probably those of George Lucas rather than Steven Spielberg? That’s a pretty good bet.

But here’s where I defend Lucas. He’s doing what he wants to do. Period. No one is dictating anything to him. This guy has enough money to buy and sell all of his fans two times over. He can self-finance a $200 million movie and not bat an eye. He is the true embodiment of the independent filmmaker.

You may not like what he does, but he really doesn’t have to answer to you. He doesn’t even need your ticket money (or your DVD money, or your gaming money, or your collectible money). In this industry, people are crucified for being a sell-out or being a whore for the studios. But someone like George Lucas, who owns the Star Wars empire end-to-end, has total control.

The reality is that most of us want to see films that we love as fans. We have to remember that Lucas isn’t a fan at all. He’s a guy who is so inundated with Star Wars and Indiana Jones buzz that he’s plain sick of the old films. He’s trying new things, whether we like them or not. Sure, a lot of them are bad ideas – from Greedo shooting first to Darth Vader building C-3PO. But Lucas doesn’t have to answer to us.

And if you get past your own bellyaching, you might just realize that this is one of the best positions for someone to be in for the movie industry.

Image Source: The hilarious cartoon with Lil’ Lucas comes from Jolly Jack. Visit his deviantART site for more cool stuff.


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  • Really Kevin?

    I totally understand the hyperbole of saying that Lucas rapes all of our childhoods, but defending him on the grounds that he gets to do what he wants without answering to anyone, especially the fans? Blasphemous, sir.

    Creating or communicating any kind of art without regard to the audience is a bad call. Especially when you're in the business of selling tickets. He doesn't need our ticket money, but he wants it. Trust me. He may be super wealthy, but he wants butts in the seats as much as anyone else.

    If you really want to give him credit, give him credit for the good ideas and the bad. My problem with all the negative press is that people only focus on the monkeys and the prairie dogs. Lucas is responsible for Indiana Jones on a much larger scale, and at this point, most people see him as meddling with Spielberg's movie instead of being the man in charge of his own creation.

    Plus, if you're going to let five minutes of screen time ruin a movie for you, you deserve prairie dogs and monkeys. Lucas still must know that he's working on a large scale commercial project and not some vanity production.
  • blackmanjew
    eh i bet its all steven spielbergs fault. he makes horrible movies. most of them about space. i saw indy4 opening night with a sell out crowd. when the credits rolled 1 person did two claps and then it was quiet. you could tell everyone hated it the whole crowd was uneasy and glad it was over. the whole alien thing was just stupid. the next day i started reading the critics reviews of the movie and they were all good!??! WTF? JUST BECAUSE SPIELBERG DIRECTED THE MOVIE IT WAS GIVEN 4 STARS. BULLSHIT. (remember his movie AI - the reviews were just off the charts and that movie could very well be the worst movie of all time) am i wrong?
  • Lucas isn't an independent filmmaker. He's a man with an uncanny knack for making things with amazing potential turn out good at best. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was an abomination. Lucas has a hard-on for special effects. One that tends to ruin the potential that the majority of his belated sequels inherently have. This movie is decent at best, and even then only to the casual Indiana Jones fan. For those of us die-hard fans, it just plain sucks, which is really disappointing given the impressive performance by 65-yr-old Harrison Ford and the casting of Shia LeBoeuf. Anyway, I'll have an editorial up about my feelings regarding the fourth installment of Indiana Jones, so keep an eye out for it. Just because Lucas seems to be able to do whatever he wants without having to answer to anyone doesn't mean that's a good position to have in the movie industry. Okay, done for now. *sigh*
  • My comment adds to what Rebecca Winters Keegan said in her Open Letter to George Lucas in Time Magazine: http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,18...

    I think that George Lucas's mistakes are more obvious because he's making sequels to his old classics. Other younger directors make the same mistake of using too much CGI. Its still inexcusable. I'm glad he's stayed independent. But he still has the bad habits of independent directors like collaborating more with the rest of the production team. Of course things like the lightsabers effects, the motion camera work came from other people. He just needs to listen to the criticisms from other professionals.

    I'm okay if he doesn't listen to outside critics. I don't like it either if someones says bad things abuot me. Sometimes I listen to them, though. And those people turned out to be right.
  • Jim
    By defending Lucas on the grounds that he gets to do what he wants without answering to anyone, couldn't you also apply that defense to Pol Pot?

    I also want to know why more blame isn't being heaped on the shoulders of David Koepp who wrote a piss poor script.
  • 790
    I don't have a prob with Lucas.
    Prob I have Keven, is that I can no longer receive replys from your site. WTF!

    I smell conspiracy!
  • 790
    O well.
  • As far as Indiana Jones goes, okay look people, Indy isn't getting any younger. The film made sense as far as plot goes. The hype though made the whole thing anti-climactic to say the least. I had to deal with a talker where I went to see it though. She had to comment on everything. I'd cringe every time she talked. I can't stand talkers at a theater by now so if you're a talker, please, don't talk. When art first comes out though, you have to remember that the audience is picked up over time. Finally, the audience gets to make a judgment on the art itself, then you can get feedback. This is all coming with someone who studied creative writing though. Take it or leave it.
  • marky
    doesnt it make it even worse the fact that lucas doesnt have to answer to the film studios and still manages to make such utter crap.
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