I may be a prequel hater, but that doesn't mean I can't enjoy a good Star Wars blogathon as much as the next dork. This entry, from one Ryland Walker Knight - with a name like that, he sounds like he should be carrying a machine gun through a post-apocalyptic landscape - mounts as convincing a defense as can be mounted of Revenge of the Sith, and though I'm not at all convinced, I'll concede his point that if Lucas had filmed the thing with subtitles, Mel Gibson-style, it would have packed more punch.
One of his commenters, meanwhile, makes a point that relates to my earlier remarks about fair use:
My sons are 6 and 10 years old, and both of them love Star Wars. We have countless Star Wars Lego sets, light sabers, pulse rifles, pulse pistols, video games, books, comics, you name it. Yet recently, when someone asked my 10-year-old what his favorite movies were, he couldn't really think of any. Later, I asked him why he didn't say Star Wars were his favorites? He said it's because he doesn't really like the movies that much, he just likes the Star Wars universe.
I think that's true of the later generations of fans, and I think it's appropriate, because honestly, the movies aren't that good, but the universe -- the mythology, if you want to go that far -- is pretty darn compelling. (Besides that, Lego stormtroopers are irresistible.)
Which is precisely the case, from an artistic perspective, for having an intellectual-property regime that lets other artists have a go at the Star Wars mythos sooner rather than later, and unencumbered by the heavy corporate hand of Lucasfilm.
Dude,
TRoTS had subtitles in Sweden. It didn't help.
Posted by Dan Karreman | May 22, 2007 5:54 PM