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Originally posted by LordPerrin
Sleeveboy, you need to stop making broad, sweeping generalizations with little basis in fact. You use the word "people" when the word you're looking for is "I". You don't strike me as being a Star Wars fan.
To the contrary, LordPerrin.
I love Star Wars to death. Loved it ever since I was a kid. I've owned the toys, played the games, watched the movies innumerable times. I enjoy the story behind the movies as well. I think the series tells a wonderful story that rivals the Greek epics of yore in terms of scope and gravity of emotion.
At the same time, I am under no delusions as to what Star Wars objectively "is". Neither of the trilogies could ever be considered "high art" by any rational human being. The acting is shoddy, the cinematography dull and conventional, the writing passable at best. But does any of that really matter? Of course not. Why? Because Star Wars tells a great story through the use of state-of-the-art special effects and decent character acting. Star Wars does not succeed on the strength of its acting, writing, or characterization (although all three are part of the larger picture). The one defining element that makes Star Wars Star Wars is, and always will be, special effects.
Does that not make me a SW "fan" if I recognize that fact? No, it just makes me a SW realist.
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Now, let me tell you how I, and every other SW fan I know, feel.
Now who's generalizing?
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We DO NOT watch these films for special effects alone, thank you. In fact, for me personally, the fx are a very small part of the equation, at least regarding the original trilogy. These films are more than effects, more than a story, they are a mythology, an integral part of my childhood. A mythology in which Han Solo has the brains and balls to SHOOT THAT GREEN BASTARD FIRST, DAMMIT!!
Yeah, I see what you mean about the change, but I think you're reading too much into it. We're talking fractions of a second here. Han Solo still fries Greedo, he's still got his pistol under the table ready to fire. All histrionics aside, Han Solo is largely the same character he was in the original unmodified film.
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Suppose you'd grown up dearly loving the Brothers Grimm fairytales, then Walt Disney comes along and sucks the soul right out of them. Tons of ridiculous talking animal sidekicks, and to top it off nobody dies but the villain! Wouldn't you feel violated?
Perhaps, but I think you're exaggerating just a tad.
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You say you don't care for Mark Hammill's acting? Fine, go watch A Beautiful Mind or something. But to me, Luke Skywalker is a real person and a dear friend. One whose emotional turmoil I understand quite well, and feel for. And sure Carrie Fisher's not so great in Jedi, when she was on crack... but by then, she'd already established the character well enough, and the others played off her so convincingly, that I never really noticed until recently. And every other performance is pitch perfect, end of story.
Well, I can't say I regard Luke Skywalker as a close personal friend. But maybe I just don't know him well enough. All kidding aside though, I still think I'm a huge fan of SW regardless.
Look, I never said I disliked any of these characters or their actor's performances. I just don't put them on as lofty a pedestal as you do.
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ting... dear God, this world sucked me in as a kid. My number one ambition was to be a Jedi knight. And as others have pointed out, CG surrounded by real sets and models looks incredibly fake. The only way George could make it work would be to redo the WHOLE THING in CG, and I don't think any of us want to see that.
Well, I happen to think juxtaposing real live action with miniature models is pretty unrealistic too. Fortunately there's something called "suspension of disbelief" that allows me to bypass that lack of realism. So how is interpolating CG in the middle of a shot any less "real" than watching teeny little spaceships fly in front of a matte screen?
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Bottom line is, if you're right about people ONLY watching for the fx, then why is there any interest in seeing them released at all? As you said, nobody cares about 70s fx anymore, so by your reasoning the DVDs won't sell at all, nor did the 4 VHS rereleases George felt confident enough to put out over the last 10 years.
Perhaps I misspoke. SFX aren't the only thing going in SW, but they are the most significant factor by far. Without them, you might as well be watching Battlestar Galactica.
So I hope you understand, LordPerrin, that I love the SW franchise just as highly as you do. But "loving" SW doesn't mean I don't understand what SW is, at bottom: a B-movie series with fantastic special effects and a rich fantasy universe.
