Downfall to the Dark Side – Lucas: A Tragic Hero

There is no doubt that George Lucas is a pretty controversial topic. The companies he controls and he himself have done so many good things for film but at the same time the tragedy that he will not leave Star Wars alone and is single handily ruining everything good about it. After watching the making of the original trilogy, watching a couple very good youtube reviews and learning more about him I have come to see  Lucas as not a purely evil man but as a tragic character and I think his story ironically mirrors Anakin’s.

Lucas was always a rouge filmmaker that hated the studio system and always total control of his projects. This is understandable, noone wants their art or their vision interfered with. But film is a very different medium to any other art. The best films are made through collaboration. There is of course a danger in too many ideas getting cluttered together and ruining the film and there is also the danger of interference from the studios.  The role of the director is to balance their vision and taking in ides from others and be strong against studio interference and at the same time a good executive producer can be the voice of reason when things get out of control and the director also needs to know when to listen to the producer and realize when they are trying to ground them. With so many factors it a wonder a good film ever gets made but they have, so it is possible.

The original Star Wars Trilogy was plagued with problems; The weather was awful, they went over budget, nothing worked right and the original effects were a piece of shit and had to be completely redone. There is more and if you are curious the making of original series is on youtube in it’s entirety. Because of Fox’s complete lack of faith in the project Lucas got to have all the merchandising rights to Star Wars. Think about all the money from every single piece of Star Wars merchandise that’s sold goes directly to George Lucas. This obviously dumped a shit fuck of money into his lap and he created Skywalker ranch. So many good things for film came out of this. Lucas created Lucas Arts, THX, Industrial Light and Magic and Skywalker Sound. There is hardly a major film out there that does not use one of those companies, hell I.L.M. (Industrial Light and Magic) did the special effects for Star Trek. These companies provide quality sound and effects for film and TV.

In becoming such a film giant he has become the very thing he hated. The head of several large corporations he had to sacrifice what he was to usher in a better era for film makers. I had been talking about this issue with my brother, we were talking about the planned Avatar 3D remake of all 6 Star Wars films and he brought an idea that I had not thought of. That perhaps Lucas was doing these films as sort of a training workshop for his employees, since there will now be demand for the James Cameron Avatar technology he wants to make sure his company can keep up and that he was doing it with Star Wars to ensure he got money out of the deal.

This is understandable but that’s not what film making is; it’s not about making a special effects demo. I’ve come to see it as an epic sacrifice. He has to sacrifice Star Wars to give future films a chance. I’m not saying any of this is right and I’m not defending the decision but I don’t see it as just an evil man trying to ruin Star Wars.

Lucas no longer has anyone to question his ideas around him. As a man who always wanted total control on his projects he would not surround himself with people who would question him and noone has the balls to anymore. His power has corrupted him but there is still the good in him subtly in the background. Maybe Lucas is unaware that what he is doing is a sacrifice for future films but the good film maker that is now hidden deep inside of him knows. This quote from Dark Knight describes what has happened to Lucas perfectly “You either die a hero or you live long enough to see yourself become the bad guy.”

- Geeks_Only