OMG...George Lucas made SW up as he went along!!!!!!!!
On TheForce.net's (joke of a) message board, some moronic basher -- pardon the redundancy -- evidently thought that this SHOCKA was important enough to start a thread about. His proof was Lucas's (IMO very gracious) letter to the creators of Lost, who have thought nothing of taking very nasty swipes at him and All The Star Wars Films That Aren't ESB, on the show and off. In it, Lucas thanked them for giving the world however-many-seasons-it-was of entertainment, and mentioned something about how he didn't know what direction SW would take...basically, he "admitted" to the apparent crime of making the story up as he went along.
Good LORD....what storyteller does THAT?
Um...most of them, I would think. Certainly I have, when I wrote short stories or fan-fiction. In fact, the only time I've ever used an outline was when I was in school and a teacher insisted upon it, saying that it was part of the exercise and the overall grade.
Of course, the moronic bashers cited Harry Potter as a story in which the creator/writer followed a strict outline. Now, I know I'm risking the wrath of Rowling-worshippers by saying this, but frankly, I don't care: I rather doubt she followed the outline as strictly as she and HP fans claim. And even if she did, SO WHAT?! I'm still not grasping what is so innately wonderful about following an outline, and so innately terrible about making a story up as you go along.
I mean, isn't that what storytelling, in essence, IS? Making stuff up as you go along? I wouldn't doubt that many storytellers, whatever medium they work in, do, in fact, have an outline of sorts, in their heads if not on paper...but are surprised by how differently the story ultimately turns out. Especially if said story is told over a period of years, or decades, as is the case with SW...years or decades in which there can be and often are huge changes in the lives of the storyteller, as well as cultural, political and social changes, and changes in the mechanics of whatever medium the storyteller works in.
So forgive me if I decide not to participate in the symbolic lynching of Lucas for "admitting" he made SW up as he went along. There are plenty of things about SW -- all the movies -- that I wish he'd done differently. But it's his damn story, not mine. And no, I don't think that him apparently "pulling the no-marriage-for-Jedi rule out of his ass" somehow nullifies the rule itself or allows the EUwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww to override it.
Good LORD....what storyteller does THAT?
Um...most of them, I would think. Certainly I have, when I wrote short stories or fan-fiction. In fact, the only time I've ever used an outline was when I was in school and a teacher insisted upon it, saying that it was part of the exercise and the overall grade.
Of course, the moronic bashers cited Harry Potter as a story in which the creator/writer followed a strict outline. Now, I know I'm risking the wrath of Rowling-worshippers by saying this, but frankly, I don't care: I rather doubt she followed the outline as strictly as she and HP fans claim. And even if she did, SO WHAT?! I'm still not grasping what is so innately wonderful about following an outline, and so innately terrible about making a story up as you go along.
I mean, isn't that what storytelling, in essence, IS? Making stuff up as you go along? I wouldn't doubt that many storytellers, whatever medium they work in, do, in fact, have an outline of sorts, in their heads if not on paper...but are surprised by how differently the story ultimately turns out. Especially if said story is told over a period of years, or decades, as is the case with SW...years or decades in which there can be and often are huge changes in the lives of the storyteller, as well as cultural, political and social changes, and changes in the mechanics of whatever medium the storyteller works in.
So forgive me if I decide not to participate in the symbolic lynching of Lucas for "admitting" he made SW up as he went along. There are plenty of things about SW -- all the movies -- that I wish he'd done differently. But it's his damn story, not mine. And no, I don't think that him apparently "pulling the no-marriage-for-Jedi rule out of his ass" somehow nullifies the rule itself or allows the EUwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww to override it.