For someone claiming not to care, that was quite the rant.
Well, let me put it this way: what I cannot care about anymore is what Geroge does with these films and the franchise in the future. I obviously care about the films, and about the legacy of Star Wars in the history of cinema, but as far as his future intentions, I could not care less. Am I bothered by what he is doing? Certainly. I would be lying if I said otherwise. But they are his movies, so he can do with them as he sees fit, and nothing anyone says will deter him from his ill-chosen course of action. Seriously, if all those changes I mentioned in my previous post actually come to pass, I will not be surprised in the least. I will not even be angry or sad or disappointed or anything else. I simply won't feel
anything, because as far as I am concerned, these are completely different films now. They might as well be straight re-boots for all I care. The originals still exist, and that is good enough for me.
What I
DO care about, though, is how the Original Trilogy is being marginalized, as if they were some sort of horrible mistake that never should have happened. If he said he was going to release the original trilogy , in anamorphic widescreen, on blu-ray, along side, or even packaged with, these new versions, I would be perfectly fine with that. But what angers me is how he tries to pretend that the original versions don't even exist, and each new revision of those classic films just drives those original movies farther into the shadows of the past, and poisons the views of future generations on the Star Wars Saga. Half of the kids who get into Star Wars from this point on will think it was always just about flashy CGI and ridiculously choreographed lightsaber duels, not about the great characters and philosophical wisdom that actually
changes you, the sort of film that actually made you
think, rather then just merely being entertained. The other half, the half that actually grows up to have good taste in movies, will look at these new films and just shake their heads, wondering how their parents could actually find anything magical or profound in such tripe. By removing the original versions of these films from general public, Lucas is doing future film enthusiasts a massive disservice, because he damages his own legacy, making it near impossible to understand why he became so revered as a film maker in the first place, beyond simply having the flashiest special effects.
Maybe it was the lightsabers and laser dogfights that first grabbed audiences back in the 70's and 80's, but what made those films emotionally resonate with the audience, and what made them the pop-culture phenomenon they are today, is so much deeper then all the flash and glitter. It was the humanity of the characters, and the emotional depth of the story being told that made those movies memorable, and with each new "enhancement", Lucas takes away just a little bit of that old movie making magic. Make no mistake, I am not anti technology. I love a visual treat, but what George is doing here goes beyond simply updating the special effects; he is actually messing with the
characters and the
story. He is not simply trying to revisit the visuals so they appear as he envisioned them, he is trying to force a change upon the original trilogy to fit his new view of the Star Wars Saga, and that view is one centered around a shallow Anikin-centric plot in which everything that happens is just a contrivance to make Vader a be-all, end-all to this universe.
That is the most perverse thing in all this. He isn't simply doing it for the money, he genuinely believes that the Prophesy based story told in the prequels is what Star Wars should really have been about from the beginning. He is attempting to rewrite the history of his own story to better fit his more recent vision, and I wouldn't have a problem with that if he still left the original films alone an intact so those of us who enjoyed them more could still enjoy them as they originally were, but that is not good enough for him. He won't stop until he forces his newer and "better" vision of Star Wars down all of our throats, even if that means attempting to erase the original films from history. So while I don't care about what he does with these movie in the future, I do care deeply about him trying to destroy and cover up his own past, for no reason other then the fact it conflicts with his current view of the Saga.
On a related note, someone on TheForce.net posted this little bit of historical irony, proving once again how out of touch George Lucas is with his own past:
"People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians." "The public’s interest is ultimately dominant over all other interests." "Attention should be paid to the interest of those who are yet unborn, who should be able to see this generation as it saw itself, and the past generation as it saw itself."
-George Lucas, 1988
https://nerdbastards.com/2011/08/31/george-lucas-vs-george-lucas-the-1998-speech-against-altering-films/