danaan said:
Darth Bizarro said:
Dude, you take Star Wars way too seriously.
This goes beyond the argument of Star Wars being a part of our cultural heritage and film preservation. A point that I am in full agreement on with basically everyone on this site.
What you're talking about though is contradictions in the "mythology" of a work of fiction which was based on actual mythology causing you physical and/or emotional pain. No longer is this about the REAL issue of Lucas destroying our cultural heritage. This is a whole new level of problems you seem to be experiencing.
You don't just hate them. Lots of people hate them, and I respect that fully. I hate Alien 3, but I wouldn't be offended by someone showing up to a convention dressed as Ripley with their head shaved. But for you, it seems, their very existence actually pains you. That's not healthy dude.
George Lucas made some Star Wars movies, and you liked them. Then he made more Star Wars movies, and you don't like them. Simple as that. Other people liking them shouldn't upset you so much.
Hmm....
I dunno. Is my attitude unhealthy? I'm not at all convinced that it's as simple as that. For me, the issue of cultural heritage and my own love for this particular work of fiction are deeply intertwined. I abhor whenever cultural heritage of much "greater cultural standing" (high culture vs oop cultur, etc) becomes relativized, or even demolished. Think about how the Parthenon in Athens was blown up, how the Elgin marbles were removed from the building, how the library in Alexandria was burned by zealots, how Taliban destroyed Buddhist statues in Afghanistan, or what is now happening in Timbuktu. When someone says that history or our cultural heritage is useless or unimportant, I am outraged. I guess I'm just sensitive to such folly.
In the case of Star Wars, I loved that trilogy. It was probably my favourite movie experience when I was a kid. But it's more than that. I loved other movies, too - like Labyrinth, or the Never Ending Story. But revisiting them, they're just kinda "meh" to me now. Star Wars has lasted, because it is a classic of a whole different standing, and because of the profound messages. But now, those messages have been undermined, hollowed up, effectively destroyed by the PT and post-PT developments. So this is really a case of revisionism - Lucas fully intends, it seems, to destroy the memory that the SW saga was once something other than what the PT presents. Getting my hands on even the 2004 DVD is getting increasingly difficult. That's horrendous. And then some fan comes along and makes a statement to the effect of SW should be about Palpatine wielding dual lightsabers. It's, pardon the pun, lightyears from what the unaltered ANH-ROTJ series of films were about.
In conclusion - no, this is not about me being angry that others like films I don't like (though the elitist in me will always be baffled by the strange success of things like Dan Brown, Transformers or other such schlock). This about a set of very beautiful ideas in the form of a fairytale that has now been completely sidelined by Yoda doing computer-game shit. It's like seeing something I loved dearly die. Of course it hurts. And the fact that it does is just a testament to how much I loved it.
Btw, I can guarantee you that if the directors of other films I love dearly did the equivalent to what Lucas has been doing the past 15 years, I'd hurt over that, too. But they have the integrity to leave their work alone, or to offer several versions if they do want to tamper with their work after the fact, so there's no cause for mourning. In that sense, SW is uniquely ravaged by its progenitor.
Edit: Btw, there's plenty of other EU material I also feel does not live up to the OT. A recent example would be the TOR cinematics, which just seem to be regurgitating the visuals of the OT without any of the substance. The emphasis on the super-choreographed fights is one example. In one of them, they've even just re-written lines from ANH, which is the height of style over substance.
Ok. Now that makes sense. But I still don't know why you can't just ignore them like I ignore Alien 3. As I said before. Just because we might not like all of the expanded content of some of our favorite works of fiction, doesn't mean we should let that content ruin our day. Just like Alien, Jaws, Indiana Jones, Star Trek, Superman, Batman, X-Men, Spider-Man, the Matrix, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Planet of the Apes, there will always be a few entries some of the fan base don't care for and shouldn't let their mear existence get them down.
I understand Star Wars is a special case since not only does GL insist on making more movies and shows that some people don't like, but also makes changes to the old films to properly reflect the new canon. But remember who's really at fault for that aren't the people who happen to find the Jar Jar hate a bit overblown. Just because I don't hate the special editions completely doesn't mean that I don't also find it to be total bullcrap that I don't have a choice in the matter unless I'm willing to sit through a crappy laserdisc transfer or turn to Harmy.