Limelight

Limelight
'May the force be with you'
By Lubna Abdel-Aziz
Accurst be he that first invented war! Christopher Marlowe.
War is not an instinct, but an invention -- the most undesirable, loathsome and brutal of all man's inventions. Yet man has engaged in wars since the beginning of time. There is always a pretext. Territorial rights, greed, revenge, security, ideology, even a pretty face has "launched a thousand ships," in mythological lore. While we may engage in them, we are not thrilled by them, unless of course they have taken place elsewhere -- "a long, long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away."
Twenty five years ago a revolutionary film, Star Wars, exploded on the cinematic scene, introducing a new technology in science picture film-making, reaping a box-office return unheard of previously in the film industry.
The Star Wars saga started in the mind of one young man named George Lucas, born in 1944 in Modesto, California. He grew up in the 1950s, just another aimless youth, disenchanted with school, with only one consuming passion-fast cars. Gravely injured in a car race, the teenager was saved miraculously when his seat belt snapped and he was flung from the car seconds before it exploded. "You can't have that kind of experience without feeling there must be a reason why you're here!" Lucas was transformed overnight. He enrolled at the University of Southern California, determined to shine in one of America's most competitive academic environments. He joined the university's distinguished film school, obsessed with a drive to succeed as a filmmaker. He met Francis Ford Coppola (Godfather I, II, III, Apocalypse Now) and the two men, although different as night and day, were instantly drawn together. They both lived and breathed film. The younger Lucas soon became Coppola's apprentice. Together they formed a partnership, founded an independent studio, American Zoetrope. Lucas was on his way. His first movie THX 1138, was a strange, esoteric exploration into themes that were close to his heart. The central idea of the picture was believing and trusting in one's inner strength, the force within a theme that will continue to recur throughout his future works. The film, though not a commercial success, was a popular video rental, becoming a cult favourite in later years. Lucas quickly moved on to his next project, which became one of the most profitable ever released, with a return of $50 to every dollar spent, making George Lucas a millionaire before he was 30. American Graffiti (1973), examining one night in the lives of archetypal American youth, cut a deep and abiding chord in young moviegoers everywhere because of the universality of its characters.
It took him four years to produce his next film, the masterwork of his career, Star Wars, which became the gigantic international hit of its decade, literally changing the course of movie-making forever. An epic fantasy, Lucas wrote the film himself, a composite of the images he grew up with; a blend of the magic of fairy tales, the lure of ancient myths, the wonders of science fiction, the courage of supermen, the fantasy of cartoon characters. But the greatest influence came from his hero Akira Kurosawa and his film The Hidden Fortress. The Star Wars odyssey deals with all the major themes and characters of Kurosawa. But while Kurosawa's characters ride horses, Lucas's characters travel in space on land and sky speeders. However, Star Wars would develop from a story based on The Hidden Fortress to a film only inspired by it.
In his efforts to understand the very characters that he himself invented, he began writing an outline of their origins, where they came from and what could happen to them. He wrote eight hours a day, five days a week for over a year. He was determined to indulge his instinct for producing pure film and an arrangement of images more akin to music than traditional Hollywood narrative. He struggled to write a timeless adventure combining elements of folklore with traditional moral values and the amazement of science fiction classics, the contemporary wonders of Russia and America's first space flights, all intertwined in a splendidly glorious fantasy fairy tale the world could identify with. He ended up with enough material for sequels and prequels galore. When he discovered that the technology to create the electrifying stupefying sound and visual effects he envisioned, was non-existent, he formed his own special effects house and laboratory, Industrial Light and Magic, virtually re-inventing and re-defining the interplay of image, sound and action.
Its main characters Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Obi-Wan Kenobi, its creatures "droids," "wookies" and "Jedis," "Chewbacca", "Yoda," C-3PO, R2-D2, became part of childhood lore, standing side by side with princes, fairies, elves, djinns dragons, Snow White and The Little Mermaid, creating an unprecedented youth culture that has only grown with the years. The first Star Wars movie is really episode IV, subtitled A New Hope. Episode V, The Empire Strikes Back(1980), (directed by Irvin Kershner), and episode VI, Return of the Jedi(1983), (directed by Richard Marquand) followed. Both were equally successful continuing the tradition although directed by others. Fourteen years later, Lucas came back to direct episode I; most confusing, unless you're a child of the Star Wars era. The prequel entitled The Phantom Menace (1999) disappointed both critics and fans. Nonetheless, it made a staggering $450 million in the US alone and nearly $1 billion worldwide, ranking it today as the third money maker of all time, preceded by Titanic and Harry Potter. It did not deter today's overwhelming excitement over the upcoming release of prequel II, Attack of the Clones. For months die-hard fans have camped by the famous Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles, as well as other theatres in Chicago, Seattle, San Francisco, etc., to be the first in line to purchase tickets for the 16 May opening in North America and the UK. Peak previews have been positive and the magic of Star Wars seems alive and well in the 21st century. The early buzz over the next episode III has already started and Lucas promises a darker feel much closer to the original saga.
George Lucas has turned his fortune and his vision into LucasFilm, expanding his company's reach into post-production facilities and multimedia research. He launched three other companies, Lucas Digital, THX, a state-of-the-arts sound facility, and Lucas Arts, one of the finest research and development companies, bringing the whole Lucas expertise in visual story-telling to an emerging technology. Lucas Arts, also makes interacting learning games for children and the multimedia station for classroom use. Not only is Lucas one of the most powerful figures in the late 20th century popular culture, but he has also transformed the way movies are made and has built one of the most powerful and influential personal empires in film history. A trendsetter and innovator, he produced the first Star Wars, which set the world record in revenues, creating the definition of "blockbuster," for which he can take credit, or blame. The saga of adventures in space remains an icon of today's culture as new today as it was then and will be tomorrow. It was originally planned as a nine- part saga and in 25 years the world has seen four films, the fifth to be released 16 May.
Once an aimless teenager, George Lucas has carved for himself a secure place in the history of cinema. He has galvanised us with his enchanting talent for story-telling, with tales of yore, weaving his yarn with universal threads of truth, justice, strength and valour, touching the very soul of Everyman. He is 57 now and with film technology advancing as rapidly as Star Wars laser beams, he can produce the rest of his episodes dizzying and dazzling many more generations to come. We wish him health and long life and "may the force be with him."
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