I was over at Cultural Compulsive Disorder (great title) and I read Mike D's latest post - Why George, Why? - An Open Letter To George Lucas.
If you had to read one fan rant against the corporate monster that George Lucas has become, then this is just the rant for you. It's the story of crushing the very people who keep the Star Wars empire alive and porfitable - the fans. I am unapologetically one of those fans. So much so that I have my own mythology and story to tell about my first time(s) seeing that beloved film. You can read that here.
The following are comments that I made after reading his post myself.
I saw this topic and only had to read the first sentence before I needed to comment. I too have a special love for Star Wars, so much that I have my own mythology surrounding my first viewing of that film. I'm sure you have read the story. If not, it's the fiftieth post at the Cave of Cool. Just letting you know that I GET IT when you start a good George Lucas rant.
How the hell did something as good as the 'Clone Wars' show get made in that kind of an environment?
I am loving you idea of showing classic movies and enjoying them with fans. Might I suggest the movies on one Mr. Kurt Russel - always a crowd pleaser - 'Escape From New York', 'Escape From L.A.', 'Big Trouble In Little China'.
You even got a good artist to create some cool flyers. You did your homework, you planned. That is such a New York thing to do. Make your own fun the way you want your fun to be. It's brilliant.
Stick by your truth my brother. The bullying behavior needs to be exposed. Don't take his crap. David was right to toss that stone at Goliath and look how that turned out for both of them. EXACTLY!
It's petty and contemptuous for an already enormously wealthy man to nickle and dime over a celebration of HIS CREATIONS!!!
If he was half a man or business man or even artist, you think he would have taken a flight to New York and showed up at your event and stayed for a little bit. That would have been spectacular for both him and you. He could use the good fan press at this point. But, like always, the corporate George Lucas is the only one who shows up and BOOM...you got this situation.
Fuck George Lucas. Whoever thought of all the things that could hurt my love of Star Wars the most would be coming from the guy who first created Star Wars.
If you don't mind I am going to do a post about this over at the Cave of Cool. You got my dandur up because everything you said is CORRECT. You did nothing wrong. In fact you went out of your way to let everyone know that admission was FREE so you would not be making money off anyone for watching the films. The fact that money may exchange hands over drinks and snacks is perfectly acceptable and not relevant to the Lucas grievance. Does he want a cut of those profits too? 100% or nothing, George?
Oh and one thing more - don't stop sharing your love of all things Star Wars with your son. It will mean alot to both of you in the future. Just try to keep him pure about the whole experience for as long as you can. One day he will realize the truth as you have - that Lucas is no Jedi. He is Sith now.
%20(002).jpg)
%20SDTB.jpg)
.jpg)
9 comments:
*sigh* Yup. Total agreement with you there. I was a HUGE Star Wars fanatic back in 77. Now? Pretty much disillusioned. Getting old sucks.
I choose not to let Lucan ruin the magic of those movies for me. This is one part of childhood that even he can't destroy. Oh and I wish his beard would fall out. Without that beard and his hair helmet, he would have the oddest shaped head I figure.
My Dad took my sister and I to see Star Wars back in 77 too. It still stands as one of the most magical moments of my life. The new movies were agony but I watched them and as bad as they were they could never take the shine off for me.
I work in film and Star Wars is the reason I work in film. I stay happily stuck in a seventies bubble when it comes to star wars, and I blindly ignore all the ugliness that has come since. It's the only way I can get up and work each day.
On an unrelated note that last post is my first use of the Oxford Comma since I have decided to actively embrace and prompt it.
I wish Lucas realized how much these movies mean to a great many of us.
I'm not sure I should even write this comment, but...well, here goes. Firstly, there's an awful lot of blasting of Lucas personally here and on CCD. I suspect that Lucas in all likelihood personally knows absolutely nothing about this whole affair, and that this is the work of a legal department and nothing else. And the fact is, this isn't an abnormal thing to happen. It may suck, but it's not unheard-of or out of the blue.
Here's a true story. I work at a big grocery store, as you may know, which is part of a pretty large chain in the Northeast US. A couple of years ago, someone at corporate thought it would be cool to have "Movie Nights" on Fridays in our cafe's. We'd show a movie in the cafe, something "family friendly", the idea being that parents would bring their kids to watch the movie and maybe buy a meal or two to eat in the cafe. I'm not sure how it's worked out in terms of increasing sales, but it's worked fairly well at least as far as getting people to come watch the movies.
Some stores show their movies on a large flatscreen teevee, but my manager at the time had a "Go big or go home" type of philosophy, so at his command, we went all out. We bought a commercial corn popper. Two dozen bean-bag chairs to be put out for kids to use. A large carpet to roll out (our cafe's floor is quarry tile). And for screening? We installed a 16' by 9' screen, a ceiling-mounted projector, and a home-theater sound system with five surround speakers and a subwoofer. (I got to install all that, along with the help of another guy. It was one of the more fun projects I've been able to do.) Attendance at our movie nights has been hit-or-miss (we do one or two a month), but for quality of the set-up, we're top-notch.
But about six months ago, we got a letter from the MPAA. They weren't telling us to stop, but they were notifying us that since we (the company, not my store specifically) were screening movies for more than 25 people at once, this constituted a "public screening", and thus, we had to pay for the privelege. So now, the company must pay some money to the MPAA every time one of our stores has a movie night. It's not a huge amount -- our company can easily afford it -- but still, those are the rules. Oh, and there was one other rule: No screening of Disney movies is allowed. Period. And that includes Pixar, unfortunately. Disney, apparently, said "No free screenings of our films."
None of this is meant to be a defense of Lucasfilm's reaction, but, unfortunately, that's the lay of the land, and has been for quite some time. In all honesty, I do think that the fine folks at CCD should, when dreaming this idea up, have contacted Lucasfilm first to ask permission to have a free screening of the movies in a bar. Those disclaimers at the beginning of every movie on home video since the early days of VHS -- "This film is licensed for private viewing only" -- are easily dismissed, but legal departments of production companies take them seriously.
Your arguement makes sense and is well stated Jaquandor. It's often too easy for me to go off with these kinds of stories. I just wish that there could be a middle ground with the large movie studios.
Han shot first, Cal.
It hurts to see what Star Wars has become.
Of course Han shot first. At that range Greedo would have blasted a hole the size of a Volkswagon into him.
Post a Comment