The hypocrisy of the man who is destroying childhood memories of millions
Star Wars and by extension, George Lucas were both huge parts of my childhood. I’ve seen the original trilogy hundreds of times. I would come home from school, but in one of the vhs tapes and let it play in the background while I played with my toys. Every single line of each of the films has been burned into my memory for eternity. Somewhere along the way I lost interest in Star Wars. I got older, grew up and moved on to other things. When I would see my young cousins over the Holidays and they would show me their Star Wars toys, I would say, “Star Wars! I used to play with stuff like this all the time.” I still looked back fondly on Star Wars and was willing to overlook the terrible new trilogy. Star Wars was a warm memory in my heart, until recently.
This week a few bits of news broke. The first is Star Wars would finally be put out on Blu-Ray. The second is that there will some changes. The third, well I’ll return to the third. The changes in Star Wars aren’t the first. When the original trilogy was re-released in the late 1990′s there were some changes. Minor cosmetic changes, updated effects, etc. There have now been so many changes and re-releases that the subject has merited its own Wikipedia Entry. The latest changes are on one hand seemingly inevitable given the history of changes and completely outrageous on the other. Completely replacing puppet Yoda with a CGI one? Blinking Ewoks? (Confirmed by NY Times) Why is this necessary? People would buy these movies on Blu-Ray just because it is Star Wars. We don’t need something “new” about it other than a better format. You aren’t giving people more for their money, you are destroying their beloved childhood memories.
Does this man not realize he is destroying his legacy for a few extra bucks (millions probably, but still…)? He made a set of movies that were universally loved by both fans and critics despite their flaws. He was unduly worshiped by millions as one of the great auteurs of all time. He had cemented his legacy. He had nothing left to prove. So what does he do? He decides to change a bunch of stuff. Why George, why?
Back to the third bit of news. Someone drudged up an old speech Lucas gave in the 1980′s in which he said, “people who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians.” Seriously? (Full Transcript here) If George Lucas had the secret ambition to become the biggest hypocrite in the history of the world, in that he has succeeded. Unfortunately in the end, this is his to destroy. I’m not sure why anyone would make the decisions he has, but it is totally within his rights to do so. As one internet commenter succinctly put it, “I have altered the film. Pray I do not alter it further…”
