The People vs. George Lucas

Having gone to film school I know all too well the impact that George Lucas has had on a generation. Many people were inspired by him to pursue careers in the world of film. I personally love “Star Wars,” but to be honest I love his movie “THX 1138,” even more. “Star Wars,’ is not the be all and end all of film that fans make it out to be. There are people out there who take his movies way too seriously. It’s because they associate his films so strongly with feelings of childhood. And so he has a very uneasy relationship with these people. On the one hand they made him a billionaire, on the other… well… would you want fans like his if you thought of yourself as a serious artist?

This and other debates are at the heart of the film “The People vs George Lucas.” It’s a movie about the “Star Wars” fans and how conflicted they have become over the years. You might think this film harkens back to another film about obsessive fans, “Trekkies,” but I assure you this film is not quite as good. The film is full of interviews with experts on popular culture and fans alike. And while the information from the experts is the most interesting, as a fan none of the information in this film is new to me. I feel almost like I might have enjoyed it more had I known absolutely nothing about “Star Wars.” I could have viewed it from a purely ethnographic documentary angle. One of the other problems with this film is that it is crammed full of clips from the web made by fans. It would be fine to include a few to get the point across about how beloved the movies are, but after a while it is just tedious. If I wanted to see all that garbage I could have stayed home and looked on YouTube.

After a while I felt like I was watching Fox News. It was just a bunch of talking heads yelling their opinions at me. And by the end there are no answers as to who is right or who is wrong on either side of these great debates. When I saw the film the theater was sold out and they were adding more screenings, which is no surprise because SXSW is full of film nerds. I’m positive that this film will get released to a wider audience pretty soon. And if you love “Star Wars” you are definitely going to want to see it. And if you don’t care about “Star Wars” then I really can’t say if you will like it or not, but my gut says probably not.