The People Vs. George Lucas

I've skipped over this title multiple times on Netflix recently, but today, I decided to watch it.  I fully expected to be bored by the movie.  I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.  I went in expecting a movie where a bunch of fans whined about their feelings being hurt; Instead, I got a film that rationally discussed George Lucas' life with the cinema, as well as the impact he has had, both on fans and the culture as a whole.

In basic terms, The People Vs. George Lucas chronicles Lucas' life as a filmmaker, beginning with how he grew interested in film.  They cover his early experiences making films such as THX 1138 and then American Graffiti.  The film follows the timeline, making it easily accessible.

Early on, the film is littered with praises for Lucas and his films.  As the time of the special editions looms in the movie, the fans become a bit more open with the distaste.  When they reach the point where the prequels are released, the interviewed fans become openly hostile, but they also display a great deal of hurt.  The movie does a good job of showing fans that will defend Lucas' rights to change his own films.  I didn't feel as if the film had only set out to vilify Lucas.  It was refreshing to see fan complaints cohesively put forth; much of the time, the internet provides us with an amazing amount of vitriol regarding Lucas and the more recent effects he has had on the Star Wars property.

Also, it was enjoyable to see how they handled the clips they were discussing from the various movies.  For the most part, they didn't use real clips from Star Wars.  Instead, they utilize fan made scenes.  These scenes serve to give us a firm and visible reminder of how much love some fans have for Star Wars.  When the interviewees discuss their drive to make Star Wars fan films, I found myself scoffing, thinking I was into Star Wars but never inspired to make Star Wars homage films.  All of a sudden, I realized that wasn't true.  In my senior year of high school, my brother and I wrote a skit for the talent show that was largely inspired by Star Wars.*  It turns out that what they were saying was true.

Many Star Wars fans are, or were, irrationally dedicated to the saga.  It's not hard to see why when you look back at the original trilogy, as they were initially released.  Of course, it's nigh impossible to find the original versions of the first trilogy, as George Lucas refuses to release them.  The People Vs. George Lucas spends a decent amount of time establishing the lack of the original theatrical versions on DVD, and while doing so, they make some very valid points, my favorite being the Oscar related one.  See, Star Wars IV: A New Hope won multiple Oscars for editing and effects.  By changing that film into the special edition version, he really undermines what his group achieved the first time around by discarding some of the hard work they put in to create such stunning effects and flawless editing.

In the end, George Lucas, much like Darth Vader, still has some good in him.  He doesn't punish fans for creating fan films.  He makes sounds from the films easily available.  He even holds contests to reward those that create fan films in the Star Wars universe.  He's not all bad, and he did create a wonderful trilogy.  He should let us have those initial films as they were in theaters.  Yeah, he can tinker, but he should allow us to view them as they were.

The People Vs. George Lucas does an amazing job of laying out the arguments both for and against what Lucas has done with the Star Wars property.  After watching this movie, I called my mom to see if she knew where our copy of the original trilogy was, as I wanted to borrow it.  I would have to find a VCR to watch it, but I think we may have one in the garage.

If you have an opinion on Star Wars and George Lucas, the movie is worth watching.  There were a few tidbits of information that I was unaware of, and the people interviewed were sometimes quite entertaining.  It was a better display of the Star Wars controversy than the internet usually shows.  There were no CAPS, nor were there any interviewees calling into question the intelligence of those with differing viewpoints.  If you have Netflix, you can watch The People Vs. George Lucas on there now.

By the way, there is one other thing you should check out.  I almost forgot to mention redlettermedia.com.  If you want to see a well done critique of the Star Wars prequels, make sure you watch the Plinkett reviews.  The review for each movie is well over an hour.  They're well done and worth watching.

*It was also flavored with Aliens and Freakazoid.  Most people didn't get it.