skyjedi2005 said:I'm no Lucas apologist but i think you guys may be taking Star Wars a little too seriously. It is a movie serial, despite how good the original trilogy was.
It is not supposed to be representing reality. You can argue Lucas went against canon in terms of story or changed the rules his fictional universe operates out of, but making claims to great drama out of the original trilogy is a bit of a stretch.
I mean you have a super weapon that destroys planets. That in itself is straight out of science fiction Pulp like smith's Skylark 3. Examined in reality it is laughable. You also have sound in space laughable. The physics are all laughable.
That is why is is a piece of daydream fantasy than real science Fiction. That is why Lucas calls it Space Fantasy and why the films open " A Long Time Ago. In a Galaxy, Far, Far way." Its the same as once upon a time.
Star Wars was a boys adventure wish fulfillment piece Lucas crafted out of his own childhood reading comic books and watching serials like Flash Gordon.
I can't agree with this.
Star Wars is filled with a lot ridiculous content, sure, but that is not what it is about. The movie has likable, realistic characters that live within a world of charming, refined depth that goes far beyond a far-fetched, poorly constructed film made to entertain unsophisticated minds. As a result, the goofy aspects of lightsabers, Death Stars, giant lizards and incompetent Storm Troopers are ignored because the movie doesn't have them as a focus. The good, realistic aspects of those sensationalistic elements are focused on with such skill there's really not as much space left in our minds for the remaining, obvious flaws. In other words, we care too much about the characters and the other likable aspects of the world to be bothered by flaws because those elements were crafted in such amazing ways. You do Star Wars a great disservice when you compare it to some old-fashioned, hokey and unrefined serial.
It wasn't just stupid children that liked Star Wars. Adults and critics enjoyed the films too. That kind of widespread success didn't merely come from George Lucas' desire for the movie to recreate the kind of goofy entertainment he loved as a child. If the insecure George Lucas of today could be more honest, he'd admit that he was trying to do more than that. Also, he'd admit that many other people input their own unique sense of vision and excellence into the original trilogy just as well. Altogether, they helped him fashion his concepts (which were already of higher quality than his beloved serials) into something great.