SCREEN-L Archives

April 1991

SCREEN-L@LISTSERV.UA.EDU

Options: Use Proportional Font
Show Text Part by Default
Show All Mail Headers

Message: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Topic: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]
Author: [<< First] [< Prev] [Next >] [Last >>]

Print Reply
Subject:
From:
Jayson Raymond <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Film and TV Studies Discussion List <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Mon, 8 Apr 91 11:05:35 PST
Content-Type:
text/plain
Parts/Attachments:
text/plain (40 lines)
	As to Lucas' intent for Star Wars to be the Saturday Matinee of
Yesteryear, this was certainly Lucas' intent as far as creating a
melodramatic piece that appeals to youngsters, and was stated in his
bibliography "Skywalking".
	However, Lucas tricked us, as do so many great artists. We
thought we could go in and see some action and adventure, sit back,
relax, and enjoy. And we did, BUT, he threw little subliminal ideas in
there to grow as seeds in the backs of our minds.
	Lucas found a great compromise in that age old theatrical
question, "Do we entertain them, or do we educate them?".
 
	In Jim Berkley's quote of Jameson:
 
>".. it is a complex object in which on some first
>level children and adolescents can take the adventures straight, while the
>adult public is able to gratify a deeper and more properly nostalgic desire to
>return to that older period and to live its strange old aesthetic artifacts
>through once again."
 
	Jameson really refers to a multifaceted appeal which, for
example, can appeal to all age categories, such as a Bugs Bunny cartoon.
But what Jameson misses is the multidimensional meaning, meaning
imbedded within meaning. So that you walk away from the movie, and for
sometime later, peel back the layers of meaning. Each individual enters
in at a level of understanding (irrespective of their physical age), and
then in the back of their minds begin to ponder the next level.
	Now while I'm suggesting that Lucas accomplished this at some
level, IMHO, I think he certainly fell short of mastering such a
technique. Perhaps it would take a Guirdjieff to accomplish a true
multidimensional story, though I doubt Guirdjieff could have
accomplished the wide appeal that Lucas did.
 
Jim goes onto write:
 
>Am I being clear, or do I hear the pitter patter of jargon-police feet?
 
I'm afraid they're coming to take us both away....
 
--Jayson

ATOM RSS1 RSS2