George Lucas has always said that the original release was not fully true to his vision and he had always wanted to be able to go back and ‘fix’ it. Here’s what he has to say about the future of said original:
“So what ends up being important in my mind is what the DVD version is going to look like, because that's what everybody is going to remember. The other versions will disappear. Even the 35 million tapes of Star Wars out there won't last more than 30 or 40 years. A hundred years from now, the only version of the movie that anyone will remember will be the DVD version [of the Special Edition], and you'll be able to project it on a 20' by 40' screen with perfect quality. I think it's the director's prerogative, not the studio's to go back and reinvent a movie.”
So the crux of the matter here is this, once an artist has released their work to the public, who owns it? Does the creator have the unalienable right to revisit, revise and permanently alter the work? Or does it become the property of the audience/reader/culture? Lucas argues that there were external limitations such as finance that prevented him from fully realizing his vision but I would argue that any piece of art is a product not only of the artist’s vision but also of how he or she expresses it within the confines within which she or he is forced to work. There are many examples of published/released works that were made better because of the limitations placed on the creator. Even Joss Whedon states in this article,
“Basically, the Network and I had different ideas about what the tone of the show would be. . . So back into the writer cave I went, wondering why I put up with this when I can make literally dozens of dollars making internet movies. . . [partly because] They're not wrong. Oh, we don't see eye-to-eye on everything, but wanting the first episodes to be exciting and accessible is not exactly Satanic. . . This kind of back and forth has happened on every show I've done, so if you liked those, chances are that was a part of why.”
So Whedon is basically saying that the diversions from his original version required by the Network have helped him to create the works we all love. He further goes on to say,
“The show is really coming together now, in a way that I believe excites us and satisfies the Network. Of course, I have no idea if anybody else will like it, but I have the same faith in the staff, the crew and the remarkable cast that I always did. More, in fact. . . The episode we're shooting now I wrote as fast as anything I have before, not because I had to (although, funny side-note: I had to) but because I couldn't stop the words from coming. Because I can feel the show talking to me; delighting, scaring and occasionally even offending me. It's alive. Alive!”
So not only are the shows we love the product of Joss working within the demands of the network, but he finds himself energized by the new directions in which it takes him and loving the final product himself.
Of course when we’re talking about Star Wars, it’s not just that Lucas decided to re-vision the original films, it’s that he refuses to make the original versions available. This isn’t just embracing the opportunity to do what you couldn’t do the first time (and of course recreate it based on who you are now rather than who you were then which is a whole other issue). No, it’s telling the fans that they were wrong to love the original and if they want to be able to hold on to these films that formed a major part of their childhood and cultural landscape, well they can fuck themselves because little Georgie can’t stomach anyone preferring the “rough-cut” over the version that better serves his ego. If he truly respected his fans he would sell the Special Edition along-side the original. His refusal to do so is pure revisionism. And with a movie as big as Star Wars, with all of its ensuing cultural impact, it’s more than revisionist film-making, it’s revisionist history.
So now let’s go back to something else Whedon said in the above quote, “I have the same faith in the staff, the crew and the remarkable cast that I always did.” This brings me to another point. George Lucas did not make these films alone. There were hundreds of people working their creative and skilled asses off to create the effects, characters, sound and everything else that goes into making a great sci-fi film. To just CGI over them and effectively erase all of their work (some of it award winning) is both disrespectful and downright insulting.
Finally, all art is a reflection of both a moment in the creator’s life and a period in history. Look at any Hollywood remake next to the original on which it is based and you will see what I mean. Star Wars spoke to a specific generation at a particular point in history and that is what gives it its cultural significance. If Lucas wanted to be able go back and ‘fix’ his films as he did, he should have kept them in the vault until he thought they were ready. Or take a page out of Whedon’s book. When he was displeased with the 1992 Buffy film directed by Fran Rubel Kuzui he accepted the existence of this hokey interpretation of his script and quietly waited until he could give us his own vision in the form of the TV series which picked up more or less where the film left off.
What it comes down to is this: all creative endeavours are the product of the artist’s inspiration and skill shaped and informed by a million outside influences. Whether it’s financial constraints, availability of materials or the humidity of an artist’s studio, art is not created or consumed in a vacuum. While it’s still in your hands you can re-work it ‘til the cows come home (although many artists and writers will tell you that left to their own devices they would over revise their works into an early grave) but once you release it into the wilds of public consumption it is part of the culture and it does, in fact, belong to the public.
And that, my lovelies, is my exceptionally long rant on Star Wars revisionism.
Now tell me, what do you think?
(holy crap did I just write a massive post about Star Wars??? WTF!)
