Lebell

Who can say.

I do know that it is human nature to pay more attention when it is things we disagree with than when it is things we agree with.

I also know that on one site that I used to spend time on, the right leaning there were hypersensitive to things that were said when Clinton was in office.

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"Of all tyrannies, a tyranny exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It may be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end, for they do so with the approval of their own conscience." – C. S. Lewis

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Locobot

Well I don't remember seeing such effects-ladden commercials for McDonnell Douglass previous to the BushII presidency. Those commercials are certainly star wars influenced, wouldn't be surpised if they were ILM productions.


Maybe Darth Sideous is actually....

Kurant

Really.. Who the hell is George Lucas?

He made Star Wars, big deal. I think my neighbor had an absolutley ridiculious political opinion too, but it didn't make the news.

Who cares...

dksuddeth

why on gods green earth would anyone as creative as george lucas want to ruin his legacy of brilliance on the big screen with politics?

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"no amount of force can control a free man, a man whose mind is free. No, not the rack, not fission bombs, not anything. You cannot conquer a free man; the most you can do is kill him."

Gilda

Perhaps, as David Brin suggests, both The Empire and The Rebellion are evil, just flip sides of the same elitist-worshipping coin? Below is the first page of an essay by Brin about the lessons of the Empire. Follow the link; the whole article is well worth reading.

Link

I love Star Wars as space opera, but it falls apart as political rhetoric. Is it any wonder the best of the Star Wars movies is the one for which he didn't write or co-write the screeplay?

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I'm against ending blackness. I believe that everyone has a right to be black, it's a choice, and I support that.

~Steven Colbert

Ustwo

Gee someone in Hollywood would say something bad about G.W. at a festival which last year gave Moore the best picture award?

Thats unpossible!

No because it wasn't hip to protest Clinton's wars or use of force.

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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

Kurant

Everyone has opinions, viable or not. Lucas didn't ruin his legacy by making poor analogies or biased opinions. Lucas ruined his legacy with 3 shitty movies.

No one cares what Lucas has to say. Really.

Ustwo

I can never see Lucas without thinking of Jar Jar.

Which is also why I didn't spend any money on II or III, he still owes me back a ticket price for I.

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Agents of the enemies who hold office in our own government, who attempt to eliminate our "freedoms" and our "right to know" are posting among us, I fear.....on this very forum. - host

Obama - Know a Man by the friends he keeps.

analog

He had an opportunity to speak. He spoke on what he felt was a parallel between the movie the people were there to see- not just at some random time- and the current political landscape. There are so many things to speak on, and he chose to relate his new movie to it's roots, which were politically motivated. Since he wrote the original series under the influence of politics, and then also the prequel series that has now, some ten years later, made its way onto the big screen, it seems very reasonable to me that he make reference to his ways of thinking and inspirations and how they are easily compared to our current political situation, so many years later.

I think his comments were fine, based on the fact that this story was always a tale rooted in politics. He is simply pointing out that things are similar in some respects to the ways and reasons he originally wrote the story, well before any of this was happening.

I would only say he was doing this for publicity if he made such comments at every press conference, or any public speaking engagement. As of now, i'm unaware of other occasions where such parallels and comments were made.

archer2371

Well see, Star Wars is an archetypal story, and you can pretty much apply any of what happens to the real world. Hell, I remember one of my friend's saying that Episode One was about the United States' Israel Policy. With archetypes, I think it's rather erroneous to try and limit them to analogy, applicability, yes. To me, when you start in with analogy, you're automatically limiting yourself as a writer, and while the writing of George Lucas isn't that great, I don't think it's limited by analogy. A couple of reasons, Episode I was written during the Clinton administration and we all knew that Palpatine had to gain power of the Senate and dissolve it because we all knew he was the Emperor. So obviously he's going to go along in the vein of writers and history before him (Orwell, Shakespeare, rise and fall of Roman Empire, Hitler, etc.) to use as examples and waypoints to write and frame his story. While I do disagree with George Lucas and I find his line written for Obi-Wan "Only the Sith believe in absolutes," to be tasteless (because the Jedi have to believe in absolutes as well, because each act that's evil leads them down a path that few have been redeemed from, so in my mind, that line makes no sense whatsoever) to say that he had President Bush in mind when he began the story is jumping to some conclusions a little bit. Yes, subtle script lines like the ones mentioned above may have been intended as a way to take a jab at the President, but I think that's an irrelevant point going back to again, the overall story. Lucas is able to make that comment because of the applicability of archetypes to pretty much anything. Was it for publicity? Maybe, but how much more publicity does Star Wars really need? Honestly, I just saw on G4 TV two commercials, one for Episode III and then one for Star Wars Galaxies, back to back. Secondly, the reporter may have picked up on the applications and asked Lucas about it, thus giving us this article.

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"This ain't no Ice Cream Social!"

"Hey Grif, Chupathingy...how bout that? I like it...got a ring to it."

"I have no earthly idea what it is I just saw, or what this place is, or where in the hell O'Malley is! My only choice is to blame Grif for coming up with such a flawed plan. Stupid, stupid Grif."

MikeyChalupa

Lucas' liberal politics have influenced Star Wars in at least a few ways already: He has already told us that the Nemoidian leaders of the Trade Federation are named Nute Gunray and Lott Dod for Senators Trent Lott (R-MS), Chris Dodd (D-CT), Newt Gingrich and Ronald Reagan (re-arranged to Gunray). 3 Republicans and one of the more conservative Democrats.

But I don't think Ep. 3 is anti-Bush. If 9/11 had never happened, we'd still have Ep. 3 and it would be the same movie. We just wouldn't be seeing Bush in it, we'd see more Hitler or Mussolini.

-Mikey

pan6467

I love it when people say the "stars" should shut up.... yet then start quoting Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Coulter, Nugent or whomever the star for the GOP happens to be now.

And yes, all those mentioned have 1 thing that every other star (Sarandon, Lucas, Streisand, etc.) have in common the need to sell product. And if it takes outrageous things to say they will deem it necessary to in order to get press (or in some cases create press).

If you tell me the stars on the left need to shut up... then you must accept me telling you the stars on the right must shut up.

In my opinion, they have as much right to speak as anybody and if they have the audience that listens it is because of their hard work and the respect they have commanded. NOONE has any right to tell anyone else to shut up, threaten or belittle another's right to speak. You can dismiss what they say, argue facts or ignore them.... but they have as much right to speak and to use their celebrity in any way they want. If people don't like what they say, then those people stop buying the product and they may go away or be quiet. But to tell, insinuate, or threaten people to shut up because they may have an audience and YOU don't like what they say.......is truly un-American and against everything I believe in.

I may not like what a person says or believes, but I have proven (by my enlistment in the Navy) I am willing to lay my life on the line for their right to say it.

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"

samcol

You have it exactly right. Everyone has the right to use their political position or fame to speak their mind. Taking this away from someone would be very un-American.

I never understood why Hollywood gets attacked when it goes political, yet the right does the same thing with their prominent people.

Bookman

The worst opponent in an informal debate is an intelligent person with a set of beliefs....this person cannot express THEMSELF or comment on topics/facts.

With that being said...the movie had an erie (spelling?) resemblence to where the USA is today. A leader who is not who you thought he/she is/was.
Better yet a leader who may not have his/her supporters in mind rather alternative incentives and motives.

Don't discredit Lucas...why? If that was the case we would have to discredit the Smirkster everytime he speaks.

pan6467

Left: Charlie Chaplin, Humphrey Bogart, Frank Sinatra, Matt Damon, Martin Sheen, Barbra Streisand and so on.

Right: Douglas Fairbanks, Charlton Heston, Bing Crosby, Drew Carey, Bruce Willis, Ah-nold, Mel Gibson, Demi Moore and so on

The list of "star right is just as prominent as that on the left and just as long. Hollywood and the media has always been diverse and at odds with government and why would this be? Creativity is spawned partially by rebelliousness and speaking out against what the artists find wrong in society. Hence, the arts and artists will always be attacked by someone (no matter what side the artist maybe or what the point of the art truly is).

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I just love people who use the excuse "I use/do this because I LOVE the feeling/joy/happiness it brings me" and expect you to be ok with that as you watch them destroy their life blindly following. My response is, "I like to put forks in an eletrical socket, just LOVE that feeling, can't ever get enough of it, so will you let me put this copper fork in that electric socket?"