Does George Lucas deserve all the criticism he gets?

BTW, please don't think that I think this question shouldn't be asked. In fact, I'm glad you asked b/c it gives people here an opportunity to explain why all the GL hate is ridiculous.

 

I always thought his writing and CGI was incredible.

Now, as for the Disney sellout part, I am slightly worried on that front. Lucas might just want to wash his hands of his franchise by passing it on to be Disney’s problem. It’s possible he ran out of ideas for Star Wars, but would easily avoid criticism by giving his intellectual property to someone else. However, this is not exactly a criticism, it just happens. Countless creators are known for cancelling their works or getting tired of writing, and retiring instead.

 

he's brought to everyone is something not everyman can do with a vision.

 

That was beautiful!

 

Going back on this for a bit, I think most of my bitterness over this topic comes from the fact that it's George that seems to be the biggest target. We take a look at pop culture and the Internet, does any other creator of a popular franchise get as much flack?

I've seen NOBODY rag on Bob Kane. I've only seen Internet reviewer Linkara rag on Stan Lee. Only Trekkies seem to rag on Gene Roddenberry. Akira Toriyama's raggedness depends, but people declare him to be a nigh god because of DragonBall Z. And for the resident Whovians, how much staying power has Sydney Newman have?

Yet it's always Lucas this, and Lucas that. I'm not saying George is immune to criticism, but the amount the guy gets, whether it be from Cracked.com, the Big Bang Theory, any reviewer from That Guy With The Glasses, or a Youtube Poop, it's gotten to the point of massive overstaying its welcome.

I swear I won't be surprised, by the time I'm an old man and have grandkids of my own, that people will still rag on George Lucas's corpse or eternally hound his family and estate just because of Star Wars.

 

Glad this thread got bumped up again. More people need to read it! I enjoyed reading the article posted by Iron_Lord above...a couple of quotes from it stood out to me:

"But as Alan Watts once so eloquently put it, sometimes the most creative bits of philosophy come from questioning the most accepted elements of common sense."

I think that's an interesting and true observation. The tendency towards a "herd"/"bandwagon" mentality is as old as humanity, but certain aspects of the internet just make it even more prevalent. People just love to automatically throw around the terms "hack" and "sell out" whenever GL's name comes up like it's just an obvious, accepted fact and there's no room for further discussion.

"He’s very aware of how “terrible” everyone thinks he is online. If he wasn’t before they started insulting him on his children’s Twitter accounts, he is now."

I had not heard about this particular example of internet GL-bashing before. That is really just sad and pathetic. I can't imagine what it would be like to be GL and see stuff like that happening or to encounter some of the sites that go far beyond just offering reasonable critiques of the films, etc. by featuring highly personal and just plain hateful insults. And then to step back and think about the fact that people are posting that stuff because...they didn't enjoy some of his films or changes to some of his films. It never ceases to amaze me.

So, my answer to the OP: a resounding NO!

 

No one is immune to criticism and the problem, in my view, is not in the opinions that people have but how they express and present them.
Blind unargumented bashing (or gushing, for that matter) rarely contribute anything to the dialogue.

Lucas has had his fair share of bad decisions, but we should not let that overshadow the many great ones he's made. Like em or hate em, he EARNED his right to make movies any way he wants, he built all that from scratch and even if I dislike most of TPM and AOTC I have to objectivley admire the man for having guts to make movies exactly the way he wanted them made.
He did not compromise his views and ideas for whiny fans and did things his own way.
In fact, as time goes by I am begining to wonder if he made all the changes to his movies just to drive that point home - these are my movies and I can do anything I want with them.

Does he deserve criticism? Some of it, yes.
Does he deserve it to be so harsh, aggressive and personal? Most certainly not.

 

He certainly doesn't deserve the personal venom some people direct at him. He does however deserve to have his decisions in regards to making the prequels and making changes to the OT critiqued. I don't accept the line that Star Wars is "his" and that we should accept and be happy with whatever he does with it. George Lucas owned Star Wars and was well within his right to do whatever he wanted with it but that doesn't mean everyone has to be happy with what he does.

 

Well, I totally accept that Star Wars is his. In fact, I don't like the thought of it continuing without his involvement (as it someday will). Maybe that's just me.

That he should be beyond criticism goes without saying. There is nobody who is flawless, even in the area they specialise. And even then, Lucas never claimed or desired to be a specialist in screenwriting or directing. He was, and is, a storyteller and editor at heart.

The great thing about the PT, whether you like it or hate it, is that they are exactly the set of films Lucas wanted to make. He had such control and freedom over them that they couldn't be anything else. And I'm eternally glad he got to make them. Do I wish they were different here or there? In some areas, of course. But it's not about me or anyone else. They're what he wanted. Nobody else, however big a fan, has the right to dictate what should have happened in them.

This is one of the most misguided opinions I have ever read.

 

NO!. His creations are now bringing joy to my 3yr old and 6yrold children. GL made something so big and popular people were always going to knock it. As a writer myself (unpublished) I admire his storytelling skill and passion for his creation. As ive said before these films were only meant to be B-movies,Saturday morning matinee. He only wrote it cos he could not afford the rights to Flash Gordon. I think a lot of it has to do with his use of Jake LLoyd and Baby Boba, - my kids really relate to them but i guess if your a 40 yr old guy stuck in an IT job he I think if all us 77 original people were 6, 7, 8, 9 now we would all love the PT and it would just be trashed by film critics who envy his infuence and inspiration over the film industry, we should never forget,when that Star Destroyer passed seemingly endlessly overhead that the film industry changed forever.......there are some bit of AOTC I really dont like, but that is no reason for the vitriol, infact the more i watch it, the more it really feels like the true satuday morningmatinee it was based on

 

And he stuck to that throughout. That's what I don't get about people who so aggressively criticize much of the acting and dialogue. It's meant to be that way.

 

if it was not for GL the whingers would have to find some other website to winge on as this would not exist

 

I was a kid when the PT came out. I was GL's target audience and even at 8 years old I could see Jake Lloyd was a terrible actor and Jar Jar was not funny at all so it's not really a complete matter of age.

 

well my kids love him.... still no reason for any abuse tho...my partner whose 40 loves Jar Jar and is her fave character and loves doing his voice to make the kidslaugh - i can take or leave him

 

GL definately does NOT deserve ALL of the criticism that he gets. Alot of the criticism that he gets is more revisionist than he is.

 

It's not just you . I actually feel somewhat conflicted about the new movies for that reason...I love the existing ones so much that, of course, in one way, I'm looking forward to the prospect of having more SW movies to see. But I am also a little sad that they'll go on without GL's direct oversight. I'm also a little bit worried that the new films won't seem enough like the existing SW filmic universe that I know and love.

[And, just as an aside, while I am clearly not a GL "basher," I don't consider myself an unthinking "gusher" either. I don't personally enjoy every SW film equally or feel that any of the films should be immune to reasoned and thoughtful critiques of how they hold up as films. But as another poster mentioned above, the level and tone of some of the GL "criticism"...er..."hate" out there is really just ridiculous.]

 

This post is pure awesome!

 

It's possible to criticize the artist while praising the man.

 

I agree. Unfortunately, a lot of times it doesn't seem to happen that way.

 

I think he deserves huge respect in both aspects.

 

I also agree with that!

 

There's a difference between "criticize" and "Calling someone the worst possible human being ever".

I also await the day when George Lucas will stop becoming Pop Culture's whipping boy. As I said previously, the likes of Stan Lee has done some equal amount of bad in his career, yet you don't see Pop Culture hating on the man.

 

"I'd rather you murder my mom than edit your movie."

 

What is the source of that quote?!

 

That's just the kind of stuff I read. It's not an actual quote.