Star War on Technology
For any Star Wars fans reading this, I’m going to warn you that I’m about to start talking about the abomination that is the Star Wars prequels. You have been warned. But what is it about the prequels that made them so unpopular with the fans to begin with? For most people, it would be an over-reliance on computer generated special effects and the transformation of Darth Vader from a cool bad guy to a whiny baby. But what if I told you George Lucas didn’t want you to like the prequels? Based on what was presented in the first 3 movies, there is the argument that can be made for George Lucas hating and fearing modern technology.
For my first evidence, I turn to the beloved original three movies. In these movies, there were a clear group of bad guys and a clear group of good guys, as well as an easy way to tell them apart: the bad guys had the advanced technology and the good guys were in tune with nature and “the force”. The entire opening shot of “A New Hope” with the giant star destroyer is there specifically to show how technologically advanced the Empire is. And you as a viewer are supposed to be afraid of that technology. One could argue the main point of all three of the original movies were to show how technology was bad and nature was good. Luke forgoes using his advanced computer system in favor of The Force to destroy the Death Star. The rebels have their secret base hidden inside a forest. The savage Ewoks are able to defeat a legion of allegedly the best Storm Troopers the empire has to offer and they do it using sticks, logs, and rocks. Even the main villain is a giant half robot person, and the audience is led to believe that it is the machine part of him that corrupted him to begin with.
Now, I’m sure many of you are thinking of reasons why Star Wars supports technology. You could easily say that R2D2 and C3PO are both robots and are both positively portrayed. But are they both really? C3PO is a coward, what with his constant complaining and famous telling of the odds to Han Solo.
Now while R2D2 himself is somewhat of a mechanical bumbling idiot, he is still lovable. Although, clearly not to the characters. He is treated like trash in the prequels, even getting his memory wiped at the end of episode 3 for no real purpose. In fact the entire plot of the prequels revolved around the concept that robots and droids were evil.
Now saying that the plots of the movies were not kind to technology is not the same as saying George Lucas wants his audience to hate technology, but there is more to the story. As stated before, the heavy use of CG is one of the reasons so many fans hated the prequels. And to add insult to injury, if you wanted to go watch the originals, you would have to go buy a special edition. They are the only copies being sold in the general market, and all of them have been heavily edited to add in objectively terrible CGI.
Now it’s impossible to discuss the franchise with a fan without talking about how modern technology is ruining Hollywood. We grew up being shown that evil people use advanced technology, then as adults we were hit with technology being used to corrupt our beloved Star Wars originals. Not to mention how technology has been associated with the disliked prequels. The message is clear; hate technology. Our Star Wars heroes hate technology, and so should we.
George Lucas is no idiot. In fact he graduated from USC, which has one of the most prestigious film schools in the world. My point is that everything I have mentioned so far was not an accident. As such, I will end my blog by once again offering a warning to my readers. There are some very crafty and intelligent people working in Hollywood, and if you aren’t careful it can be easy to let them control what your thoughts and opinions are. It’s easy to complain about how much simpler the world was before cell phones and the internet and so on and so fourth. It takes a certain degree of bravery to stand up and say that technology has made us better and brought us together, even if it’s not the popular opinion to vocalize these days. And if there is one good lesson from the Star Wars franchise, it is that all of us have the capacity for bravery.
