Humby said:
After years of being on the inside, Lucas had no understanding of what made Star Wars important in the first place. I'm not accusing him of trying to sell toys as many of us like to do, but the cultural marketing of Star Wars is what influenced Lucas' decision making. For example, Darth Vader was only a larger than life character to the audience, not to the other characters in that world. But Lucas didn't understand that. And that resulted in a story that focused on Anakin/Vader being presented as this fallen Christ-like figure. Or perhaps look at the Jedi and their trusty weaponry. The marketability of that iconography certainly influenced Lucas in making the Jedi being a huge focus, and such constant use of Lightsabers, scene after scene. There are countless examples like these, and although that "cultural marketing" perspective may not have been his sole influence, it's still an obvious factor.
Now don't get me wrong, there are definitely certain fans out there who love the prequels, some of whom may only see Star Wars for its superficial imagery, and if they had any say in Lucas' plan, they would have made very similar decisions. But a successful filmmaker who understand the history of both Star Wars as well as film history in general, will be far more capable of understanding what makes Star Wars interesting and engaging.
I'm as big a Lucas basher as you get around here, but I have to atleast defend him alittle bit because all franchises fall off the rails at some point.
I respect the story he eventually told about the 6 movies (although I hate that he tries to re-write history by saying this was mostly planned from the original, and Darth Vader was always the main person of the story.) In an ironic way, if Lucas was more honest about how he kept changing the story, I would have more respect for him.
In saying that, I hate where he took the SW story after ESB (as much as people love 'I am your father') it was a great plot point, but ended up limiting the movies to Darth Vader, and that is where I sort of lost interest in the overall story.
But I will also say that the SW movies would have gotten redundant if he just made them standalone stories like Indiana Jones movies, and no real overall plot line. That's why I say every great franchise gets to a point where there is nothing more to tell, and the stories are just catering to the fanboys.
I will give Lucas his props for the Original Star Wars from 1977, as I think the bad mouthing from our sector of fans get alittle too much. Sure it was a collaborative effort (with his wife, the editors, John Williams), but its like that with most great movies. Now is Lucas as good as Scorcese or Spielberg? Not at all, as they are much better directors. But in fairness to Lucas, after he started Lucasfilm in 1981, he was never going to be a director ever again like he was pre-Lucasfilm. Every decision he made was about business, because that is what CEO's do, they think of the bottom line first.
It would have been intersting if Lucas has stayed with directing and walked away from Star Wars after 1977, as I think he would have directed more good movies. But, we will never know!