Star Wars 3D: On the Genius of George Lucas and Why I’ll Give Him My Money

By now I expect that all self-respecting Star Wars fans should have heard the news that George Lucas plans to re-release all six of the movies remastered with 3D in the next year or so.   As the Salon.com article points out, this really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone (especially the people in the “self-respecting Star Wars fan” demographic).

And even though it isn’t a surprise to me, and even though I have seen the Star Wars movies hundreds of times a piece (including watching Episode IV this past weekend), and even though I tend to think that 3D is highly overrated, I will fully admit that I will be going to the theatres and dishing out a bunch of cash to see them again.  And this, get right to the core of the real genius behind George Lucas.

Listen, say what you like about him, the man is absolutely probably one of the savviest business people in the better part of the last fifty years.  Consider Lucas’ accomplishments solely in regards to actual films.  Now take Star Wars out of the picture.  What do you have?  “THX-1138,” a great but little know movie.  “American Graffiti,” another decent flick, but really nothing all the special.  You have his involvement in the Indiana Jones films, and he wrote and produced “Willow” (which is an awesome movie for all those who don’t know it already).  What else?  Am I missing anything?

So seriously, when you consider it from a film making perspective, what George Lucas has going for him is the six Star Wars movies and then a few other random projects, the next must substantial of which is obviously Indiana Jones.  That alone, is not really an amazing track record for a director, producer, screen writer, especially when, arguably, he is not the best in any of those fields.  No, film is not actually George Lucas’ genius.  What is his genius, is taking something that is popular, and squeezing it for every cent it is good for.  There is no other franchise of material and merchandise of any fictional creation that is remotely as well-known and profitable as the whole of the Star Wars franchise ( I suppose you could kind of compare Disney as a whole industry, but this is not a consistent story connected entity, but instead a bunch of different bits of fictional creation under a single name).

Star Wars is ubiquitous and unavoidable.  I read an article a few weeks back which simply asked, “Is there anybody alive who doesn’t know that Darth Vader is Luke Skywalker’s father?” (If it happens to be you, sorry for the spoiler, but also, welcome to reality).What George Lucas has done better than anybody else, is taken a rather simple hero story and allowed it to grow into this vast entity that is just reaping in the cash.  But there is more to it than that.  Even people who can criticize Star Wars, myself included at times (listen “Episode I: The Phantom Menace” really is a crappy movie. . . oh, and Jar Jar Binks isn’t the one who ruined it, ask Bear over at OrangeCoat about it, he has me convinced), still find enjoyment in the material and will still watch the movies and dork out on Star Wars content and material.  People simply love it.

And so, putting it back on the big screen, especially with the bold and “new” 3D is simply a continuation of the good old Lucas marketing logic.  And why will I go?  Because I do like the movies, and I like seeing them on the big screen, and yes, I even want to see the “Episode IV” trench run assault on the Death Star in 3D, even if I think the technology is a hack. 

So kudos to you Mr. Lucas, you are one sly fellow and I bet you don’t give a fuck if anybody points it out.

~ by Nathaniel on October 4, 2010.