Sunday, July 27, 2008

George Lucas and "personal work"

After THX 1138 crashed and burned commercially and almost killed off the newly-born American Zoetrope studio, George Lucas vowed to stay off "difficult subject matter" for a while.

I wonder if he will get back to it yet. And even more importantly, I wonder if it will be worthwhile, or if it turns out his big commercial films (American Graffiti and Star Wars) were what was worth watching all along.

As a young man it was an obvious given to me that an artist needed the greatest freedom he could have, and that he needed to be as deep as he could be. But these days I'm doubting it. For example, some of my favorite writers like Neil Gaiman and Frank Miller have, to my taste, made their most compelling work when working in a "studio" setting (DC Comics, The Dark Knight Returns, Sandman), and made barely readable work when they brought out their most personal visions (Signal To Noise, Mr. Punch, some of the Sin City stories).

I think the need for commercial success is sometimes what is needed for a creator to connect to the audience, to reach out to them. Instead of doing an extended navel-gazing exercise, working on what feels important to him because it is personal to him (a typical thing is childhood memories, who cares about them other than the one person).

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

The basic probolem with THX1138 is that it sucked. Lucas remains fixated on that film and has found ways to insinuate the title into subsequent films. For example, in Star Wars, Princess Leia is in cell block 1138

Bert said...

Why does one write? I would certainly hope that it would be in hope of being read by others. And if you make movies, then you should aim at pleasing / interesting your audience, no? Yet that hardly seems to be the case with many authors.

Early in life, I worked as a sound man, and thus was in contact with many musicians. It was fashionable in those circles to express open disdain towards "commercial" music, implying that those artists focusing on being heard were no more than whores... Funny, it always seemed to me that there was deep jealousy behind this widespread attitude, and that most of the musicians that spoke ill of successful artists would have killed to get just one hit out the door. Is there really something behind all this, or is it just a lack of talent, or lack of faith in oneself?

Of course, pure fabrications like the Spice Girls or the Backstreet Boys do seem to support the argument against commercial music, but I disagree. Even if the image is completely fake, there has to be someone, somewhere, who writes the music and puts lyrics on it. Heck, many "sacred monsters" like Elton John never wrote lyrics to their music. Yet one could never deny that there's a reason why the guy has had at least one song on the billboard for what, 25+ years now?

I also find it a bit annoying when judgment is passed on early works of an artist. True art requires some research, and that implies occasional failure. A true artist will struggle to find his way, and it is the end result that counts. It may be the sum of his work that makes him who he is, but that does by no means imply that all of his work is good, even if you're speaking of a genius.

As for Lucas, well, he should remain the man behind the scene, and leave directing to competent people, imho. The success of Star Wars is largely due to timing and audacity in the presentation. It was the first sci-fi movie that I can recall which did not rely on cheap special effects, and where maniac attention to detail was apparent everywhere. And that must be credited to Lucas.

But as far as the dialogs go, and the general acting performance: yuck! Sir Alec Guinness, a great actor if there ever was one, repeatedly stated that the role of Obi-Wan Kenobi, for which he is most well known, was the shame of his career (I'll try to find an interview where he comments on Lucas' script). It is really too bad that Lucas was never smart enough to accept the fact that his talent lies in making things happen, and not on the set. I can only imagine how much better SW could have been if directed by someone else, say Joss Whedon for example.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Yeah. I have enjoyed Star Wars, but purely for the visuals. I love the big cities and ships of The Phantom Menace, for instance. The stories are for children, pretty much.

Anonymous said...

"Early in life, I worked as a sound man, and thus was in contact with many musicians. It was fashionable in those circles to express open disdain towards "commercial" music, implying that those artists focusing on being heard were no more than whores..."

Yeah, that's an attitude I'm way too familiar with. People will practically worship a band, and then start calling them sellouts as soon as they sign onto a major label. Even when they're still playing the same style of music!

I don't think it's jealousy so much, it's just this deeply ingrained idea in rock music(and probably other genres, too) that it's wrong to be famous and it's wrong to have a lot of money. I agree that it's an idea that doesn't make much sense. I'm interested in music, not bullshit.

As for the subject itself, I think an artist needs to find a balance between pleasing himself and pleasing the audience.

Anonymous said...

Gee..I liked THX 1138.

Maybe what's needed is a deadline. Not commercialism, but a simple deadline that may serve to limit navel-gazing.

Commercial music...when Miles Davis was asked why he played that crap (Bitches Brew) he just reached in his pocket and jingled the coins. While Bitches Brew was widely regarded as "significant," obviously Miles considered it as strictly commercial.

Let's not forget that our beloved Ludwig Van wrote "commercial music." It certainly wasn't for the masses...

FWIW, Elton's 11/17/70 was his best work and Alec Guiness's George Smiley was imho perfect and Obi Wan was just BS.

Spaceships... way back in a time far away (g) I lined up with five billion children to see the first showing in Tallahassee of the first Star Trek movie, and damned if I wasn't standing up and hollering when the Enterprise went to Warp 8, pedal to the metal. We can go home again!

Maybe that's what many of us are looking for...home...

-jbh-

Alex said...

THX

I liked "THX1138" when I first saw it, and after reading the script it gelled and made more sense. The statements and ideals put forward, to a young mind were very interesting and advanced. Of course, short of police budget terminating the case I've seen all the ideas in other places, especially amongst the classics (Brave New World, RUR), they are the classic stuff of SF.

The spartan high tech world, is that an image that came about because of initial budget constraints, or was that part of the concept.

Still need to see "THX1138-4EB" before I can pass final judgment on this piece.

Ever notice that both Spielbergs and Lucas's first film end with the hero escaping to a desolate wilderness at sunset?

Star Wars

I long ago gave up on the story in and of Star Wars. The visuals are great, and the action engaging.

"It was the first sci-fi movie that I can recall which did not rely on cheap special effects", and to the modern eye so many predecessors look cheap, even when they were state of the art. Prior to Star Wars the FX (not sets, but actual FX) greats would have been "A Trip to the Moon", "Metropolis", "The War of The Worlds", "Destination Moon", "Forbidden Planet" & "2001". These, to my eye, are films which pushed the envelope of FX. The good Sci-Fi between these focused more on the people, or the mood, or the story. Lesser FX greats include "Farenheit 451", "Brazil", "Solaris", "Quatermass", "The Day The Earth Stood Still". These all have stories to tell, and tell them well.

Guiness

His versatility is demonstrated in "Kind Hearts and Coronets", his most lovable is in "The Man in the White Suit", his most dastardly is in "The Ladykillers", and his most cunning in "The Lavender Hill Mob". I added Smileys People to my Netflix wish list a couple of weeks ago, I just missed it on TV growing up, and need to plug the gap.

I noticed Young Obi-Wan was also a poor use of Ewan, after his great performances in Trainspotting, Pillow Book and dozens of other movies he seems a mere puppet in the early episodes. The whole thing should have been done with puppets.

Likewise Samuel L Jackson (need I list them), Natalie Portman (Leon) and presumably every other actor in the series.

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Yeah, and whazface, Anakin, was actually very good in Life As A House (with Kevin Kline).
It's like Lucas suppresses the emotion out of them.

"Still need to see "THX1138-4EB" before I can pass final judgment on this piece."

Funny enough, I just saw that one, but I've yet to see the big version yet! (Got the disks in the wrong order.) I thought it was really good for a student film. Decidedly short-form though.


"Ever notice that both Spielbergs and Lucas's first film end with the hero escaping to a desolate wilderness at sunset?"

Spielberg saw THX1138-4EB and was very impressed.

Alex said...

Thanks to Pascal for this tenuous link

I always thought the waterfall city on Naboo was ripped of from James Gurney's Dinotopia, now I see the original trilogy was ripped off from Mezieres.

Bert said...

Yeah, Mézières inspired the visual creation in many many movies. Yet it took a French guy, Luc Besson, before he got a properly credited consulting gig for The Fifth Element, in which he designed most of the alien/space stuff.

Anonymous said...

In fairness that stuff of Gaiman's and Miller's you didn't like came after their commercial work I think. Maybe they got a swelled head from that success and thought that whatever they turned out had to be genius! ...It wouldn't be the first time that had happened to someone.

-Brian

Eolake Stobblehouse said...

Mmmm, yeah, though "Violent Cases" was earlier. And Miller has said that Sin City was like his early amateur work.

Bert said...

"In fairness that stuff of Gaiman's and Miller's you didn't like came after their commercial work I think. Maybe they got a swelled head from that success and thought that whatever they turned out had to be genius! ...It wouldn't be the first time that had happened to someone."

Or this could be the doing of greedy publishers as well. Many other authors, like Caleb Carr, have had early works published after landing a commercial success.

Kinda stupid thing to do, because readers are not that forgiving... unless of course, it is done "for the sake of completeness", like in the case of Asimov. He often openly discussed this topic in the introduction to some of his older short stories, many of which would have never been published if it hadn't been of his reputation.