The Artist’s Changing Vision
One week from today, LucasFilm will release the entire Star Wars saga on Blu-Ray for the first time. As a big Star Wars fan, I’m very excited by the prospect of being able to see Star Wars in true high definition for the first time, and there are millions like me around the world who share in that excitement. However, news hit the Internet last week that George Lucas has not included the original theatrical versions of the films on the Blu-Ray release, and he has also made a controversial dialogue change to one of the saga’s most emotionally charged scenes. Much of the Star Wars fan community is in uproar over this change, to the point of spawning several online campaigns and petitions to reverse the changes and include the original versions.
It’s widely accepted that filmmaking is an art form. Movies are a representation of a vision that the filmmaker has. The films we enjoy are artifacts of an individual’s imagination, and one of the greatest things about imagination is that it has no limits. Limitless imagination means that it can, will, and probably should change over time. So when we consider the Star Wars saga in this context, it demands that we recognize that the entire saga – all 6 films – are the realization of an artist’s evolving vision. Simplistically, George Lucas is an artist giving life to his vision.
The hallmark of great artists throughout history is that they always followed their vision, and when that vision changed, so did their art. This is the reason that Picasso painted more than one picture. This is the reason Mozart composed more than one symphony. This is reason why Helmut Newton took more than one photograph. As an artist, George Lucas is compelled to flex and change his art as his vision flexes and changes. Any true artist will do this for one person and one person alone: themselves. For Lucas, the flexing and changing has meant writing and filming prequels, introducing new characters, reshooting scenes from the original versions, and, controversially, adding dialogue to an emotionally charged scene for the upcoming Blu-Ray release. Anything other than this and Lucas would be belittling his artistic imagination and cheating himself out of the resultant art.
Where does that leave the rest of us? Fans of anything develop a sense of entitlement to have a say in the product they love. Red Sox fans were upset when Babe Ruth was sold to the New York Yankees. Beatles fans were upset when Paul McCartney left the band. Starbucks fans were upset when the company decided to change their Siren logo. What fans don’t have is the internal perspective of the changing vision that prompts the externally visible changes, nor do they have any right to say what that vision is or how it should or should not change. For the Red Sox, it was a business decision. For Paul McCartney, it was a creative direction decision. For Starbucks, it was a modernization decision.
And so it is that Star Wars fans are upset that George Lucas has made a change to Star Wars that represents his changing vision for his artwork. Star Wars fans don’t have the internal perspective of Lucas’ changing vision that has prompted these externally visible changes. The beauty of art is that the artist, if he or she is true to his artistic vision, will listen only to his or her heart. That’s what George has done. Just as Red Sox, Beatles, and Starbucks fans had no true right to influence those decisions, Star Wars fans have no right to influence Lucas’ decision. And so that leaves us fans in our rightful places behind the artist and his art. That is, we don’t have to agree with the art, and we don’t have to accept the art, but we do have to respect the right of the artist’s creative freedom. And in that respect, I have nothing but respect for George Lucas.
As Lucas said himself in an interview with John Stewart…
“It’s a work of fiction. It’s a metaphor. It’s not real. And therefore, you can like it or not like it. Whatever.”
Right on, George. Right on.
