The People vs. George Lucas

I used to be one of those people that complained about the Special Editions and the Prequels, and how much I hated midichlorians.

But after I saw this about a decade ago, and it had a strange effect on me. It took a few months and a few rewatches for it to sink in, but ironically, it made me realize how completely insane I sounded. I say "ironically" because if you followed the production and creators of this documentary, it was definitely done for "fans" as a sort of plea for Lucas to release the unaltered trilogy and make more Star Wars. I don't know if Lucas ever bothered to watch this particular documentary, but I wouldn't be surprised if his decision to sell the rights to Disney was due to the excessive hatred he received.

Anyways, watching this 12 years since it was released, with all that has happened is really eye-opening. At the time, you could see how crazy these people were, but you could also laugh at them as just being a small collection of nerds. If only we knew what was to come with gamergate, and how these toxic fandoms have been weaponized as political movements in a never-ending culture war. Review bombing, constant trolling, and especially harassment of non-white actors, are tactics now used by "hate fandoms", as training grounds and vehicles for recruitment into fascist movements. It's long past due for us a society to take this problem seriously. This documentary gives real insight into the origins of how toxic pop-culture fandoms develop.

What this documentary inadvertently exposes is that these "fans" have became incredibly attached to Star Wars as children, yet never grew up and put their toys away. What we are first shown to be a source of inspiration and creativity for these fan creators, becomes a lifelong and unhealthy obsessesion. Their escapist fantasy became an addiction to a delusion, and these people end up developing a warped sense of entitlement, where believe George Lucas is personally responsible for maintaing their perpetual childhood.

Among the hyperbolic things these "fans" say: calling the special edition changes a "betrayal", saying he showed "utter disdain" for the fans, saying it was "heinous" they couldn't see the original-unaltered edition, and most insane of all: comparing Lucas to a Holocaust Denier and calling him "Star Wars Denier".

When they talk about the prequels, they talk about the massive expectations they had as fans prior to the release, and then being let down and "feeling like being slapped in the face with a wet fish." Their reaction to midichlorians was really critical to watch. It wasn't just opposition from a writing standpoint. You could see these people had serious delusions that the Force could be real. As kids, they imagined themselves having telekinetic powers, and they never really gave up that fantasy. It was as if someone had just told them Santa Claus wasn't real, and they were going through psychological trauma, unable to accept it. Except, they were all in their late 30's and 40's. Grown-ass adults, still clinging to absurd childish fantasies.

This "trauma" was a major turning point for them. Some just separated themselves from the fandom and stopped caring about Star Wars. But most of those interviewed here have taken it personally and have turned their love of star wars into a campaign of hate.

Then you see people comparing the SW Christmas Special to a "war crime", one guy practically calls for Lucas to kill himself. They say Lucas has become Vader, one guy wonders if Lucas' son will grow up to kill him. They delight in a terrible South Park episode where they portrayed Lucas and Steven Spielberg raping Han Solo. This led to many people talking about George Lucas "raping their childhood" and one group even recorded a song "George Lucas raped our childhood."

What's really messed up is seeing these fans talk about Lucas as if *he's* abusing them by not caving to their little temper-tantrums. These spoiled children think their "Daddy" is abusing them by not buying them the toys they want for Christmas. They are completely oblivous to how they themselves are acting abusive and psychotic.

I wonder how many people who participated in this documentary have looked back and realized how insanely selfish, entitled and childish they look. I wonder if any of them grew up, OR are they still part of the toxic fandom that sends death threats to John Boyega and calls Kathleen Kennedy "Darth Kennedy".

The documentary isn't very well done, it has poor production quality, and spends way too much time showcasing the amateur fan-made movies. It at least has a few contributors who pushed back on the entitled nature of these fans and were willing to point out how absurd they were. However, it didn't talk to anyone who actually liked the prequels, except a handful of young kids who liked Jar Jar Binks. It's sad that an entire generation that grew up with the prequels and The Clone Wars still loves Star Wars, but they weren't ackonwledged in this film.

This isn't a good documentary, but it is worth watching, to understand the mass psychosis of toxic pop culture fans, and how they can go from merely annoying to becoming dangerous, corrosive to creative culture, and potentially dangerous to society.

No, this film is not 93 minutes of giving George Lucas the finger. It plays out as a bizarre, but highly entertaining, mash-up of love letter, trial, intervention, and therapy session, culminating in a general feeling of hope.

I won't go into details, you're likely either going to really want to see this movie, or you won't. If you loved the original Star Wars trilogy and hated the prequels, you're going to want to see this. If you don't care about the Star Wars movies (and therefore, filmmaking in general) then I can't imagine you'd enjoy this movie.

Personally, I really enjoyed the original Star Wars trilogy, and pretty much hated the prequels. However, I don't enjoy Star Wars enough to want to go out and try to make my own fan film, nor did I enjoy watching the bulk of the fan film footage included in TPvsGL. I think these amateur attempts to recreate Star Wars only serve to trivialize and dilute the magic of the original trilogy, in much the same manner as George Lucas' tampering, and subsequent self-destruction of the series. Actually, one of the most interesting things about TPvsGL is that the fans are guilty of most of the "crimes" they accuse Lucas of. It's a very dysfunctional relationship.

The interviews make this movie. Almost all of the interviewees are excellent. They're, for the most part, keen, poignant, and funny. Sometimes hilarious. I laughed out loud a few times.

A must see for Star Wars fans, of all types.

My first documentary at Edinburgh's International Film Festival this year directed by Alexandre Philippe, The People vs George Lucas.

I'm not the biggest Star Wars fan, in fact I watched the star was franchise in the wrong order. I started with Episode 1 and worked my way to 6. I've received a lot of grief for this over the years from friends and film lovers but I'm not that bothered. I did it that way so as to achieve a unique perspective on the films, it may have been the "wrong" perspective but I was given the chance to watch them from Ep 1 to Ep 6 and it made sense to me at the time. I've watched all the films once, they were OK, the last three (or first three depending on what way you look at it) Ep 4 – 6 were definitely superior but still for me, nothing special. I can appreciate that had I been around in the 70s or watched the films at a younger stage in my life I may feel differently. I know also of the huge fan base Star Wars has. Anyway the point of saying all this is, I went into the film not knowing much about the subject, unlike the majority of the rest of the folk in my screen.

I found the film entertaining, funny and informative. I laughed, not at all the jokes but enough to say its a comedy documentary that will make you laugh despite your knowledge of the subject. If you have seen the films many times over you will no doubt get more of the jokes though.

There was great use of archive photos and footage from the likes of 'The Daily Show' and You tube etc… I found this impressive as I know it can be considerably difficult to gain copyright permission for these type of things. There was maybe a lack of actual footage from the films. There was some but probably not enough in my opinion.

The structure of the film was great and seemed to be appropriate length for the most part. I'd argue the last 3rd of the film dragged on a little, and began to repeat itself a lot. There's only so many times you can make the one point. The film is 97mins and I thing should be at most 80.

The music also at points became a little distracting for me. It was played quite loudly throughout the film which was OK most of the time but sometimes the audio was not lowered enough during interviews and I was distracted. On the subject of the interviews however I was impressed at the sheer amount. There were new opinions all the way to the end of the film. Some reasonably well respected faces appearing for only a few seconds. There was clearly a lot of work put into the film which I respect deeply.

I think Star Wars fans will be happy with the film.

People who aren't bothered about Star Wars should also see the film if possible. I found it interesting finding out some of the big debates in the star wars universe. I will now be able to appreciate and join in discussions with my mates about it. I think girlfriends subjected to Star Wars chat may find it a useful tool.

I'd say the film was a very good one indeed.

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.

Whether or not you'll appreciate this documentary has a lot to do with what you think about George Lucas and his tinkering with his original Star Wars franchise. If you really couldn't care less or if you dislike Star Wars, then you shouldn't bother with the film. Or, if you are such a devoted fan that any criticism seems wrong, then you shouldn't bother with the film. But, if you think that Lucas fundamentally violated his contract with his fans, then this is your film!! That's because although some of the folks interviewed defended Lucas, most folks interviewed were mad, VERY MAD, at the man who created the franchise--making it a serious love-hate relationship.

Let me explain some of the complaints in the film. First, George Lucas has chosen to re-edit and change his original three films--adding scenes, changing scenes and putting in all new special effects. Second, the final three films in the series (oddly, episodes 1, 2 and 3) weren't up to the quality standards of the first films. And third, Jar Jar Binks is a character who so annoys fans (mostly adults) that people wonder why he insisted not only in putting him in these three most recent films (mentioned in the film) but adding him to the DVDs of the original films (oddly, never mentioned in the documentary). It all boils down to who owns the films--are they Lucas' or does he owe more to his devoted (and sometimes rabid) fans?

A few interesting parts of the film include: the fascinatingly hypocritical fact that Lucas led fight AGAINST colorization--

Testifying before Congress that films should be kept as they originally were made and changing them was wrong! A discussion of the Star Wars Christmas Special--a show considered by many to be among the WORST TV shows ever made.

The use of the word 'rape' which was used quite inappropriately towards the end of the film. Sure, I am one who definitely think it's terrible Lucas has changed his original films and WON'T allow the original films to be sold, but to use the R-word?! This belittles rape and is a bit disturbing.

Overall, a film that will appeal to some--and they will love it. Others might just wonder what all the fuss is about anyway!