"Using the Force" by Will Brooker Recommended summer reading...
#1
Posted 08 July 2004 - 04:57 PM
----------------------
'What we see here is a preemting of the argument that fans were only disappointed by The Phantom Menace because they had grown older and expected the impossible - a film that thrilled them in the same way A New Hope did when they were seven years old. Pegg is of the same generation as most of my correspondents in this chapter - a group who saw the first film in the cinema as kids and are now in their early to mid-thirties - and in claiming that "it isn't just the historical, social context," he counters the notion that The Phantom Menace is as equally good a film as A New Hope if you view it afresh, unbiased by the nostalgic preferences for the original trilogy. This is what internet fan debates identify as the "eyes of a child" gambit: the defense offered for Lucas is that The Phantom Menace, like all the other Star Wars films, was intended for children and that critics need to give up their cynisism to enjoy its simple pleasures.
Second, Pegg makes a distinction between the "innocence,""naivety," and focus on character of the original trilogy and the "fireworks" of The Phantom Menace. This opposition is common to many fan critiques of the recent film - that Lucas favored CGI spectacle over emotion and relationships. It often goes hand in hand with a specific attack on Tim's nemesis Jar Jar Binks, the computer-generated co-star of The Phantom Menace who is used as a symbol of this mentality: slapstick over wit, infantile poo-poo jokes in olace of adult banter, slick graphic "synthespians" instead of endearingly eager human performance.
Spaced's discussion between two fans, Bilbo and Tim, picks up on another interesting aspect of The Phantom Menace backlash: the suspicion, in hindsight, that the rot set in with Return of the Jedi. This theory is particularly worrying in its implications that The Phantom Menace is merely symptomatic of Lucas's artistic progression over the last twenty years - the cute clownish antics of the Ewoks were followed by the addition of throwaway sight gags and Muppet Show musical numbers to the Special Editions - and that The Phantom Menace, far from being a blip, is suggestive of where Lucas will take the rest of the prequel trilogy.'
Here's another one, Simon Pegg quote:
'Twenty-three years down the line and Lucas clearly believes it was the fireworks that lined his bulging pockets. Or maybe he just doesn't give a shit. I believe the latter is more likely, which is why it does feel like somewhat of a slight. He did not make The Phantom Menace for himself, he made it for an assumed consumer ideal. When he made Star Wars, he was Luke, when he made TPM he was Jabba. Go figure.'
----------------------
There are many more interesting points being made, about the suspicion that it wasn't Lucas at all who made ANH and ESB the amazing creations they are, and about fans like us, and why we find a small degree of justice when we slam Lucas for what he has done. But this is, as I pointed out, only one chapter in the book. There are many other interesting parts about Star Wars as a cultural phenomenon. Highly recommended!
#2
Posted 08 July 2004 - 09:23 PM
1000 Homo DJs did a song called 'Apathy' which lyrically covered every song i had ever written... in one beautiful concise track!
now, after thread after thread of debate...
beautiful, just fucking beautiful.
from now that's all i'm going to say on the matter!!!
(except here of course , I like to bitch!)
Also: The Chefelf.com Lord of the Rings | RoBUTZ (a primative webcomic) | KOTOR 1 NPC profiles |
Music: HYPOID (industrial rock) | Spectrox Toxemia (Death Metal) | Cannibalingus (80s style thrash metal) | Wasabi Nose Bleed (Exp.Techno) | DeadfeeD (Exp.Ambient) |||(more to come)
#3
Posted 09 July 2004 - 02:11 AM
from now that's all i'm going to say on the matter!!!
(except here of course, I like to bitch!)
He does hit the mark pretty well huh? Just wait til you read the rest... And don't forget, bitching will set you free.
(Thanx for fixing the title admin)
#4
Posted 09 July 2004 - 10:32 AM
Also: The Chefelf.com Lord of the Rings | RoBUTZ (a primative webcomic) | KOTOR 1 NPC profiles |
Music: HYPOID (industrial rock) | Spectrox Toxemia (Death Metal) | Cannibalingus (80s style thrash metal) | Wasabi Nose Bleed (Exp.Techno) | DeadfeeD (Exp.Ambient) |||(more to come)
#5
Posted 09 July 2004 - 05:45 PM
No prob.
That book seems like a really interesting analysis.
Here's a link to the book on Amazon.com if anyone should be interested: http://www.amazon.co...=books&n=507846
I am adding it to my wish list.
Buy the New LittleHorse CD, Strangers in the Valley!
CD Baby | iTunes | LittleHorse - Flight of the Bumblebee Video
Chefelf on: Twitter | friendfeed | Jaiku | Bitstrips | Muxtape | Mento | MySpace | Flickr | YouTube | LibraryThing
#8
Posted 16 July 2004 - 11:11 AM
I tried to pitch an idea for another non-fiction SW book, but the publisher said there wasn't enough interest in Using the Force to justify another SW related project. It's a shame really that the only SW fixes you can get these days are produced by LFL licensed companies. You don't get an outside perspective -- just the company line which can never -- as a matter of corporate policy -- "bad mouth" its own product.
Will took a very different approach to examining SW culture. It's not coffee table book, but an actual academic study on a peculiar world cultural phenomenon. He delves into unusual topics like slash fiction, looks at group interactions and individual fascination of SW, as well as the "Fan Betrayed" chapter.
#10
Posted 10 September 2004 - 12:14 AM
#11
Posted 10 September 2004 - 05:19 AM
here's waht you wanted, LJS (although since you got here, you should have been able to find this on your own ... =) )
http://en.wikipedia....i/Slash_fiction
#12
Posted 10 September 2004 - 06:01 AM
- J m HofMarN on the Sand People
#13
Posted 11 September 2004 - 05:25 AM
Taken from a Tripod song "Everone's in Love"
"...And not to mention the sexual tension between Han and C3P0.
Aside: Yeah, think about it. Why does C3P0 keep bumbling in when Han's about to get it on with Princess Leih?
Han: Threepio!
C3P0: Oh I'm terribly sorry! Were you two about to...oh dear! Do you want me to hold something?
Han: THREEPIO!
C3P0: Well, would you consider yourself an open minded smuggler? How about a C3P0some?
Han: THREEPIO!
C3p0: A Han job?
Han: Oh God!
C3P0: Oh R2, what am I going to do?
R2D2:*whistles*
C3P0: Oh R2, thats disgusting. Where do you learn these things? (singing)I don't know how to love Han!
R2D2:*wistles*
C3P0: Thank you R2, it was a rhetorical question.
JM's official press secretary, scientific advisor, diplomat and apparent antagonist?
#15
Posted 11 September 2004 - 09:28 AM
This post has been edited by Just your average movie goer: 11 September 2004 - 09:29 AM