Posted on 05/17/2005 9:08:32 PM PDT by fight_truth_decay
CANNES -- Star Wars is a wakeup call to Americans about the erosion of democratic freedoms under George W. Bush, filmmaker George Lucas says.
Lucas, responding to a question from The Sun at a Cannes Film Festival press conference on Sunday, said he first wrote the framework of Star Wars in 1971 when reacting to then-U.S. president Richard Nixon and the on-going events of the Vietnam War. But the story still has relevance today, he said, and is part of a pattern he has noticed in his readings of history.
"I didn't think it was going to get quite this close," he said of the parallels between the Nixon era and the Bush presidency, which has been sacrificing freedoms in the interests of national security. "It is just one of those re-occurring things. I hope this doesn't come true in our country.
"Maybe the film will awaken people to the situation of how dangerous it is ... The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we are doing now in Iraq are unbelievable."
In the latest film, the Palpatine character takes over as ruler of the universe with the co-operation of the other politicians.
"Because this is the back story (of the Star Wars saga), one of the main features of the back story was to tell how the Republic became the Empire," Lucas said. "At the time I did that, it was during the Vietnam War and the Nixon era. The issue was: How does a democracy turn itself over to a dictator? Not how does a dictator take over but how does a democracy and Senate give it away?"
Lucas cited the Roman Empire in the wake of Caesar's death, France after the Revolution and Germany with the rise of Hitler as historical examples of countries giving themselves over to dictators. "They all seem to happen in the same way with the same issues: Threats from the outside; they need more control; and a democratic body not being able to function properly because everybody's squabbling."
Lucas earned applause for his comments and then joined his actors Hayden Christensen, Natalie Portman, Samuel L. Jackson, Ian McDiarmid and Anthony Daniels in a free-wheeling discussion of Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith, which made its world premiere out of competition. This was before they all scuttled off to the Queen Elizabeth II cruise ship, where the Cannes brass presented Lucas with an awkwardly named honour called "the trophy of the festival."
???? What a load!
I was seriously considering seeing this film despite it's zero stars rating, but no I'm having serious reservations...
Why did he have to go and ruin Star Wars like this?
I may not cause George Lucas any problems by not seeing his latest effort, but he will, by God , not get a dime of my hard earned money. I refuse to be a part of his or michael moores' politics or to support the hollywood elite in any way.
Isn't this episode star wars return of the ho's or something like that.
Wih an attitude like that, George Lucas just lost my movie-goer vote. My ultimate revenge will be to ignore his movie. What I did for the movie "Alexander" and what I have done to Jane Fonda movies, I can do for him.
PING
Star Wars: Homos Strike Back!
I'll wait for a pirated DVD copy to come out and then watch that. Can't be letting any of my money go to Lefty Lucas...
What an ass. I feel for Lucas. It just goes to prove up the folly of talented people: that they believe that a gift in one area of endeavor makes you omnipotent and all knowing.
He turned an object of guilt-free entertainment into some weak afterthought at a political statement of the times ala Tolkein.
Try to imagine what the Patriot Act would be like under Janet Reno. There was no threat and the government was using the military to incinerate women and children in Waco. What about Ruby Ridge ?
On the contrary. Bush is more than welcome in the U.S. Count the votes!
This is just a cheep publicity stunt to get the brain dead Bush haters to buy tickets. It'll work too. It feeds their anti-U.S. hate.
For years we've been oppressed by dictatorial judges who try to tell us what we will like, what we will pay for, how we will educated or raise our own kids, or what we MUST tolerate according to them alone. They even went as far as proposing hate SPEECH legislation to stop us from saying anything negative about any left wing special group!!! They were suggesting we be thrown in jail for disagreeing with the left wing extremist kook factor!
No, Bush is a blessing to America. It's time America took it's democracy back!!!! It's time the left - left!!!
pirated DVD
Maybe you can email me a zipped copy :^)
Hey, I like that! May I use it?
how true. It would be wonderful is some press person could ask this exact question. I wonder how the idiot would respond. What a disappointment. I can only imagine the circle of leftists he hangs with. They have a truly distorted view of reality. The US Frees 50 million Iraqi's and we are defeating terrorists all over and all he can do is down Bush. I wonder how the past four years would have been with Gore?
Wimp bush was president for that little clean up operation.
Of course prime characters in theat graduated to WACO, along with WC Clarke.
"We were just funding Saddam Hussein and giving him weapons of mass destruction. We didn't think of him as an enemy at that time. We were going after Iran and using him as our surrogate, just as we were doing in Vietnam. ... The parallels between what we did in Vietnam and what we're doing in Iraq now are unbelievable."
In ancient Rome, "Why did the Senate after killing Caesar turn around and give the government to his nephew?" Lucas said. "Why did France, after they got rid of the king and that whole system, turn around and give it to Napoleon? It's the same thing with Germany and Hitler.
"You sort of see these recurring themes where a democracy turns itself into a dictatorship, and it always seems to happen kind of in the same way, with the same kinds of issues, and threats from the outside, needing more control. A democratic body, a senate, not being able to function properly because everybody's squabbling, there's corruption."
2nd Source [sarcasm]
Maybe [grin]...
Indeed - anyone who says there are parallels between the two conflicts is not to be believed.
Hey, I like that! May I use it?
Absolutely. Pass it around. It's free!
They give away their freedoms by not protecting their borders and deporting illegal aliens. By not knowing who is in the country and not keeping track of the NON Citizens visiting the country.
They keep track of the citizens but not the illegals!
Secure the Border's!! Aliens get Pass Ports and report to Local Court houses once a month and when they change their address.
Damn you, Lucas! DAMN YOU!!!!
You're taking away MY childhood-- my heroes-- my boyhood fantasies and perverting them with your myopic political BULLSHIT!
You created heroes and villains that anyone could love and hate. It was simple escapism. It was fun for everyone with messages of good and evil, duty and sacrifice that were not controversial or tied to an obvious political point of view.
Now, everything you touch has turned to ideologically inspired crap-- and it is BORING besides. No one wants to watch a series of 2 hour C-SPAN broadcasts wrapped up in a computer-generated dogma fight.
Screw you.
So we shouldn't "squabble"?
Or is it that we shouldn't disagree with Lucas?
Mainly, he just seems to want to knock Republicans, doesn't it? Where were these comments when Clinton couldn't get our army out of Bosnia or protect the World Trade Center? Or when that man, Mr. Clinton sold part of California to the Chinese and enabled North Korea to develop both nuclear weapons and the vehicle to deliver them to our soil?
The worst thing the US or the world could do would be to give way to the body that chose Sudan and Zimbabwe for their Human Rights Commission.
We'd all be on death row for noncompliance.
Cool! (See my new tagline)
asshat
I keep asking my husband why the press never mentions that when the left brings it up!! Not even FOX confronts the left about it. Public school kids are taught it was Nixon's war, yet he was the one that eventually stopped it.
Not to mention non-existent.
Including midnight screenings, how many times are you seeing Revenge of the Sith on its opening day at a cinema/theater?
once
twice
3 times
4 times
5 times or more
I'm not seeing it on its opening day
I have felt a great disturbance in The Force. It's as if a million voices suddenly cried out in hysterical laughter.
Lucas is a typical left wing racist. Only a left wing racist could even conceive Jar-Jar Binks! What the hell was that?
Silly comparison. Bush can't even control Voinovich, or the Mexican border.
Thats why character matters when you pick a president. Hitlery will do whatever it takes to quiet her critics. It's going to be grassroots that will defeat her because even some republicans are building here up.
To the liberals freedom means license and license
means licentiousness..which leads to slavery and worse.
OK, I gotta say it: these new Star Wars movies suck. Neither Natalie Portman or Hayden Christensen seem even remotely interested in their characters. The effects are over the top now...and in being so extreme, lose the "wow" factor of the original trilogy. So, honestly, I was less than excited in the first place to see the last installment of the series. Lucas' idiotic statements make me even less likely now. What kind of warped person actually believes Star Wars is warning about American empire? If I remember my Star Wars well enough (never read the books, only saw the movies), didn't the EMPEROR destroy the REPUBLIC to enslave the galaxy? Wasn't the point of the Rebel Alliance to RESTORE the republic...government by the people, for the people? I don't mean to be a nerd, but come ON. America is more like the Galaxy Republic than the Galaxy Empire. Does it not occur to anyone that as the world's only real superpower, we COULD be the evil Empire, and instead CHOOSE to be the beacon of the REPUBLIC? That is, if we didn't value liberty. Or didn't have the Constitution to guide us. These are the checks and balances that prevent America from becoming the imperialist bastards they constantly accuse us of being. Empire is not what America is about, unless you think spreading the idea and encouragement of freedom is imperialist. However, and it bears pointing out, Empire in the form of a world Islamic State IS desired by America's enemies. Has this very simple concept ever even occured to George Lucas or the fools at Cannes? Do these idiots think that America bashing will spare them from the final solution of the terrorists? Maybe it's late, I'm nuts or it only makes sense to me. Good grief.
And we are to seriously listen to some dope who conjures up goofy and unrealistic things like wookies and swishy robots? Crap fantasies 1st graders used to think about just before recess? Oh please! Lucas is better served studying his comic books rather than the realities of life...
Sorry everybody but I want to see it and had got tickets before I heard about any of it.
Look on the bright side though. I doesn't really matter how much Lucas has that he might donate to lefties. Republicans raise more money from a larger number of donors.
You know, if freedom is really eroding under Pres. Bush, how come these Hollywood bufoons can still spout silly idiocy's with NO repercussions?? These entertainment dopes always refer to GW as a fascist and yet nothing happens to them. If GW was REALLY a fascist, those folks making those kinds of comments would be dead.
I kind of meandered with this post, sorry. :-)
Stick to the politics of a long time ago in a galaxy far far away George, you can make it up however you want there. You absolutely have no clue at all about the here and now. Of course he can say all these things without anyone dare questioning or debating him. I imagine the man rarely hears the word "no".
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