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George Lucas quips he sold 'Star Wars' to "white slavers," criticizes tone of TFA

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PopeReal

Member
If the second and third film end up bringing new ideas and ambition to the franchise than these particular criticisms will definitely vanish. If they don't, than these criticisms will multiply tenfold (rightfully so).

People are going to bitch no matter what. If they do something new, people will ask why isn't it like old Star Wars.

The vocal minority takes over in situations like these. Of the people that I know that love, absolutely LOVE this movie, none of them bother to go online to defend it. They love it and they don't care. I am the only idiot who seems to need to talk about it online.

Which is why I can't wait for the thread about episode VIII and what we think will happen. Leave the other threads for people to dissect TFA.

And yes they can be critical about a movie, but in my opinion there is a difference between being critical and nitpicking the living shit out of something. They are allowed to "be critical" and I am allowed to call bullshit on it.
 
Funny that you complain about this since Luke Skywalker has become a myth by the time of TFA.

The Jedi were "forgotten" because the Empire did their damn best to erase any record and actively hunted down any remains. And even then, the Jedi are not really "forgotten" in the OT.

You mean that Luke who was on his own journay is comperable to the Jedis which were like the fourth power in the old republic?
 
I was just thinking the other day about how somehow we're left with a PT that tried lots of new things but ended up a cheesy, soulless husk, and now we've got a movie that got the spirit right but was 50% rehash. Comparing them is not as fair as judging each as inferior to the OT in their own ways.
 
Listening to Lucas' thoughts on wanting to do a multi-generation family opera makes me think he envisioned Game of Thrones in space. I never knew that he was critical about the A New Hope, lamenting the fact that it was only "35%" of what he originally had in mind. What he mistakenly created, although loved, was "kiddie" compared to what he wanted. Interesting.
 

Ishida

Banned
Honestly, can we quit pretending like women leads is some gutsy move in 2015? It's not.

Exactly. Outside of a very vocal group of sexist/racist people, I have yet to find proof that casting a black or female protagonist is something risky and revolutionary.

You mean that Luke who was on his own journay is comperable to the Jedis which were like the fourth power in the old republic?

You still haven't explained why you think the Jedi were "forgotten" by the time of the OT. They are not mentioned, because why would they. But forgotten?
 

Isak_Borg

Member
TFA is basically weekend at Bernies trotting out a corpse and tossing some new clothing on it to whip individuals who can't get over their childhood nostalgia and need their egos fed.

It's basically about art va commerce the Lucas films are basically statement pieces and come from a place of ideas and trying to say something while TFA is nothing but a commercial entity trying to pry every single dollar it can from its viewing audience.

While I find TFA enjoyable I'm kind of saddened by the fact that Disney has turned into an IP farm that basically placates fanboys with commercial crap that has no artistic statement.


Edit: best example of a series that has an artistic statement yet as a revival is Mad Max Fury Road.
 
Funny that you complain about this since Luke Skywalker has become a myth by the time of TFA.

The Jedi were "forgotten" because the Empire did their damn best to erase any record and actively hunted down any remains. And even then, the Jedi are not really "forgotten" in the OT.

I never understood that "Jedi only gone for 20 years" argument. There are only a few thousand Jedi in a GALAXY of trillions upon trillions. 99.9999% of the galaxy will probably go their entire lives never even seeing about Jedi.
 

pompidu

Member
Episode I,II,III were a crime against my eyes,ears and intelligence. They are C-movies with A-movie budget.

Acting? Horrifying.
Cgi? Ugly.
Story? Dumb as balls.
Yoda doing flips with a lightsaber? Dumbest shit ever put on screen.

Cannot take anything George Lucas says to heart, those movies almost ruined star wars franchise as a whole.
 
TFA is basically weekend at Bernies trotting out a corpse and tossing some new clothing on it to whip individuals who can't get over their childhood nostalgia and need their egos fed.

It's basically about art va commerce the Lucas films are basically statement pieces and come from a place of ideas and trying to say something while TFA is nothing but a commercial entity trying to pry every single dollar it can from its viewing audience.

While I find TFA enjoyable I'm kind of saddened by the fact that Disney has turned into an IP farm that basically placates fanboys with commercial crap that has no artistic statement.
What was George trying to tell us with the Ewoks?
 

Bloomers

Member
lol sorry george, you're gonna have to stay salty on this one. Despite the many naysayers, I'd say TFA's revisiting of ANH worked entirely to its advantage, from both financial and creative standpoints.

But man, I dunno where that white slavers comment came from lol
 
Yep, forgetting the Catholic Church in 20 years is as dumb as forgetting George Washington in 30

It's like forgetting who was the second man on the moon - Luke was never in the middle point of attention outside of a small circle of people. While the Knights Templar are still known.

You still haven't explained why you think the Jedi were "forgotten" by the time of the OT. They are not mentioned, because why would they. But forgotten?

Episode 4. Rewatch it.
 

Ishida

Banned
Episode I,II,III were a crime against my eyes,ears and intelligence. They are C-movies with A-movie budget.

Acting? Horrifying.
Cgi? Ugly.
Story? Dumb as balls.
Yoda doing flips with a lightsaber? Dumbest shit ever put on screen.

Cannot take anything George Lucas says to heart, those movies almost ruined star wars franchise as a whole.

You must be very fragile and delicate.

Episode 4. Rewatch it.

Done. Try harder.
 
TFA is basically weekend at Bernies trotting out a corpse and tossing some new clothing on it to whip individuals who can't get over their childhood nostalgia and need their egos fed.

It's basically about art va commerce the Lucas films are basically statement pieces and come from a place of ideas and trying to say something while TFA is nothing but a commercial entity trying to pry every single dollar it can from its viewing audience.

While I find TFA enjoyable I'm kind of saddened by the fact that Disney has turned into an IP farm that basically placates fanboys with commercial crap that has no artistic statement.


Edit: best example of a series that has an artistic statement yet as a revival is Mad Max Fury Road.

hasn't star wars always been a merchandise machine?

star wars may be the biggest movie ip but I don't think of it as high art. I would throw the entire franchise in the same category as Avatar and Jurassic World.
 

Isak_Borg

Member
What was George trying to tell us with the Ewoks?

You can actually look at the Ewoks as playing with the notion that tribal groups are considered inferior yet overcame a technological society that was considered superior.

You know a commentary on how society views tribal societies... Something that is still relevant today.
 

mcfrank

Member
There is a reason the first line in TFA is "This will begin to make things right" and it is not because George left the series in a good place.
 

Fj0823

Member
It's like forgetting who was the second man on the moon - Luke was never in the middle point of attention outside of a small circle of people. While the Knights Templar are still known.



Episode 4. Rewatch it.

He put up a fucking Jedi School and his sister is RIGHT THERE as a prominent political figure

Becomes an unbelievable myth in 30 years.

How can you not see the dumbness??
 

Jobbs

Banned
Would you rather a Matte painting? Hell there's a part in ROTJ were you can clearly see Lando walking to a wall with a Matte painting of the Falcon on it when they're about to assualt the second Death Star. At least CGI can Move.

mattepainting.png

This is something I always noticed as a kid and it's one of the many reasons I never liked ROTJ as much as ESB. I couldn't get my head around why they had a full scale Falcon in ESB but used a big silly painting in ROTJ.

ESB is, for my money, the best of the OT and generally Star Wars at its very best. TFA despite a couple knitpicks is quite awesome -- And I really, really appreciate its frequent use of real props, sets, and creatures/aliens/costumes/etc.
 
I feel like the people who think the prequel trilogy are "the worst films of all time" are mostly 16 year olds who have seen like 10 movies in their life.
 
It's funny, but I think the best way to compare TPM and TFA in term of "originality" is by what the extended universe and other non-movie properties (novels, cartoons, videogames) can use from each movie that it didn't have before

TPM brought:
* The idea of Sith
* Different configurations for lightsabers
* What a world with numerous Jedi would operate like
* Podracing

TFA brought:
* Stormtroopers create through kidnapping/indoctrination
* A weapon other than a blaster for Storm Troopers

I mean we have the Knights of Ren and Snoke, which we'll learn more about, but until then they're simply another fringe group of Dark Side users which we've seen in numerous different properties (Snoke is probably important thought)
 
Honestly, can we quit pretending like women leads is some gutsy move in 2015? It's not.

Besides, movies like The Hunger Games starred a woman, and they were incredibly successful.

Hunger Games is based on a YA novel written for young women and is marketed toward woman. Star Wars, especially all the merchandises, has always been marketed towards boys. It WAS a gutsy move on Disney's part. Hollywood is finally seeing that men will still love a movie that has a woman in the central role. It would be like marking a Rambo reboot staring Gina Carano or something.
 

MrBadger

Member
The prequels were a man creating his own personal vision for the franchise and The Force Awakens is a film that's very aware of what fans like about Star Wars and what they want to see. I can see why George feels the way he does even though I think the prequels are crap and the new film is so much better.

And yes, TFA does play it safe, but perhaps a contributing factor to that is the infamy of the prequels. who knows...
 

Ishida

Banned
The movie states that the Jedis are a long forgotten religion. Vader was for the admirals and officers an joke character in that one meeting.

Not sure why you are trying to play this game.

That's what an Imperial officer says. Do we get any actual proof of what he is saying?

Hunger Games is based on a YA novel written for young women and is marketed toward woman. Star Wars, especially all the merchandises, has always been marketed towards boys. It WAS a gutsy move on Disney's part. It would be like marking a Rambo reboot staring Gina Carano or something.

That's assuming the movies didn't have a strong reception by the male demographic. Casting a female lead is NOT a risky move.
 
While I truly love TFA( seen it 3 times) he does make a valid point about the movie being safe, and not introducing anything unfamiliar really to the franchise with episode 7. Hopefully they expand on the universe a bit more, and add more ships besides 2015 versions of x-wings/Tiefighters in 8,and 9...
 

spookyfish

Member
So basically Lucas was against the idea of TFA being an ANH retread.

I can appreciate that.

Shhhh. Let people talk about how "fresh and new" the movie is without Lucas' involvement.

Personally, I'm okay Lucas is gone. This is a weird interview to me -- if you cared, why sell it? He doesn't have room to criticize. No one forced him to sell the franchise.
 
He needs to kindly shut up when he is the one who sold it and created the god awful prequels. And people keep trotting out how TFA is a rehash as if that's somehow a knock on the film.
 
He is right that this movie is pretty retro with a fresh coat of paint. I like the diversity and the female lead, but it definitely feels like it's not seeking to say anything more than the barebones narrative it presents. It ensures that it maintains a bearhug around nostalgia for the first trilogy, similarly to Jurassic World (but Jurassic World is an awful movie).

Ah well. Still a fun movie #staymadlucas.
 

pompidu

Member
I never understand this.

I'm sure Star Wars became MORE successful as a franchise because of the Prequels, even if they were bad? The toyline exploded!

I can see why children, who do not have fully developed brains, can enjoy the prequels and want the toys associated with them.
 
In the end, this man has at least 4 billion dollars.. This one man.

I could live the rest of my life well on less than 1 million. That's a grain of sand on a planet of fucking sand.
 

PopeReal

Member
TFA is basically weekend at Bernies trotting out a corpse and tossing some new clothing on it to whip individuals who can't get over their childhood nostalgia and need their egos fed.

It's basically about art va commerce the Lucas films are basically statement pieces and come from a place of ideas and trying to say something while TFA is nothing but a commercial entity trying to pry every single dollar it can from its viewing audience.

While I find TFA enjoyable I'm kind of saddened by the fact that Disney has turned into an IP farm that basically placates fanboys with commercial crap that has no artistic statement.


Edit: best example of a series that has an artistic statement yet as a revival is Mad Max Fury Road.

This post should be the gaf banner. Complaints about TFA then praising Mad Max.

This is one of those cases where I am happy the critics and general public greatly disagree with the online sentiment of TFA. They did a great job considering all the expectations and all of the bitching that was going to happen no matter what.

Star Wars is in good hands, and I guess at the end of the day having gaf filled with complaints is worth it since I really didn't expect to ever see an Episode VII in my lifetime. :)
 

jett

D-Member
The only thing he regrets is not being directly responsible for the box office success the film is having, and that its on track to beat a Cameron record. He's still salty as fuck over Titanic.

Considering how much TFA apes from ANH, I'm sure he's feeling indirectly responsible for the box office success in some way. :p
 

Fuchsdh

Member
Exactly. Outside of a very vocal group of sexist/racist people, I have yet to find proof that casting a black or female protagonist is something risky and revolutionary.

Yep. The whole point of people complaining about whitewashing and too few women is that it's not revolutionary or a gamble and it's just studio guys not being able to step out of their own frame of reference.

The casting can easily be seen as cynical Disney bean-counting rather than any daring act or attempt at social justice.

People need to stop pretending Twitter racists really matter when it comes to what happens for these commercial products. Black Heimdall didn't affect Thor anymore than ultimately a Black Bond would, whatever the frothing of the Internet seeming to imply otherwise.

At the very least they shouldn't be given kudos for the casting of your argument is that it's what more films should look like.
 

Isak_Borg

Member
In the end, this man has at least 4 billion dollars.. This one man.

I could live the rest of my life well on less than 1 million. That's a grain of sand on a planet of fucking sand.

I'm amazed that people don't realize he's donating all of the money.

People getting bent out of shape about the slavery comment need to realize that Lucas has a black wife and has complained vocally about how hard it is to get a movie starring African Americans funded during the Red Wings campaign.
 

aliengmr

Member
Funny that you complain about this since Luke Skywalker has become a myth by the time of TFA.

The Jedi were "forgotten" because the Empire did their damn best to erase any record and actively hunted down any remains. And even then, the Jedi are not really "forgotten" in the OT.

Rey thought he was a myth. Its never stated that everyone thinks the same. But also there were comparatively less people to witness Luke's feats than the people who witnessed the fall of the Jedi. So it would be understandable for people to not know what happened just prior to the Death Star exploding.

The Jedi Temple was on Coruscant. Short of flashy-thinging citizens of the Republic, no amount of document shredding is going to fix that hole.
 

Isak_Borg

Member
This post should be the gaf banner. Complaints about TFA then praising Mad Max.

This is one of those cases where I am happy the critics and general public greatly disagree with the online sentiment of TFA. They did a great job considering all the expectations and all of the bitching that was going to happen no matter what.

Star Wars is in good hands, and I guess at the end of the day having gaf filled with complaints is worth it since I really didn't expect to ever see an Episode VII in my lifetime. :)

If you don't get what an amazing artistic statement mad max was I'm sorry. I thought TFA was fun and have no problem with it just don't think folks realize it's just treading on nostalgia and really doesn't offer anything. It's the Burger King of movies.
 
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