I hate Star Wars

I don't know what's up with me lately, but I've been having a blast digging up articles that dump on the SW films. And contrary to what you might expect, these articles are doing nothing but strengthening my love for the films. Most of the articles I'm finding focus (quite unfairly, IMO) on TPM, but I run across others too. The most entertaining aspect of this is that the authors of these pieces invariably miss the point of the films or spend their time griping about the fans, Lucas and society-at-large instead of critiquing the films:

This guy is versatile--he does it all. Enjoy!

http://www.poppolitics.com/articles/2002-05-22-hatestarwars.shtml

Disclaimer: if you're easily offended, don't bother reading it. If you're quite confident and happy about your admiration of SW, go for it. The article's a hoot.

 

Funny. At least she doesn't swear in her review...

 

I don't get the authors point. How is he arguing that star Wars ruined filmmaking. He says after Star Wars the great films such as chinatown, we not made because of star wars. Also, that crap like grimlins and Ghostbusters were caused because of it? I actually grew up watching Ghostbusters and i am acustomed to many sorts of films I do believe Jack Nicholson in Chinatown is amazing and a great film but I fail to see how Star Wars ruined those types of films from being made. Star Wars opened new doors, and you can still express those same films today. Star Wars has advanced upon the movie making experience, and has probably helped make a great film that he wrote highly about, from such programs as ILM, and Pixar. I am in the process of becoming a filmmaker myself. I recently applied to USC filmschool but if its one thing I hate absoultly hate is the film critics. Everyone is a critic, I have learned to stay neutral from them because they are not always right. I don't think AOTC was as good as I would have liked it to be but its Star Wars and its apart of George Lucas's vision. It would be wrong to say because of Star Wars great artistic films were destroyed.

 

Better to hate Star Wars than to be indifferent about it... hate is kin to passion.

 

I also fail to see how Star Wars prevented good films from being made. I can mention a few movies made after Star Wars that seems like the kind of movies he likes.

- Raging Bull.
- Mississippi Burning
- Alien.
- Blade Runner.
- Scarface.

 

HOOO Ho Ho ho ho ho ho

 

I did not go to see the second film in the series, or the third. I caught bits and piece of both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi when they appeared on cable,

He hasn't even seen the movies. Why would his opinion even be considered when he has no actual knowledge of the articles subject?

He should at least put some effort into his ranting. People are so lazy today.

 

Gremlins. The Goonies. Ghostbusters. Beverly Hills Cop.

I ahven't seen the goonies or BHC but Ghostbusters and Gremlins are;
a. Nothing like Star Wars
and b. Bloody brilliant films.

I did not go to see the second film in the series, or the third. I caught bits and piece of both The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi when they appeared on cable

The woman hasn't even seen the two best films! How can she be taken seriously?

That Star Wars was a half-baked melange of old Saturday morning serial plots gussied up with some pseudo Manichean west coast spiritual malarkey,

Look's like George succeeded in what he wanted to make then.

I'm sorry, but this person hasn't a clue what they're talking about.

 

There is a link between Star Wars and the a lot of the junk that is made today, but you can't blame it all on Star Wars. The author has a right to his opinion, but he has his facts mixed up. I also don't know where an 8-year old sees Invasion of the Body Snatchers before the video revolution. When movies started becoming blockbuster hits at the end of the 70's, studios realized the potential of younger audiences wanting to see action movies. You can't blame studio heads for not wanting to lose money. If you want to blame someone, blame the same great director of the films the author loves. After Coppola did Conversation and Apocalypse Now, he did a few teen movies and a musical that bombed. After that, he's made two pretty good movies(Godfather 3 and Peggy Sue God Married) and a lot of lousy ones. If you don't like action movies, the don't go to see them. There are still great movies around now, but sometimes you have to search for them because most of them are independent movies.

 

Um... why are people calling the author "her/she"?



Anyway. The criticism that SW led to the decline of filmmaking is not an uncommon one, and perhaps not without merit (assuming your opinion is that it did decline, of course). There have been many people, both critics and creative types, who resent SW and blame Lucas for this-or-that.

In the end, folks, it comes down to your own opinion -- nothin' more, nothin' less.

I mean, it's not like Lucas woke up one morning and said, "I would like to change filmmaking forever and encourage people to make 'schlockbusters'." Of course not! He was worried SW wouldn't make its money back!



Rick McCallum loves you!

 

Robert is a girl's name! Isn't it?

God, people these days...Vader would choke them for their incompetence. Or if he isn't available, my old First Sergeant (who people actually called Lord Vader from time to time) would be happy to.

 

If you're going to spill your haterade on Star Wars, fine, but AT LEAST do it responsibly. My favorite part:

Gremlins. The Goonies. Ghostbusters. Beverly Hills Cop. These were the witless, soulless individually wrapped slices of cinematic cheese that followed in its wake.

Raiders of the Lost Ark? Goodfellas? Schindler's List? Saving Private Ryan? Alien? Scarface? The Shawshank Redemption? Rain Man? Reservoir Dogs? Pulp Fiction? LA Confidential? Any Pixar film? (Nah, scratch that last one. This guy is probably one of those shallow morons who stereotype animation as "kiddy")

 

Hah, totally understandable. I play some nerdy games and I love to read about how people hate them, I don't relly know why though. It's just funnny cause you'd think these people would stop sitting around hating and get out and do something valuable with their life.

 

After the first few paragraphs I stopped reading, it is utter bollocks.

 

The author doesn't know a thing about Star Wars. I also find it highly doubtful that as an 8 year old the author was too intellectually mature to like the film. As an adult he recognizes a cultural shift in the '80s which was on the opposite end of the spectrum from the '70s. Star Wars revolutionized Hollywood, and the popcorn fare it inspired saved many a studio. What the author fails to mention is how many movie studios were on the brink of bankruptcy in the '70s. The old formulas weren't working anymore. Then American Graffiti hit. Then Jaws. Then Rocky, Star Wars, Superman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Alien, Grease, Saturday Night Fever, etc. Coming out of the Vietnam war, people just wanted to have fun again. Look at disco: is there any other explanation?

Don't blame Star Wars for a cultural movement. It had its part to play, but it wasn't the source. People were widely disillusioned back then. It was nice and freshing to see black hats and root for the underdogs. And of course Hollywood started making more popular entertainment, are you crazy? They are in the business to make money and after Star Wars it was obvious there was a lot of money to be made. Still, just because a movie is popular doesn't mean it is bad. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with coming out of a movie and feeling good. Sure, movies can challenge and make us think, but the number rule of any movie is to entertain. Without that, we're back to spinning in circles of disillusionment and apathy again.

L8r

 

If nothing else, this author is giving Lucas WAY too much credit. One man can certainly impact moviemaking, but he can't change it forever. There have been plenty of great films following SW's wake that are nothing in the essence of SW at all. I know people criticize SW fans for being so rabid, but sheesh. At least we do our research.

The author's point is moot for his/her suggestion that one man can control the actions of others. It was not Lucas who directed these other individuals to follow in his wake. That was their choice. I have little respect for an argument that blames an individual for other people's actions.

 

I don't know where these "Star Wars killed movies" folks get the idea that, prior to SW, movie studios were scrupulously devoted to putting out artistic, quality movies and didn't care about making money...or that prior to SW, one masterpiece after another came out.

The 1970s perhaps saw a higher concentration of artistic, quality movies than was typical. However, historically speaking, movies have always been, by and large, so much junk, occasionally punctuated by good and great films. It may seem like more good and great movies were released in the past, but that's only because in the past, more effort was put into preserving the good and great movies than the so-so and bad ones; the so-so and bad ones simply fell off the radar, some never to be seen again. Nowadays, movies are immediately put on VHS and DVD no matter how lousy they are, so it looks like more bad movies are being released nowadays when the proportion of bad to good movies is probably roughly equal to how it was in past decades.

And believe it or not, studios have always been more interested in making money than in putting out artistic, quality products. Maybe the success of SW resulted in studios being more open about their pursuit of profits, but it didn't create the trend.

 

Inkswamp, I want to thank you for tracking down these ever amusing articles you post links to. Makes for some funny reading. Articles like these also help me desensitize myself when it comes to the baseless insults flung at some of my favorite things. Two, three years ago, I would have been outraged. Now, like you, I laugh.

 

The author of this article is a Trekkie! Look at the bottom of the page, it says he's the author of "The Encyclopedia of Shatnerica", what ever that is.

 

You can all relax. This person is just writing words that he knows will rile everyone up and get a reaction. Its simple sensationalism, thats all. Here's the one chink I found in his "armor".

He claimed to have these feelings of Star Wars when he was 8 years old. Uh huh...try again, dude. No one who was 8 when they first saw SW in '77 would have these thoughts in their head....

I cringed at the lameness of the byplay between Han Solo and Princess Leia, like one of those romantic subplots MGM used to graft onto a Marx Brothers movie.

I rolled my eyes at Darth Vader, as heavy-handed and obvious in his huge black helmet as a moustache-twirler from an old two-reel western.

I blanched at the sheer bloodlessness of California-issue leading man Mark Hamill.

Yeah, right. He...like every other 8 year old at the time..."oooohed" and "ahhhhhed" at Star Wars. I doubt he really hates Star Wars like he says he does...he's just doing what any journalist who wants to sell papers would do. Pissing people off, so they go and talk about him.

Howard Stern has made millions of dollars doing the same thing.

 

Hello.

It is pretty funny. Also sort of odd. I agree with Mr 'Devilanse'. Nobody would have these thoughts when they were 8 years old.

Who, when they are 8, knows what 'Star Wars was a half-baked melange of old Saturday morning serial plots gussied up with some pseudo Manichean west coast spiritual malarkey' means?

Who, when they are 8 compares watching Star Wars to 'eating pastrami on white bread'?

We then find out he hasn't even seen the other 2!
He has not seen the genius of Return of the Jedi!

He has a point though. There is something slightly tiresome about The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones. The others were good, 'cos they had bad special effects, and you could laugh.

 

You want "A Hoot" watch Triumpth the ComicDog rip on the fans in line for AOTC. It is HILARIOUS.

 

This is what happens when someone is straved for attention and is really really bored.

 

"This is what happens when someone is starved for attention and is really really bored."

What? coming on a STAR WARS board and posting "This is what happens when someone is starved for attention and is really really bored."

 

Triumpth the ComicDog

OMG! My wife and I laughed so hard when we saw this, we were seriously close to wetting ourselves. That has to be one of the funniest things ever put on film. I'm impressed that the folks in the crowd had such thick skin about it. You'd think at least one person would get hurt feelings, but they were all smiles.

The best line is the thing he says to the pregnant woman. "That'll be the last time he sees female genitalia."

Classic!