The People vs. George Lucas
In titling his documentary, “The People vs. George Lucas,” filmmaker Alexandre O. Philippe sets the viewer up for one thing, yet presents something very different. The title implies a trial of the man who made “Star Wars” against those who have felt betrayed by Lucas’s seeming disregard for the films his fans grew up with and loved. However, the film ultimately illuminates just how passionate and beloved the franchise, and its creator, are in the minds and hearts of those who criticize him the harshest. It’s one of the most honest looks at the cinematic touchstone I’ve ever seen, and certainly, one of the most entertaining.
If anything, Philippe’s film further solidifies my fandom for “Star Wars” rather than wrecking it. He gives voice to fans whose lives have been, for better or worse, profoundly affected by “Star Wars,” be they critics, collectors, cosplayers, or filmmakers who have been inspired by Lucas’s creations to make their own films. I get these people, and that same affection for “Star Wars” courses through my veins, and lives in my own cinematic DNA. And to a certain point, I get their frustration with Lucas and his constant “tinkering” with the “Star Wars” epics, as well as the numerous shortcomings of the prequel trilogy. I feel that same frustration, most especially when it comes to Lucas’s insistence on keeping fans from being able to watch the original, theatrical releases of the first trilogy in the best possible presentation available.
That being said, I can’t get behind the people who look at the Special Editions and prequels as any less of a part of the “Star Wars” universe as Lucas seems to regard the original, “unfinished” trilogy, and especially those who compared Lucas’s work on the series for the past fifteen years as something akin to “raping their childhood,” a common argument that has more than worn out its welcome to these ears. Yes, the prequels (and “Phantom Menace” and “Attack of the Clones” in particular) have many aspects that out and out suck, especially when it comes to dialogue, performance, and storytelling, but whether we want to admit it or not, those three films are part of the official “Star Wars” canon. We can choose to watch them or not watch them, but to pretend they don’t exist is an act in futility. And part of Lucas”s tinkering with the original trilogy has been as much to make the six-film saga feel like an organic whole as it is an opportunity to touch up the visual effects, and add scenes and touches he wasn’t able to the first time around. As the central figure behind those films, he has that right, although to not allow the original films of “Empire” and “Jedi,” which were not directed by Lucas, to be preserved along with Lucas’s new versions is akin to when Ted Turner went back and began colorizing classic films of the ’40s and ’50s in the ’80s, a fad that Lucas himself testified against in 1988. That hypocrisy is one of the main arguments fans have made against Lucas, and although it carries some weight, at least Lucas is not going back as a third party, who had nothing to do with the original work, and tampering with these films as Turner did.
That my review of the film has taken on this form is proof of its worth, because like the fans Philippe interviews in this film, I’m a fan of “Star Wars” who has been grappling with these same dilemmas for fifteen years. The film ends less with a flurry of rage towards Lucas and more of the feel of an intervention with a loved one who has lost his path. In the end, the fans still love Lucas; they just have a hard time accepting the person he’s become.
