The People vs. George Lucas

After seeing The People vs. George Lucas in June at the 2010 Edinburgh Film Festival, I must say that it was the most fun documentary I saw at the festival. And yes, my name is Shane Kester and I am a Star Wars fan, but unlike the others, I can quit any time I want.

The director Alexandre O. Philippe stated that the documentary took three years and was made up of 634 hours of fan films and interviews submitted from all over the globe. You may naturally conclude by the title or what you've heard through the rumor mill that this is simply a "Lucas Bashing" documentary, but it's got much more depth to it than that. The director listened to the impassioned Star Wars and Indiana Jones fan's complaints and rants but also took a very mature look at it from several less "emotional" points of view that gave balance to the force, making this documentary another significant brick in the monument built by fans to honor the cultural phenomenon that Lucas created. This documentary by no means puts an end to the debates as Alexandre Philippe stated in Edinbough, there is still footage being sent in by fans all over the world. And as one of the participants in the documentary stated, "When we're in retirement homes arguing about things, we'll be having conversations about what went wrong with Phantom Menace." The People vs. George Lucas had a surprising array of interviews from the avid Youtube fan to original producers and actors all the way up to Lucas's mentor and friend Francis Ford Coppala who expressed a heart felt lament that George never ventured beyond Star Wars with his story telling.

Even if you aren't an avid fan of Star Wars or Indiana Jones you must at least be aware of the massive cultural influence that George Lucas has had on our little planet. If you're not aware, you must be on the planet farthest from the center of the universe with your head buried in bantha fodder not to have noticed. To you this documentary will be of no interest. But for the rest of you who enjoy a good rant and like to laugh out loud at how seriously people take Star Wars, you really would enjoy this movie.

The term 'documentary' is a difficult label to affix to 'PvGL' but sadly, for lack of a better word, is one that must suffice. I say this because the film does not shed new light or impart new information so much as it distills and summarises what we already know. Director Alexandre O. Philippe condenses and intercuts massive amounts of amateur videos, conversations, and first person tirades with pseudo-authoritative interviews in an effort to douse the acclaimed titular director with a bucket of icy water and wake Lucas from his delusional God-complex so that he will own up to the serious missteps he's made with the 'Star Wars' franchise (as well as 'Indiana Jones'). Make no mistake – this is a film made by disillusioned fans, for disillusioned fans, and the issues that irk the most are well-covered: the erasure of the 1977, 1980, & 1983 originals by the CGI-altered 1990s reissues; the character change in Han Solo by firing AFTER Greedo; the inherent ramifications of quantitatively defining the Force with a microbiological organism; the erasure of the Star Wars Christmas TV special; Jar-Jar Binks; and so on.

The film nicely establishes the original trilogy's place in history and in culture, and sets the tone for why we love George Lucas. But from there, it just gets ugly. As one interviewee put it, 'I love-hate George Lucas. I love-hate him a lot.' The anger and vulgarity that erupts from the wounded fans is unsettling but even more disturbing is the fact that I often found myself nodding in agreement with their arguments. Two-thirds into it, though, I just get the sense that 'PvGL' is acting like a neglected child throwing a tantrum at a parent, begging for attention and respect. Yet Lucas' betrayal of his fans through touting his authorial and divine right to tamper is not without merit. Attributing the disrespect to his secession to the dark-side (that is, entrepreneurship and big business), rather than remain the rebel filmmaker of his youth, 'PvGL' ultimately finds itself in an un-winnable spot, wedged between arguments of public (social and cultural) domain and artistic control. Does 'Star Wars' belong to the general public, or can those that originally penned it rewrite history?

Bearing this in mind, does anyone know where can I get one of those Tauntaun sleeping bags?

I just watched PvGL, a film that I had been eagerly anticipating for the last several months. I'm a huge Star Wars fan, and like most fans, feel a deep loathing towards the prequels and the changes that Lucas has made to the original trilogy.

Now, if you're reading this, chances are you already know the basic premise of this film (detailing the complex and dysfunctional relationship between Lucas and his fans), so I'm not going to reiterate the various intricacies, emotions, and reasoning that go along with that story. Sufficed to say, if you're a fan, you know what I mean.

And to that end, the film does a decent enough job painting a picture of who the Star Wars fans are and what the film has meant to western culture as a whole. There are some good insights from a wide range of people, from hardcore Star Wars nerds to film critics to other producers and directors. Most of what they say is easily relatable, as Star Wars really has become a cultural touchstone that almost everyone has some kind of feelings towards. It is cathartic to hear so many other people verbalize the frustrations almost every fan has surely felt towards Lucas, the prequels and the special editions.

With that having been said, there are a few flaws. The first being that the film is a bit too long. They could have easily cut about ten minutes out of the first act of the movie, which consisted almost entirely of fan parody and tribute films of varying quality. Yes, Star Wars inspires epic creativity on the part of it's fans, but that is a relatively easy point to make and didn't require quite so much screen time time to illustrate.

The other flaw is the end of the film, which completely goes soft on Lucas and abdicates its responsibility to take a firm position on the subject matter that was detailed in the entire rest of the film. After watching a whole documentary which carefully explained all the ways Lucas was ruining his work, thumbing his nose at film history as a cultural artifact (in direct opposition to positions he himself took years earlier) and acting in deliberate contempt of his fans, the conclusion it reached amounted to little more than a shrug and a soft-pedaled declaration of loyalty to Lucas anyway. Disappointing.

Any catharsis I felt very quickly melted away and once again turned to frustration. Why did the director feel the need to ultimately kiss up to Lucas? Wasn't that the fatal flaw which led to the prequels in the first place? That nobody challenged him? Let me be clear; I was not looking for a hit-piece here either; two hours of Lucas-bashing wouldn't have made for an interesting or informative film (which PvGL certainly is), but the entire premise of this documentary would have been far more credible had the last few minutes not completely undermined everything that was asserted throughout the entire rest of it.

I would still recommend it to fans as there are very interesting points to be heard in this film, but for true geek catharsis (and brilliantly insightful critique), you still can't beat the Red Letter Media long-form reviews of the prequels. People vs. George Lucas is entertaining to be sure, but it still doesn't come close to those reviews.

As a big Star Wars fan I had heard only a brief mention of this movie some months ago, so I was happy to stumble upon it in Netflix's instant library.

What I liked about the film was that they got some hardcore (sometimes scary) fanboys but also some really reputable creative people to discuss the films. Mostly Star Wars fans but also some film industry types. I also enjoyed how they wove so many fan films into it. It will never cease to amaze me how much Star Wars content is out there, and as big a fan as I am I never knew so many people had taken time out to create such things. It's astounding, and again sometimes a little scary haha.

I also enjoyed the opinions that were given. Mind you I am one of those people that has been very frustrated by Lucas in the last 15 years so take it for what it's worth, but I thought they were fair and that the filmmakers made sure to give some grounded perspective on the issues people take with the new films and the re-imagining of the old ones. Questions like "Can a film be altered years after it's been established?" and "Does a creator have the right to change his work after it's been installed as a cornerstone of so many people's lives?" are addressed as I was hoping they would be.

A couple of complaints would be that though they did offer some counter-arguments to us whining fanboys, there could've been more or at least an expansion of those that were there. Also, I really go into it when they broke down the re-creation of the Jabba scene from A New Hope and was hoping they would break down each subsequent change from the original trilogy, however they did not. I suppose that would've been a bit too uniform an approach but I would've liked it and I still think there would've been time to work in all the rest that was presented. I also think that they could've gotten one or two more big names to contribute their opinions. Neil Gaiman and David Brin were by far the biggest but they are not shown often and only in short spurts. Either one alone could've pretty much anchored this entire documentary, so I would've liked to see more of them or one or two more personalities like them.

As far as the ending, at the risk of sounding holier than thou, I think non-Star Wars fans just don't really understand what they were trying to get across. The fact is that though so many of us love/hate Lucas, half of that is still love. No matter what he's done and will do since Return of the Jedi was finalized he has still given us something that has greatly impacted our lives and has brought us countless hours of enjoyment. The bottom line is that we complain because we care, and Lucas is the one who made us care so much. That's what the end of the film was saying.

In this day of mass-participatory media it is in some ways inevitable that a film potentially destined for general release would be made incorporating a significant chunk of such material.

You may ask why has George Lucas been singled out for this film's subject? As the film explains, the number of homages, remixes and re-workings by the public of Star Wars is far greater for this work than any other film ever made. Furthermore Lucas has courted controversy through the mass marketing of his product and the slightly dictatorial way older versions of the film have been more or less obliterated. So any analysis of the subject of the art and business of film, rights ownership and its effects on its fans cannot pick a better subject.

In terms of the normal movie goer Alexandre O. Philppe's film provides plenty of laughs and is fascinating to watch. Barely pausing for breath, the film is a visual and auditory onslaught, with a barrage of sound bites and clips from the original material and its many derived manifestations. Producer Anna Higgs - interviewed after the showing - explained that contributions were invited on one of the many Star Wars forums on the Internet. Sifting through the mountain of material that arrived in response was a huge undertaking, and in showing the pick of the crop we the viewer are given an insight into the massive fandom that surrounds these films.

While for most people just watching a movie is enough, serious fans will purchase (sometimes compulsively) associated movie merchandise and involve themselves to varying degrees in paying tribute to the film and its mythos. If you have ever wondered what kind of person will spend three days walking around in a sweaty storm-trooper outfit at Dragon*Con in Atlanta. Or set themselves on fire in order to recreate a scene from a film then this film offers an insight into that world.

A large amount of the discussion in the film is about the differences between the original theatrical release of Star Wars and its subsequent remastering and updating which angered many fans not least as the original film was essentially removed from circulation at the same time. As digital technology empowers audience creativity, the democratisation of media seems to be at odds with filmmakers who want to retain absolute control and ownership of their work. However, despite its title this film is not about simply Lucas bashing. It is pointed out that Lucas has made footage and sound freely available to people who want to play with it.

It is possible to see a similar issue between the behaviour of obsessed film fans and people with strong religious beliefs. While religious texts have been used as an excuse for inhumanity and war. One wonders whether George himself lies awake at night puzzling at how his simple sci-fi story has led to such an amazing cultural legacy even if that legacy includes such things as Ewok yiff. 4 out of 5

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