George Lucas to TIME: "All democracies turn into dictatorships..."

TIME Magazine via TheForce.net ^ | April 21, 2002

[Darth Sidious]

Here's the press release for the latest edition of Time Magazine which is on newstands now:

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COVER: Yoda Is An Action Hero
in the latest STAR WARS Feature

TIME Interview--GEORGE LUCAS:
'All democracies turn into dictatorships...That's the issue I've been exploring: how did the Republic turn into the Empire'

TIME's JESS CAGLE Was First Journalist To See the New Movie, Which Opens May 16

New York - Yoda is the real action hero of the newest "Star Wars" prequel opening May 16, reveals TIME's Jess Cagle - the first journalist to see the entire feature this past Thursday, at the side of creator George Lucas at Skywalker Ranch in Marin County, CA.

Now fully computer-animated, Yoda (who appears on TIME magazine's cover) is "no longer the endearing puppet animated by Frank Oz's hand" but is "both more supple and more thoughtful," Cagle reports. "Who'd have thought that our sedentary sage was such a deft martial artist, with lightsaber maneuvers...a Gandhi-turned-Rambo?"

In TIME's cover story, "Yoda Strikes Back!" An exclusive guide to the new STAR WARS movie, Episode II--Attack of the Clones" (on newsstands Mon., April 22), Cagle and critic Richard Corliss provide the most detailed view yet of the much-awaited fifth feature. Cagle talks to Lucas about how Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader - and political analogies in the latest "Star Wars" installment (some scenes remind TIME of Kofi Annan and John McCain).

Lucas tells TME about his own geopolitics, reflected in the features:
"All democracies turn into dictatorships--but not by coup. The people give their democracy to a dictator, whether it's Julius Caesar or Napoleon or Adolf Hitler. Ultimately, the general population goes along with the idea. What kinds of things push people and institutions in this direction? That's the issue I've been exploring: how did the Republic turn into the Empire?...How does a good person go bad, and how does a democracy become a dictatorship?"

Lucas also opens up about how Anakin Skywalker becomes Darth Vader:
"Because he gets attached to things...He can't let go of his mother...his girlfriend...things. It makes you greedy. And when you're greedy, you are on the path to the dark side because you fear that you're going to lose things. You fear you're not going to have the power you need."

Lucas admits to TIME that his 1999 Star Wars movie, Episode I--The Phantom Menace, was not universally revered - though it made $431 million at the North American box office, making it the fourth highest-grossing movie of all time (after Titanic, the original Star TIME 'Star Wars' cover story/p. 2 of 2) Wars, and E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial.) "I'm getting my education now from the press," Lucas says. "They come in and say, 'Wow. People hated your movie. What do you think about that?"

"There's only one issue for a filmmaker," Lucas tells TIME. "Will this make it's money back so I can make the next one?" With Phantom Menace, Lucas admits he did not know: "It didn't have Harrison Ford, Mark Hamill, Carrie Fisher. It was not a slam dunk."

Lucas also talks with TIME about fatherhood ("My kids don't have a perfect life...they don't have a mother, and they just have to get over it"); making movies for 12-year-olds ("We had reached a period in terms of our society of not having a mythology, of not having a code that you pass down to the next generation"); demands of fans ("I can't really make a movie for fans"), and more.

Cagle and Corliss conclude Clones is "two hours of serious fun." By adding love scenes between stars Natalie Portman and Hayden Christensen, Cagle and Corliss conclude the hit new feature "looks like Shaquille O'Neal standing three feet from the basket." Clones extends the franchise "from 12-year-old boys (the action scenes) to 15-year-old girls (the love scenes). If it works, Lucas has quite a combo: the Star Wars and Titanic markets in one package."

TIME also reports:

? Interview: NATALIE PORTMAN:
When she's not playing Amidala, actress Natalie Portman has been going to college and keeping a low profile. "When I'm at a restaurant with my parents," Portman tells TIME, "I don't want to be stared at." Yet last week she wrote a letter to the Harvard Crimson objecting to a racially-charged essay about the Palestinian conflict that appeared in the paper; her family immigrated from Israel. Portman has completed her credits for a B.A. in psychology but may go back for another year of college before the summer of 2003, when the next Star Wars film goes into production.

? Interview: HAYDEN CHRISTENSON:
Actor Hayden Christenson, 21, whose role as Anakin Skywalker, Jedi knight-in-training, will make him world-famous, tells TIME "I think I'm a pretty grounded individual and will handle it as well as anyone my age would...Or maybe I'll become a big mess. Who knows?"

? Digital Yoda:
Once rubber, Yoda is now digital for Attack of the Clones. "We didn't want to make him look like he was real," Lucas tells TIME. The digital Yoda remains remarkably true to the delicate puppetry of Frank Oz, who still supplies the voice, TIME reports.

? FIRST ENTIRELY DIGITAL FEATURE 'FILM':
Clones is the first major feature to be shot and, in certain theatres, shown on digital disks. "The result," writes TIME's Richard Corliss, "is a breathtakingly clear image that lends a superreal glamour."

? 'Star Wars' Effect:
The series' huge success "forever altered the way Hollywood made movies and did business," according to TIME. Now, "films are made for kids, especially teen boys." Once, "movies were one-offs; there was no 'Gone With the Wind II." Now, "Studios swing for the fences to get a megahit action film that can win name-brand recognition and be profitably cloned for years to come."

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You can read more by clicking here and check out the Lucas interview by clicking here.

[Ditto]

"All democracies turn into dictatorships"

Excuse me, but that's like saying that all dogs are canines.

Democracy is Dictatorship of the majority over the minority. That is why a founders rejected direct democracy and instead created a Constitutional Republic.

[Darth Sidious]

Well, even here he has a good point. Because we CAN become too attached to things - and even people - to the point where our attachment stifles our growth, leaving us with little or no development. One can either choose to let something go on its own, realizing that all things are lost eventually anyway... or one can try to keep hold, and in growing so desperate will ultimately destroy himself and others around him.

In the end, it becomes to where we put our trust: in things or in God. Lose the things and you gain God. Lose the things you think defines you, and your true identity gains more room to grow.

[AmishDude]

Episode I could have been improved if Lucas had done what he is doing here -- getting someone to write/rewrite the dialogue. That and cast a more mature actor as you-know-who. The plan all along was to have this be darker and more mature and TPM was supposed to be a contrast anyway.

Actually, I read a bit of the review from Harry Knowles and he said that AOTC actually makes TPM a better movie.

But a Canadian as Darth Vader? "Join the dark side, eh."

[AmishDude]

There's a digital theater at:

Harkins Arrowhead Cinemas 18
16046 N Arrowhead Fountain Center Drive
Peoria, Arizona 85345
USA
Tel: 602-222-HARK (Tickets)
website

[marajade]

Have to admit, TPM is my least favorite of the four that have been released. But I have a feeling Ep. II may become my favorite. There really wasn't much GL could have done differently in Ep. I... he had to start somewhere in Anakin's youth...

As a 42 year old married woman I gotta say Hayden is very attractive. Have you seen "Life Is A House"? Hayden did very well in it and deserved every acting award/nomination he received for it.

I would have liked Joshua Jackson cast myself but hey its GL's baby.

I can't wait until Wed when Amazon.com fed ex's the book and unabridged audio CD to my doorstep this week.

[TheDon]

It has no power to ask for or gain the infringement of individual rights.

I'll have to disagree with that statement. The counter examples in our own Republic are enough to point out the fallacy of such a statement.

[marajade]

I know about Harkins in Peoria. But there's an AMC 30 about three miles from where I live...

I can wait until Nov. 1 of this year when its rumored that Ep. II will be released on DVD.

[Grig]

Let's put this in a bit more context:

Obi-Wan echoes John McCain on campaign-finance reform: "It is my experience that Senators focus only on pleasing those who fund their campaigns ... and they are by no means scared of forgetting the niceties of democracies in order to get those funds." Padme, in a scene cut from the film, sounds like Kofi Annan pleading for Palestinians when she tells the Senate, "If you offer the separatists violence, they can only show us violence in return! Many will lose their lives. All will lose their freedom." Anakin, like Brutus just before the Ides of March, says if the Senate cannot resolve its differences, "then they should be made to." By whom? "Someone wise," he says. Padme muses, "That sounds an awful lot like a dictatorship to me."

So where does Lucas stand in this political polemic? "I'm more on the liberal side of things," he says. "I grew up in San Francisco in the '60s, and my positions are sort of shaped by that ... If you look back 30 years ago, there were certain issues with the Kennedys, with Richard Nixon, that focused my interest." Lucas' own geopolitics can sound pretty bleak: "All democracies turn into dictatorships?but not by coup. The people give their democracy to a dictator, whether it's Julius Caesar or Napoleon or Adolf Hitler. Ultimately, the general population goes along with the idea ... What kinds of things push people and institutions into this direction?"

I think that Lucas if right on the money in the general case, that self-serving corrupt political leaders can use a time of crisis to grab power for themselves, and that with the approval of the masses devolve into dictatorships, but I think that in the specific case of the present, they got the good guys mixed up with the bad guys. McLame is the one who wants us to sell our freedoms for 'reform'. I really hope Ep2 isn't used as a pro-demoncrat political soapbox, I want it to be something enjoyable.

[snopercod]

So what do y'all do when the government violates your rights? Assume fetal position and whimper, "Thank you Sir, may I have another"? How far do you intend to let "the oligarchy" push you around before you take protective action?

May I remind you that the purpose of FreeRepublic is to "...roll back decades of governmental largesse..." It sure sounds like more than a few members here have mentally accepted a dictorship already.

We only have the rights we defend, as long as we are able.

[snopercod]

From the above link:

No system of government, will preserve for us, what is our own responsibility to defend. And for all the fury which might release upon catastrophic failures by our government officials to uphold the lawful laws, no recovery is possible without the people being well-informed of what is our responsibility and trust ... and duty to restore.

--First_Salute

[M Kehoe]

Bumping #4.

I wonder if Mr. Lucas is a product of the public school system?

5.56mm

[NEWwoman]

Some thoughts from Gibbon (author of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire), who lists 5 steps for the decline of the Roman Empire:

1. Undermining the dignity and sanctity of the home, which is the basis the basis of human society

2. Higher and higher taxes, the spending of public of public money for free bread and circuses for the populace

3. Mad craze for pleasure and sports becoming every year more exciting, more brutal, and more immoral

4. Building of great amarmaments when the real enemy is within; the decay of individual responsibility

5. Decay of religion, fading into mere form, losing touch with life, and losing power to guide the people.

In summary: A nation's decline begins with spiritual apostacy (no sense of right and wrong - it's all relative ...), which is followed by moral awfulness (we are there, aren't we?), and results in political anarchy.

I see how All democracies turn into dictatorships.When we reach political anarchy, a strong man/woman easily takes over and is most welcomed.

[Paulus Invictus]

And he always was, even at USC.

[MadIvan]

Actually it was a retelling of the story of King Arthur. Obi-Wan is Merlin, Luke is the young king Arthur, and the light-saber is Excalibur.

It is re-telling Dune. Luke Skywalker is a young man with special powers who lives on a desert world. Muad'dib is a young man with special abilities who resides on a desert world. Obi Wan holds the wisdom of the desert, so does Stilgar. One masters the Force, or the Weirding Way. Fighting is anachronistic either using a large laser sword or knives.

You get the picture. Except Dune was written in 1965.

Ya hya chouhada!

Regards, Ivan

Dreamers of Dune

[Temple Owl]

I believe Clinton would have been a dictator on par with Adolf Hitler given the opportunity. He used the IRS as a Gestapo unit, He did not and does not know right from wrong. He was a very scary commander in chief.

[marajade]

Probably... I believe he was a graduate of Modesto HS in Modesto, CA if memory serves me correctly.

[M Kehoe]

#70

Pretty good guy. I like that.

And as Patrick Henry said, and I paraphrase; "...sometines only by the use of force..."

5.56mm

[M Kehoe]

Modesto H.S.

Thanks.

5.56mm

[marajade]

His movie American Graffiti was based upon crusing when he was a teenager in Modesto, CA.