I know I'm going to get crap for this--but before you throw
that crate of tomatoes...
Say what you will about the George Lucas' Star Wars prequels (episodes I, II, and III), one thing that you
cannot take away from them, despite flaws in the story and Jar Jar Binks, was that
they were infinitely more creative than The
Force Awakens.
I loved The Force Awakens and am a fan of the original trilogy, but visually, from a design and production standpoint, the
prequels were stunning to look at. The new characters were exotic and
interesting, even the ones that smacked of racial stereotypes. All our
criticisms of those films had to do with story and casting, but the costumes,
headdresses, ship and set designs, and characters were extremely novel, and Lucas directed them expertly. Lucas showed us a Jedi order in its infinite diversity--knights from all over the galaxy in all shapes and colors. The pod races
on Tatooine were fun and exciting. Yes, the race might have been shorter and been
written with more important context to the overall story,
but Lucas has said over and over he always saw Star Wars as a soap opera for
kids. Kids loved the pod races. Staying true to his belief, Lucas, as an artist, delivered the vision he intended.
No one will argue that Star Wars
in its entirety is somewhat derivative of the science fantasy that came before
it. But Lucas added his own twist, his own personal touches to the ideas he
borrowed. He showed us a thriving Republic led from Coruscant, an homage to Asimov’s
Trantor in Foundation. The husk of
the sand worm on Tatooine was a nod to Frank Herbert's Dune. Queen Amidala's shiny chrome ship harkens back to the Flash
Gordon and Buck Rogers' days, but looked better than anything done on screen
before it. Star Wars is a love letter
to all the literary fiction that inspired Lucas' generation--pulps that created
fantastic worlds before Hollywood found the ability to depict them
realistically in film.
Those of us in our 40s and 50s
whined because we wanted the prequels to be for us, generation X, and instead
Lucas made them for a new generation, which, (hold on to your hat) thinks those
movies are great. But that does not change the fact that they were incredibly
creative. Lucas pushed the envelope to make new things even as his story
suffered and his casting of Anakin (in both cases) was dismally wide of the
mark.
In The Force Awakens, J.J. Abrams delivered to us a competently told
sequel, steeped in nostalgia. It was enjoyable for all the same reasons Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back
was enjoyable because it was essentially a retelling of those movies. I was a teenager
when I watched Empire for the first
time in 1980. I had never seen anything like the battle with the Imperial land
walkers before. It blew my mind, not just because the visual effects were state
of the art for their day, but because of the idea of them. I was in geek
heaven. When push came to shove, the very existence of the walkers is silly and
the premise to use them was flimsy. The rebel base had a shield and Vader
needed to take out the generator? Really? Couldn't a bunch of Tie fighters have
done essentially the same thing? Isn't there a cannon on a Star Destroyer that
can match the firepower of a walker? (I mean these are the same guys who
created the planet killer ray of the Death Star, right?) Lucas didn't even show
the Empire getting the walkers down to the planet...they were just there in the
distance. It was Lucas presenting a beautiful visual...a new thing--this exquisite
land battle with giant machines.
By comparison, Abrams' most
creative (risky) decision in The Force Awakens was to cast a white woman and an
African as the leads. This is simply pandering to the zeitgeist of diversity,
which is all the rage in Hollywood. (They even made Jimmy Olsen black on Supergirl.) Abrams' film was
superb in its execution and action sequences, but the story is all stuff we've
already seen in Star Wars, repackaged and updated.
As mad as we were about midichlorians,
Jar Jar Binks, and Hayden Christensen's flat/and whiney performance, on the
creativity scale the prize goes to George Lucas. I wish we could blend Lucas
and Abrams to create a vision that embodies the best of both approaches. Money,
when it comes to Star Wars should not
be part of the creative decisions anymore. The films will make money no matter
what, and toys will be sold no matter what. It's a strong franchise. I hope
that going forward, J.J. will reach out to George Lucas and pick his brain;
bring him on board as a consultant. Many will not continue to see the films if
they just continue to rehash Lucas' old ideas. The potential for this franchise
is great. Let's not forget the creativity that made it so.
Edward Lazellari is the author of the Guardians of Aandor fantasy series from Tor Books.
These books are available at
Book 3, Blood of Ten Kings, Coming In Late 2016
I have nada to say about Star Wars (loved the 1st one or two but lost interest after that)but read 'Awakenings', loved it and came away disappointed that it was the first part in a set. Anyway I've ordered 'The Lost Prince' from Amazon where I found this opportunity to drop you a 'congrats'. Awakenings was one of the most original fantasies I've read. Keep on writing.
ReplyDeleteGlad you enjoyed the book. I'm finishing up the trilogy right now, so there will be a complete epic out there soon.
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