George Lucas Blames 'Star Wars' Critics for Killing Series

Vyvyan Basterd · Jan 19, 2012

billd91 said:
When criticizing someone's art, is it really that different from criticizing them? Entwined in criticizing the art is criticizing their artistic vision, their personal preferences, their qualities of judgment. I can see how it would be taken to be incredibly personal. Perhaps not as personal as complaining that Lucas is a man with no neck or that, perhaps, Picasso was an asshat in his personal behavior, but it is stuff that gets at the core of who the artist is.

The terrible pieces of art Lucas foisted off on the public in the name of Star Wars deserve the criticism they get. I found them terribly disappointing on the whole with very few bright spots (the light saber fight between Qui-Gon, Obi-Wan, and Darth Maul being one of them). That wouldn't stop me from mingling with Lucas at a cocktail party or playing cards with him. It's not personal in that sense, but I do question his artistic vision and that is personal.

Yes, but would you call him a 'terrible person'? Probably not, since you say you'd hang out with him. I've read and heard people proclaim that he should die for what he did to Star Wars. Die?! How many of these can one human being listen to and not feel bad about it.

I have multiple criticisms for his work on the prequels and the changes he made to the originals. But I think too many people go too far and cross the fine line between criticizing his work and attacking him as a person. Many people will tell me I'm wrong and that he should expect that, but I can still rail against this lack of civility that permeates our society.

Dannyalcatraz · Jan 19, 2012

But, not a single one of you can say you know how it feels when so much hate is directed at you.

Well, I am a black man who lives in the southern USA...

When criticizing someone's art, is it really that different from criticizing them?

For many artists, the answer is no.

El Mahdi · Jan 19, 2012

Wow! Talk about Hubris!

The Fans didn't like his "prequels", so it's the Fans fault the series is dead.

It absolutely has nothing at all to do with him making movies his fans didn't like...

:erm:

Starman · Jan 19, 2012

pauljathome said:
That is EXACTLY what he is claiming to be doing.

And that's what I'm getting at. If you are someone who creates something for others to see/read/hear/whatever, then you had best be prepared for criticism, much of it overly harsh and personal. If you are unable or unwilling to deal with this, then it's probably best if you don't put your stuff out there. It's probably also best if you don't publicly whine about this.

Dannyalcatraz · Jan 19, 2012

It's probably also best if you don't publicly whine about this.

ESPECIALLY in the Internet Age. That's like dangling a bacon-wrapped baby in a pirhana-infested river.

Banshee16 · Jan 19, 2012

Vyvyan Basterd said:
It's easy to say "boo hoo, poor George" sarcastically, as was my first reaction. But I'm not sure that's fair and this age of bullying people just because you're anonymously crapping all over the internet is getting out of hand.

Agreed. When you're actually doing something creative, and that you pour yourself into, to have other people (many of whom are like armchair quarterbacks, with their own opinions, but nowhere near the skill to create anything themselves) tear apart your work, yes, it's disheartening.

I don't think he did nearly as good a job with the prequels, and I do feel that he was surrounded by people who must be too intimidated to call a bad idea a bad idea......but by no means were the prequels as absolutely craptacular as some critics made them out to be.

Definitely not the power houses the first trilogy was, but on a scale of 1-100, they were nowhere near a 1.

Bullying, whether it's by critics, anonymous fans online, or even via paparazzi is largely out of hand.

Banshee

Kzach · Jan 19, 2012

Vyvyan Basterd said:
But, not a single one of you can say you know how it feels when so much hate is directed at you. Not your work, but at you personally.

Are you sure about that? I've been banned from every forum I've ever posted on. Even this one.

Vyvyan Basterd said:
Yes, but would you call him a 'terrible person'?

I would.

I think it is very much because of who he is as a person that the prequels were so terrible. His ego is the size of a gas giant that swallows up smaller planets that pass by it. He didn't make these movies because of a love for his art, he made them to capitalise on the success of the franchise. Read up on how he milked everyone for the franchise royalties and went from being virtually broke before the prequels to one of the world's 400 richest people.

Somewhere along the line, the dude lost his soul.

jmucchiello · Jan 19, 2012

With that attitude, good riddance. There was just as much constructive criticism of the prequel and why they are just bad. George, don't take them to heart. Don't learn from the experience. Don't conceive that you could be fallible. Retire. Do or do not. There is no shame is not doing.

Relique du Madde · Jan 19, 2012

The reason why some fans "hate" George Lucas so vehemently is because they treat fandom as something akin to religion.

In the case of star wars they view whatever was created ORIGINALLY as being dogmatic canon then seleced various EU pieces and then give them canonical status within their own version of the Star Wars mythos. If the prequels and special editions never were created it would be fine. But no, each edit and re-release of the prequels damaged that initial original vision of the my and despoiled it. Then Lucas made the ultimate heretical and blasphemous act by inserting his own apocryphal movies into canon. This ruined some of the continually that the fans and various other authors created for themselves and cheapened the story..

El Mahdi · Jan 19, 2012

...But, not a single one of you can say you know how it feels when so much hate is directed at you. Not your work, but at you personally...

Kzach said:
Are you sure about that? I've been banned from every forum I've ever posted on. Even this one.

First, I highly doubt anyone here at ENWorld have ever had the amount of criticism, nerdrage, and outright vitriol directed at them, at even a miniscule percentage of the amount, that it has been directed at George Lucas (whether deserved or not). I feel pretty safe in saying that not only are you or anyone else here not in the same league as Lucas, I'd say we're not even in the same Galaxy. (That would be a Galaxy far, far away from Lucas...

)

Second, if one thinks that being banned so many places was simply about hate being directed at them, then I believe they've missed the point considerably.

George Lucas Blames 'Star Wars' Critics for Killing Series

Vyvyan Basterd

Adventurer

Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator

El Mahdi

Muad'Dib of the Anauroch

Starman

Adventurer

Dannyalcatraz

Schmoderator

Banshee16

First Post

Kzach

Banned

jmucchiello

Hero

Relique du Madde

Adventurer

El Mahdi

Muad'Dib of the Anauroch

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