Posted on 12/17/2015 12:43:33 PM PST by Zhang Fei
George Lucasâ original intent was that his original trilogy be remembered as a striking blow against American imperialism.
In the run up to the âStar Wars: The Force Awakens,â the latest addition to the franchise, there has been a flurry of blog activity making comparisons between current national security issues and a âgalaxy far, far away.â Star Wars is a fruitful topic for writers everywhere, as it has a broad appeal and is general knowledge for most people because of its status in popular culture. What many people may not know, however, is that Star Wars creator George Lucas had national security issues in mind as he wrote and produced the first three movies in the series.
âStar Wars: A New Hopeâ was released in 1977, just two years after the fall of Saigon, Vietnam, and four years after the end of direct U.S. military involvement in Vietnam. These memories were fresh in movie audienceâs minds as they viewed the on-screen struggle of poorly trained and equipped Rebels against the technological juggernaut that was the Empire. The analogy lay on the surface, and it was not unintentional. Lucas has since suggested that his work was meant as an allegorical protest of the Vietnam War.
(Excerpt) Read more at taskandpurpose.com ...
With the exception of Alec Guinness in the good guy role of Obi Wan Kenobi, that is.
Anyone who saw that opening scene on the big screen (back when they HAD big screens) will ever forget it, regardless of age.
What American imperialism?
The audience participation line when the death star blew up was F@#kin shack!!
I have no idea what Lucas thought he was projecting. He failed dismally if he thought it was perceived to be anti-American.
Star Wars now makes $5 billion a year in various merchandise.
You mean Luke was VC?
Luke Skywalker was really "Luke the Gook?"
Han Solo was NVA?
Chewbacca was a Soviet Advisor?
Funny this should come up I had a ‘suggested items’ post come up on my feed. It posed this question.
“Which Star Wars character is your pick for president and why?”
My answer:
“Yoda’s dead, so is Kenobi, Solo is easily bought, Luke is good but no match for the Emperor by himself , Leia hasn’t developed her skills. that leaves Vader.
Inasmuch as pretty much all politicians are Sith anyway, he’s shown that he has just enough good in him to depose Palpatine and the skill to pull it off.”
“The Evil Emperor WAS Brezhnev-—look at pics of the guy.”
Maybe the Emperor’s heart was like Brezhnev’s, but his ace was ALL Pope Benedict XVI. Check it out:
http://archives.weirdload.com/ratzipics.html
Be aware that this site is very anti-Catholic. It isn’t my intent to spread that stuff around, but he had the best pictures around.
LOL
“Thx 1138” was Lucas’ first film. I rewatched it recently. Then I attempted to watch it again with the director’s commentary. Apparently, the film is representative of early 1960’s America, which Lucas deemed too repressive. I turned off the commentary after about five minutes.
“Chewbacca was a Soviet Advisor? “
No, Chewbacca is a (fugly) mole and lives at 1600 Pensylvania Avenue.
Want to feel old? Alec Guinness was 63 when Star Wars came out in theaters (born April 2, 1914). Mark Hamill is 64 (born September 25, 1951).
You are wrong. They most certainly do change society. I can give several examples. "China Syndrome" had a massive impact on the licensing for nuclear power reactors.
"Silence of the Lambs" is how we got the Homosexual censorship board on all subsequent movies.
"One flew over the Cuckoo's Nest" finished off what the book started, which was a complete flip on the national attitude regarding involuntary incarceration. This not only released all the homosexuals out of the asylums, it released all the other sorts of crazies into our society as well.
"To Kill A Mockingbird" was instrumental in passing the 24th Amendment and the Civil Rights act of 1964. Both of which have opened the door for massive abuse by the Federal Government.
"I was a fugitive from a chain gang" and "I don't want to die" softened the public's attitude towards both incarceration and the death penalty.
You have not a freakin clue. Movies (and books) do indeed change society. According to Abraham Lincoln, Harriet Beecher Stowe basically triggered the Civil War with her book "Uncle Tom's Cabin."
"The Jungle" caused massive upheaval in the Meatpacking industry and thereby created the Federal inspection system."
Not all movies or books have significant societal impact, but many do, and significant societal impact is often what their creators are attempting. Sometimes they succeed.
I have come to realize about George Lucas that "Fail" is his normal mode of operation. I have come around to the position put forth by "Mr. Plinkett", that Star Wars was only good because somehow the rest of the staff kept George Lucas from totally screwing it up.
Everything George Lucas had a strong hand in since is utter crap. The first movie was excellent. The Second Okay. All the rest were just terrible. The more George Lucas there was in these movies, the worse they were.
I can now only conclude that the first one was a weird fluke, and George Lucas has no actual talent at anything.
No they don’t. China Syndrome had no effect on nuclear power reactors, we’re twitchy about nuclear because A - we bombed Japan, and B - 3 Mile Island.
There aren’t homosexuals in Silence of the Lambs.
Geraldo Rivera’s report on Willowbrook is what flipped American attitudes regarding involuntary incarceration.
Dead activists lead to the CRA.
Oh look, there you go with the insults. Thus proving you know the facts don’t back you.
No movies don’t change society. Where was the big rise of Christianity after Passion? Lots of folks thought that movie would massively remake America, it sure did make money, but then it went away. Part of the problem is even the biggest hit movie is still really only seen by a small section of society. The new Star Wars is going to make hundreds of millions of dollars in its run and will be seen by less than 5% of the population. You don’t remake society on under 5%. Maybe a long time ago when we were a much smaller country with a much smaller entertainment industry and a much higher percentage of the population would consume the same thing. But if those days existed they passed over 100 years ago and will never come back. We are no longer a shared experience society.
I had an idea for a story in which two sides (human and aliens) were using Game Theory to plan their war, but were mistaken about their opponents' value system. That is, each was wrong about the other's payoff. Under that situation, each could think they were winning, while the war was bleeding both white.
It was years later, in the late 1960s, when I finally got the time to write the story. It was published in ANALOG SCIENCE FICTION under the title Zero Sum.
To me, it was primarily an exercise in mathematics, dressed up as a piece of science fiction. However, reviewers thought it was intended as an anti-Vietnam story. I really hadn't thought in terms of Vietnam at all. It was just that I'd finally found the time to write a story I'd been meaning to write for years.
I thought Star Wars was a rip off of Flash Gordon.
Can’t movies or art just be enjoyment?
A few years ago I was on vacation in Mauai. There was an art gallery hosting a show with Anthony Hopkins. While there some artsy fartsy type kept trying to ask him “What does this mean, What statement are you making, what inspired this, what is the message...”
To which he replied one of the best I’ve heard at an art gallery.
“I just like painting, why does it have to mean anything?”
I remember when the horrible Episode 1 came out and how it was all about George bush. Or when Batman came out it was about Romney.
I was too young to really know much about Viet Nam but to me Star Wars was a fun good versus bad movie. Not some stupid political statement.
Funny, I don’t recall him saying anything about that when the first movie came out, or the second or third. Lord knows I stopped paying attention when he puked out the second trilogy.
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