#StudyingStarWars Day 4
In the penultimate lesson his #StudyingStarWars class at the University of Denver, Professor Andrew Matranga had his class watch George Lucas’ “American Graffiti,” do some peer editing, and learn more about Industrial Light and Magic.
American Graffiti
“American Graffiti” was the second major film Lucas directed, showing the last night at home for new college students Curt Henderson and Steve Bolander, as each reverses their stances on attending college through the course of the movies.
One of the biggest takeaways of this film was in the ways that Lucas was able to give every character a distinctive personality and set of identifiable traits, such as Curt’s initial lack of confidence or Laurie’s fierce independence. In fact, it’s entirely fair to note that many of these traits are reflected in the characters of Star Wars — Curt resembles Luke Skywalker, Milner is a prototypical Han Solo, and Laurie is a mold of princess Leia.
With “American Graffiti,” Lucas also proved to everyone that he could make extraordinarily successful movies beyond the realm of space and the future, such as his freshmen effort “THX 1138.”
Editing
Reconvening after a brief lunch break, Professor Matranga assigned each of his students a partner to review their drafts, and let them loose on each other’s projects to provide advice and ideas.
I helped Nick Beeson on providing a framework to incorporate his research regarding the feasibility of creating, funding, and powering a Death Star while gaining some valuable insight into how logic doesn’t really matter in Star Wars, as long as the characters and story are believable.
The (Industrial Lights and) Magic of Star Wars
Editing complete, the class turned to another behind-the-scenes documentary, this one detailing the ways in which Star Wars changed the film editing and graphics industry.
Lucas, with his desire to incorporate previously unimaginable special effects, created ILM with the hope of extending and developing the limits of cinematic possibility. The documentary in particular focuses on the growth of digital editing and animation as a result of ever more complex movies — “Star Wars”, “Jurassic Park”, “Terminator” and “War of the Worlds” among them.
By the end of this documentary, I gained a much deeper appreciation of the complexity and difficulty of film work and the past, as well as the work and creativity filmmakers had to put in to make these spectacles possible.
Disney Acquires Fox
I would be remiss if I did not briefly discuss Disney’s acquisition of 21st Century Fox and the effects it might have on the movie industry. With this purchase, Disney has essentially eliminated one of Hollywood’s Big 6, and combine the two largest movie companies in the world, risking potential consequences from anti-trust laws. Additionally, the acquisition of Fox gives Disney control of an enormous number of IPs, exponentially greater than those acquired through the purchase of LucasFilm. Finally, this purchase reunites the Star Wars property with its original producer some 40 years after the initial release of Star Wars, in an amusing turn of events.
We’ll see whether this deal survives the investigation of the U.S. bureaucracy…
Time for the Last Jedi
Finally, the Last Jedi debuts tonight in the U.S., sparking excitement across the nation and in this writer, who has tickets for a 7 PM showing. Reviews have been largely positive, and I expect a good show.
Let’s hope nothing horrifically evil happens to Luke Skywalker in this one…
May the Force be with you…
