At the age
of 33, Jesus Christ dies and George Lucas begins his reign. For the latter, the
year is 1977 and Star Wars is blowing up at the box-office, soon to become one
of the highest-grossing films of all time. A work that had been questioned
artistically and seen as an inevitable financial failure is now a global
phenomenon, and Lucas, the creator, is now rich – but, most importantly, he’s
achieved what he desired the most: Independence.
Though it
might seem more of a lucky feat than a remarkable one, we must keep in mind
that the garden in which Star Wars flourished was the studio system and thus, a
lot of vision and strategy from a young Lucas was required. Not to say however,
that the circumstances weren’t favoring the rise of Lucas - because they were.
After all it was the 70’s and the good ol’ studio system was in decline. The
American dream had been shattered by the Vietnam War, and the magic seemed but
a lie. Old formulas for moviemaking were bombing and many studios went
bankrupt. The molds, in which the Culture Industry manifested itself through
film, were broken. No longer would the joy of cinema match the cynicism of
contemporary reality. And so, the big corporate executives started betting on
fresher visions. Visions that would be closer to modern times and resonate
better with a younger audience… Visions that would generate more fat stacks. American film graduates are
the chosen ones.
In the herd
of the selected, Francis Ford Coppola managed to rise, quickly building his
reputation. George Lucas, his colleague and friend, was granted his own
opportunity to direct a big motion-picture as well. THX-1138, numerously cut
and disliked by studio executives was deemed to experimental at the time, and
its financial failure risked the young filmmaker’s career from even starting.
Coppola, who went bankrupt by producing it (the studios asked for their money
to be returned), still managed to help his friend make a second feature –
American Graffiti. With a small budget and a big revenue, Lucas’s career was
finally healthy. But onto his next idea, a universal children’s tale, with
fantasy tropes set in a Flash Gordon-esque scenario, he would find even more
challenges as no studio wanted to finance it.
In a
legendary deal, Lucas managed to pitch Star Wars to 20th Century
Fox, whilst keeping most of the rights to his picture, including the one that
would turn out to be the most profitable – merchandising. With his success,
Lucas managed to reduce the studio’s involvement to distribution for the next
installment of his trilogy. He was now freed of schedules, demands and
supervision by the Culture Industry. He could create independently and
willingly as an artist. And thus he did over the next three decades. With the
first Star Wars trilogy completed, he ventured his Lucasfilm company onto the
tech industry, becoming a pioneer in the digital world, changing forever
special effects, how movies are presented, and on the way, originating monsters
like Pixar, Photoshop, the THX System, modern videogames, and of course,
thousands of jobs. By the end of the 90’s he had developed technology
well-enough to complete his vision. He could now finish the Star Wars saga. And
he could finish it alone and better than any corporate studio. He had created a
micro-renaissance at Lucasfilm where his ideas could flow along with the top
concept artists, sound designers and craftsmen of all sorts. But despite the
different environment and intentions, the irony was clear to everyone around.
George Lucas had also created what he fought against all his life – a big
corporate studio.
With the
Star Wars saga finished, Lucas was still involved in a few projects until he
ultimately decided he was done. But the thousands of workers at his company
weren’t. And these last projects had cost Lucasfilm many expenses that weren’t
properly returned. The only way to save
the jobs was to sell the company. That was how the biggest mogul of Hollywood,
Disney, bought and absorbed Lucasfilm into its Culture Industry, closing the
circle.
Today, Star
Wars is far from a man’s vision. Much like Marvel, it’s exclusively a vehicle
for product – one that is successfully manufactured every year, throughout all
mediums, aggressively. George Lucas defied audiences, giving them what they
never thought they wanted, breaking barriers and never ceding control to his
fans, passionately taking the helm, even when it costed him the rejection of a
very Culture-Industrialized audience, waiting for him to replicate his previous
work, which is precisely what new executives behind Lucasfilm do – creating and
feeding such need. In retrospective, Lucas could’ve never grown without the
Culture Industry profiting with him, and even if he destroyed it for himself,
he couldn’t stop building it around him.
