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Purism

I've been accused of being a purist. The funny thing is that I had to look that up in order to clarify what I was being accused of.

"pur·ist (pyrst)n.
One who practices or urges strict correctness, especially in the use of words"

It's interesting how this whole thing started... Pretty much I went passive/aggressive apeshit over the new Star Wars DVDs and was calling them a humongus waste of money and time. If anybody wanted to invest in their need to settle for whatever Lucas puts in front of them, then that's their business... Personally, I think it's bullshit, mostly based on the following quote from an interview he did with CNN.com:

"Q: Why did you rework the original trilogy into the special-edition versions in the late 1990s?

LUCAS: To me, the special edition ones are the films I wanted to make. Anybody that makes films knows the film is never finished. It's abandoned or it's ripped out of your hands, and it's thrown into the marketplace, never finished. It's a very rare experience where you find a filmmaker who says, "That's exactly what I wanted. I got everything I needed. I made it just perfect. I'm going to put it out there." And even most artists, most painters, even composers would want to come back and redo their work now. They've got a new perspective on it, they've got more resources, they have better technology, and they can fix or finish the things that were never done. ... I wanted to actually finish the film the way it was meant to be when I was originally doing it. At the beginning, people went, "Don't you like it?" I said, "Well, the film only came out to be 25 or 30 percent of what I wanted it to be." They said, "What are you talking about?" So finally, I stopped saying that, but if you read any interviews for about an eight- or nine-year period there, it was all about how disappointed I was and how unhappy I was and what a dismal experience it was. You know, it's too bad you need to get kind of half a job done and never get to finish it. So this was my chance to finish it.

Q: Why not release both the originals and special editions on DVD?

LUCAS: The special edition, that's the one I wanted out there. The other movie, it's on VHS, if anybody wants it. ... I'm not going to spend the, we're talking millions of dollars here, the money and the time to refurbish that, because to me, it doesn't really exist anymore. It's like this is the movie I wanted it to be, and I'm sorry you saw half a completed film and fell in love with it. But I want it to be the way I want it to be. I'm the one who has to take responsibility for it. I'm the one who has to have everybody throw rocks at me all the time, so at least if they're going to throw rocks at me, they're going to throw rocks at me for something I love rather than something I think is not very good, or at least something I think is not finished. "

Essentially saying that we, as the diehard fans who grew up with a film trilogy that was practically perfect as is, weren't seeing the WHOLE movie and therefore, we can't appreciate it the way HE envisioned. The problem with that theory is that the film is already engrained in society as is. This isn't like Donnie Darko getting released in 2001 and then having a director's cut come out this year. This is like if the Godfather came out with a redux and Robert Duvall was digitally replaced with Colin Farrell. It's not adding a couple of deleted or extended scenes or taking out a voice over. Blade Runner, Brazil, and the Abyss all added to the visual tapestry of their films by doing those things, making them much better movies. They didn't give Ed Harris more hair, or CGI Harrison Ford's car, or make Robert DeNiro three pounds lighter. Lucas, though, thinks that he's the God of his creation (y'know what? I'll give him that) and thinks that since special effects are at a point where he can do the things he wants now when he couldn't then, then by gosh he'll do it.

South Park did an episode on this when Spielberg botched ET a few years back. Their point was, "where does the revisionist mentality stop?" Maybe Lucas never liked using minatures and now that he can CGI the ships, they'll look better. Star Wars pioneered the use of miniatures, but future generations will never get to appreciate that because they'll never have access to the original films because it's too costly. THE FUCKING GUY OWNS ILM! I think he could swing this.

Two final points:

1) Every creative genius needs an editor. The Batman movies proves this. In the first film, Tim Burton was held back by the studio because they didn't want his "vision" to make their film unmarketable. You could say the movie was 75% Burton and 25% WB/Jon Peters. In Batman Returns, since the first movie performed so well, the WB took the reigns off and fuck all if they're still not kicking themselves. Mutant Penguin? Christopher Walken with a mane of white hair? MISSLE LAUNCHING AVIARY ARMY? The same thing happened with Schumacher. They were worried they'd lose money again, so they kept this new guy on a leash. Again, 60% Schumacher, 40% WB/Jon Peters. Made some cash, looked good, everyone had fun. Well, let'm have his fun with part 4. Dear god, I can still see the horror of Batman and Robin when I close my eyes.

My point? Maybe those cuts that were forced for time or continuity or pacing... maybe those limitations imposed on them because of special effects... maybe that all worked in the favor of the film and the director didn't even know it. We know that the film works now and if it didn't... we watch deleted scenes and then bitch and moan and BOOM a new edition with THE ALREADY FILMED scenes added in to add depth. No reshoots, no super-imposed Anakin head on "dude under vader mask" at the end of Jedi. Just edited a little to make it great.

2) The fat fuck is seriously a one hit wonder. Name the great Lucas movies since Star Wars. Go on. Howard the Duck? Radioland Murders? Did anybody ever wonder why he ultimately went back? Maybe, just maybe, he got tired of Spielberg making all of the headway in being one of the most prolific sci-fi pioneers of the 70's and 80's and went, "well, shit! i made star wars, muthafucka!"

Regardless... the mind behind Jar Jar Binks and Greedo shooting first... deserves no more of any of our hard-earned geek money. Go out and discover some new sci-fi instead of watching some watered down (but DIGITALLY REMASTERED!) version of your childhood favorite. What new sci-fi? No clue. I just remember a time before the Matrix when people thought nothing fun could come out of Hollywood for sci-fi fans. Before Pitch Black, before Sky Captain, before X-Men...

You can see where I'm going... Now... Get the fuck away from the shiney silver box...

posted by AmeroKafka @ 1:02 PM