Altering the Scene
Contrary to the strip above, we don’t bear George Lucas any ill will. He gave us Star Wars. However, having finally reached one of the key scenes which he insisted on changing, it is time to comment. When we shared this strip on Patreon with our supporters, it provoked the following responses.
BMS Supporter #1 “I feel like a better approach, if he really insisted on having young Anakin, would’ve been to have Sebastian Shaw appear first and then morph into Hayden Christensen. If he had done that, though, Alec Guinness had to morph into Ewan McGregor.”
BMS Supporter #2 “I would have preferred if he hadn’t touched them!!! #hanshotfirst”
I agree with both. If the scene had to be changed, then I would have preferred Supporter #1’s solution. But it would have been even better to have left it alone. Sometimes, the more you fiddle with a piece of art, the more it turns into something that loses the original strength of the piece. I learned that one day when I was in my first year at primary (elementary here in the USA), and everyone in the class was blown away with a sketch I did of a boy in a hat. I enjoyed the praise, and I kept adding more and more to the boy and suddenly realized I’d ruined it. I went home disappointed, but I learned something.
Of course, George had very different motivations for fiddling with his own art. I think much of it was pressure and self doubt inflicted upon him by industry peers, critics, and himself. He knew Star Wars was special, but he couldn’t get over its quirky “flaws”, like the cantina aliens, and other trivia that, under his microscopic view, weren’t how he wanted it in the first place. I Wish he hadn’t messed with it, but I can understand why he felt he needed to. Just make sure the original versions get the care, and the distribution they, and any classic film, deserves. That’s all I, and others, ask.
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