In 1977, George Lucas acceded to fame and fortune when "Star Wars" rode high all over the world. I can easily comprehend many viewers's enthusiasm about this epic saga while not sharing it. For me, "Star Wars" represents the turning point when science-fiction began to seriously regress from an artistic perspective. All Lucas' efforts to create a mythology gave way to childish stories with monotonous, extravagant actions sequences.
Most of "Star Wars" lovers forgot that prior to this cultural phenomenon and even before he embarked on a fruitful career as a producer, George Lucas had signed a personal, pessimistic science-fiction work that showed a more adult direction from him: "THX 1138" (1971). It depicts a humanity living under ground and one will never know the reasons that prompted these bald human beings all dressed in white to live beneath the surface of the earth. Its inhabitants are incapable to feel and live in an artificial way with pills and drugs as diets. This is a nightmarish universe, a mix of George Orwell and Philip K. Dick that Lucas presents us in which religion is of little help (the scene when Robert Duvall has to "confess" is self-explanatory).Lucas' making is very elaborated and captures the stifling atmosphere and the imprisonment that touches all these nameless human beings who can't feel anything and we're queasy while hearing these voices that keep on telling orders and these numbers that scroll on these computer screens. "2001: a Space Odyssey" (1968) was also among Lucas' credentials because like in Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, white is bright and the obsession of control are two central themes in both films. Some elements of the story will also be used in "Star Wars" like the vigilante robots who precede Dark Vader's white robot soldiers. But also, THX 1138's rebellious demeanor against an evil system or even the car chase at the end of the film.
This was a promising practice run from a man who could have been a true auteur. But sadly, Lucas didn't persevere in that way. He said that he had two alternatives: either to elaborate entertaining films, either to make films destined to film libraries. He chose the first one with the results we all know don't we?
Most of "Star Wars" lovers forgot that prior to this cultural phenomenon and even before he embarked on a fruitful career as a producer, George Lucas had signed a personal, pessimistic science-fiction work that showed a more adult direction from him: "THX 1138" (1971). It depicts a humanity living under ground and one will never know the reasons that prompted these bald human beings all dressed in white to live beneath the surface of the earth. Its inhabitants are incapable to feel and live in an artificial way with pills and drugs as diets. This is a nightmarish universe, a mix of George Orwell and Philip K. Dick that Lucas presents us in which religion is of little help (the scene when Robert Duvall has to "confess" is self-explanatory).Lucas' making is very elaborated and captures the stifling atmosphere and the imprisonment that touches all these nameless human beings who can't feel anything and we're queasy while hearing these voices that keep on telling orders and these numbers that scroll on these computer screens. "2001: a Space Odyssey" (1968) was also among Lucas' credentials because like in Stanley Kubrick's masterpiece, white is bright and the obsession of control are two central themes in both films. Some elements of the story will also be used in "Star Wars" like the vigilante robots who precede Dark Vader's white robot soldiers. But also, THX 1138's rebellious demeanor against an evil system or even the car chase at the end of the film.
This was a promising practice run from a man who could have been a true auteur. But sadly, Lucas didn't persevere in that way. He said that he had two alternatives: either to elaborate entertaining films, either to make films destined to film libraries. He chose the first one with the results we all know don't we?