I think George has one of the most finely attuned senses of cultural resonance of any living director, but he also knows that he is a terrible writer. In the case of Star Wars he labored for years trying to write a script capable of sustaining his brilliant cross-cultural archetypes, and with the help of his writer friends he managed it…twice. However, he eventually became too prideful to admit his shortcomings, and so when it came time to write the prequels they had to be HIS prequels. The thematic and symbolic elements are there, and are as strong as they ever were in Star Wars, but the scripts failed to allow these symbols to coalesce into working films.