The People vs. George Lucas (2010)

[Johann]

This is a fantastic documentary on George Lucas and his public fans and foes opinions, rants, raves and all-around uber-nerdy worship or denouncement of the Genius filmmaker who struck it rich first with American Graffiti, then hit the Galactic Jackpot with Star Wars, a movie that appeared in the summer of 1977 and changed the World.

I think everyone here should check it out. It is amazing, and I came away from it knowing that George is without a doubt a bona-fide cinematic Genius. He made me completely re-assess Jar-Jar Binks, the meaning of Star Wars, and just how autobiographical the whole thing is.
It is certifably amazing, this film. It was made in 2010, and it is chock full of fan films, vintage films, Kenner commercials, talking heads of all types, from freaky die-hard fans to serious Lucas scholars and fans who know the Star Wars saga far better than I do or did.

Fans are divided as almost polar opposites, in that some have rage (like Sith Lords themselves! LOL) and some have blind devotion to the point where they will buy anything with the Star Wars logo slapped on it.

Watch it. Be amazed at the cinema history and care that went into making this awesome doc.
Now discuss: Midichlorians. Good idea? or Bad idea? Did it ruin the mythology of "The Force"?
That's just one of a zillion debates fans have over this massive movie industry empire called ILM/THX/Skywalker Sound/LucasFilm.

[Johann]

I also love that this film shows you that George Lucas will go to his grave with some mysterious secrets. He is "The Creator", the "George with a Capital G". He's shown on Conan O'Brien's show saying he's also a George W., but he's not The Decider. He's THE CREATOR. I loved that.
There's even a shot of a George Lucas action figure as "The Creator" that a fan owns here!

My personal feelings about George Lucas are not as obsessed and insane as some fans. I feel a kinship with George, as we have the same birthday- May 14. He's more into race cars than me, but his passion for film is the same as mine. People don't give George a lot of credit for loving cinema and shining a light on cinema greats like Akira Kurosawa. They'd rather say he stole a bunch of ideas and packaged it very well into a mainstream, digestible cookie. They forget that he is doing something bigger than making movies. He's changing how movies are made. Which is what he's been doing from Day 1. His work has changed sound, special effects, marketing- EVERYTHING! He is referred to as Charles Foster Kane by some, blocked into his own doom by his own creation. Something that was meant to show up the corporations and suits who stifle Artists turned into that very thing. George's level of control over his own work due to being shafted by Warner Brothers and Universal Studios led to a situation where he became a Kubrick-type of control freak over his work. But Francis Coppola has the most sobering views on George to me: He said that George never made another film after Star Wars (1977). He became a Producer. He had reams of experimental films and tone poems he was supposed to make- he had tons of ideas about shaking up the cinema landscape but he made none of them materialize. He went in another, totally different direction, and the debate will rage for centuries as to whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Coppola also said that all the Billions that that Star Wars Juggernaut can generate is not worth one tenth of what he is capable of as an Artist.
It really stings to hear Francis talk about George. Francis laments a lot about George, and I get it. In an old clip from the early 70's with Coppola a reporter asks him about his assistant, George Lucas. Francis immediately says "He's not my assistant".

This documentary should give all of us something to gab about. George Lucas is not a name to sniff at in cinema history. This film shows you the real scope of what he was doing with Star Wars- prequels and Clone Wars and all. It's there...Can you see what he was doing?

[Johann]

What I'm really interested in hearing about is the part where George testified at the Library of Congress in 1988 about Ted Turner's colorization of black and white films, that it will become easier in the future to tamper with negatives, which he said would be a great cultural loss to society.
Yet he himself will not give fans the original trilogy films.
Lucasfilm actually told the world that the original negatives are in such poor condition that they will never be remastered and released, not even as a bonus feature. We learn that Spielberg tweaked E.T., yet on the DVD release, he gave fans BOTH versions to watch. Ridley Scott- he released Blade Runner with Five Different Versions! Not a Soul complained.

Why is George so stubborn? Is it because he's a Taurus? Could be. I'm a stubborn MOFO myself, right Chris?
He's re-writing History, plain and simple. This is a cinema history situation. Where does the tinkering begin, and how do you proceed?
You are potentially offending the memories and experiences of people who made your Empire hum!
George has shown (in his films and in person in interviews) that Star Wars is his creation, and he will do with it what he pleases.
Jar-Jar became the deciding vote on giving the Emperor his powers in Episode II!!!! George gave the finger to his fans intentionally!
And I've come to see the genius of that, actually.
:)