The People vs George Lucas

In class, we watched a documentary called The People vs George Lucas (hence the title of this post). It’s basically about the issues fans of Star Wars have with the prequels and the remakes, and how they feel about George Lucas refusing to release the originals.

So now I’m supposed to give my opinion on the matter. Do the fans have a right to claim ownership of the Star Wars franchise? Should George Lucas be allowed to make changes to the films? Did he really ruin the fans’ childhoods by making those changes?

Well, to be honest, I’m not sure. Technically, George Lucas does own Star Wars, but I can understand why Star Wars fans would feel like, in a way, they own it too. I know what it’s like to become really emotionally attached to something, and I know how protective I feel of the things I am a fan of. If J.K Rowling decided to rewrite the first Harry Potter book and made a bunch of changes to the story and the characters, I would be pretty damn pissed.

Then again, are the prequels really worse than the originals? Or do people just prefer the originals because it’s what they grew up with? I think people often feel protective over the things from their childhood. Nostalgia is a really important factor in most fandoms. If they didn’t grow up with it, it’s likely that they’ll hate it. Of course this isn’t true in every case, but it seems pretty common. You should see how intense some Pokemon fans are about preferring the first generation over any of the other ones. I mean, I prefer the first generation too, but I don’t hate the newer ones, and I realize that the main reason why I prefer Generation 1 is because of nostalgia. It was part of my childhood, so how could I not love it? But that doesn’t make it the best. Besides, as stupid-looking as some of the newer generation Pokemon are, there were some pretty stupid-looking ones in the first generation too. Seriously, what the hell is up with Diglett and Magnemite? And how about Mr. Mime? Those things are weird, but they didn’t seem weird to me when I was a kid, and I bet that the kids who grew up with the fifth generation don’t think that ice cream Pokemon (can’t for the life of me remember its name) looks weird.

Yeah, I’m getting way off topic now.

As for the question of whether your childhood can be ruined or “raped”, to use their word… I don’t think anyone should be able to ruin your childhood. No matter what happens to Star Wars or Harry Potter or Pokemon, you’ll always have your memories. You’ll always remember what you liked about them to begin with, so if you don’t like the changes made to them, why should it ruin them? Memory is the key, as Delta always said (I wonder if anyone will get that reference? God, I’m a geek).

Is this getting too long? I feel like this is getting too long. Point is, I understand how Star Wars fans feel, and George Lucas really should release the originals. Seriously man, what’s the harm?

Sup?

I’ve always wanted to start a blog, but I never knew what I would write about if I did start one. Then my teacher told us we all had to make one for class and that she would tell us what to write about. So now I have an excuse to start blogging.

In my class (Media Matter, as it is called), we’re exploring different fandoms and the way people react to them. I figure it’ll be interesting, since I’m an obsessive fan of a lot of things and a passionate hater of many things that other people are fans of, though I’ll try not to offend anybody. Try.

By the way, I think the name of my blog is totally clever and very mature. So shut up.