Lucas Restricts Fan-Made Films To Documentaries, Parodies 236
garagekubrick writes: "A great piece at the Houston Chronicle discusses how the community of fan made Star Wars films received a boon in December when Lucasfilm loaned their sponsorship to the event, and George Lucas himself would be a judge. Unfortunately, they've limited the contest to parodies and documentaries, thereby shutting out hundreds of entries. As a Lucas rep says, 'if in fact somebody is using our characters to create a story unto itself, that's not in the spirit of what we think fandom is about. Fandom is about celebrating the story the way it is.' Pretty rich coming from the filmmaker who constantly cites greed as being the root of the dark side, and who keeps discussing the liberating values of digital filmmaking. Guess as long as it doesn't hurt his Empire..."
Fan FICTION? (Score:5, Insightful)
It's not about greed, i think.. it's about control (Score:2, Insightful)
Who decides what fandom is about? (Score:5, Insightful)
Will sports arenas try to throw people out for cheering for the visiting team? Will they decide that it's illegal for me to get a hometeam jersey printed up with my name on the back, instead of an actual player's name, because we should celebrate the game how it actually is, not how we'll enjoy it the best?
It's silly.
like it or not ... (Score:2, Insightful)
personally, i think it's about damn time lucas did this, publicly give permission to do these parodies, etc, which mostly are crap, but a few are quite funny. this helps people understand where the line is drawn, and go forth and create.
-rp
Blame the lawyers (Score:5, Insightful)
Beyond simple trademark dilution, Lucas puts himself at risk for copyright infringement suits since he is actively producing more movies in the same series. If Lucas sees one of these movies, then he risks the creator of the movie suing him for copyright infringement when he releases Episode 3, a long and possibly quite costly lawsuit. A lawsuit with base and no purpose other than to extort money from Lucas.
Does this happen? Well, I haven't heard of it happening in the movie biz, but most filmmakers are rarely in a position like this. In the music industry it does happen, quite a lot, to the point where one of the first things any professional musician (particularly successfull ones) learns is if someone hands you a demo tape, you hand it right back to them on the spot! It means nothing about the musician's opinion of you, or your music if he or she does this to you - it is simply an important legal defence in this age where you find unscrupulous people who will abuse the courts for their own personal gain, at the expense of others.
Just another situation where our litigous culture and the unscruplous few(?) screw things over for everybody.
C'est la vie.
George Lucas, former director (Score:3, Insightful)
After twenty successful years with those businesses, he tried to make a movie. And it was, unsuprisingly, overproduced crap.
Lucas needs to accept his destiny, which is to be a suit.
Maybe people are missing this... (Score:2, Insightful)
I'm sure good ol' George is fully aware that there is plenty O' FanFic out there, and he's not looking to stamp that out, he simply doesn't want any of it being entered into this contest because It likely WOULD conflict with the official canon.
And as someone else said, it's about control. It's his property, he can do with it whatever he wants, and obviously he doesn't want to allow any fan created universe fiction into an official function. That might be contruded as him sanctioning the material.
I don't know if any of you have watched the "Making of" [starwars.com] videos on the official Star wars site, but in one of them, (Wedgie Em' Out) A stunt Coordinater starts talking a little bit about the droid in Obi Wan's Starfighter.
"The R4 is really an R2 painted Red.."
George interupts him saying "Be careful.. what you say about the R4. Because you'll get bopped on the head real quick."
Then then the next clip shows George mockingly "beating up" the guy.
It was already well known that George is very possessive about Star Wars and related information being released, and as we said, it's his property, he can do with it what he wants.
Weren't you ever a child? (Score:5, Insightful)
If it be money or trying to stay true to his characters values, its his choice. All you people do is bitch when you don't get your way.
I realize you're mostly just being contrary (though there are worse words for it) - but weren't you ever a child? Did you ever watch or read a story with great characters, then *imagine* what could be? Sometimes amazing childhood tales come from kids sitting with their legos, acting out what a character might do in a given situation. It might not mean that much to you - but the right to freely tell such stories is a cherished act for millions of people. To disallow such public discussion on those topics is to strip people of the right to discuss their earliest explorations into creativity. Yes, older people can be expected to create their own characters - but the young should be highly encouraged to play around with the ideas of characters they like, regardless of who owns them. They should also be free to share these ideas. To do otherwise may very well be to prevent millions of children from growing their imaginations, just so a handful of adults may continue to explore their imaginations for debatably larger ammount of money.
:^)
Ryan Fenton
His Universe to do with as he sees fit (Score:2, Insightful)
You seem to forget 1 thing - this is a series of movies that Lucas made for YOUR entertainment. So what if they were so good they spawned off this whole pseudo-culture that we see today. These movies were made for your enjoyment, and Lucas has no obligation to make them or more importantly make them to YOUR specifications.
Look, I like the whole Star Wars franchise, but I also realize that if Lucas screws it up, so be it, his loss, not mine (there are a hell of a lot better movies out to see than Eps 1-3).
RonB
Re:Remember kids... (Score:3, Insightful)
We had Star Wars Special Edition. We had Empire Strikes Back Special Edition. We had Return of the Jedi Special Edition.
We've had hundred of fiction books.
I certainly don't remember Kyle Katarn being a central point of the trilogy.
And, we've just had to deal with rumors of another editing of A New Hope.
Perhaps... perhaps before Mr. Lucas makes this statement, he would be so nice as to decide just which way the story is in the first place.
Re:Lucas is right - here's what's going on (Score:2, Insightful)
Re: special edition garbage (Score:2, Insightful)
Believe it or not, I'm not being exploited by the cheese manufacturers. There is no law stating that I must buy each and every type of cheese out there. When I go to the grocery store, I make a decision on what I want to take home. I don't mindlessly walk around picking up everything in the store simply because it is there.
You seem to think that the consumer has no will, or personal desire, or even capacity to make a decision about their purchases.
Re:Remember kids... (Score:3, Insightful)
Once you have your own money-making "idea" perhaps you will understand.
Re:He's legally entitled to. (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:It's always about money to him (Score:5, Insightful)
I just wish all of the fans of these films would use all of their creativity and imagination to create something of their own. Lucas liked space opera serials, old myths, and fast cars. So he created a world based on such things.
Instead of screaming that they can't regurgitate Lucas' vision over and over, fans interested in film making should develop their own. Maybe just start with what they like most about Star Wars, whether it's comical droids, spiritual warriors, or whatever, then run with it in their own way.
Okay, I'm not going to rant on this. I just think George has a long-range idea of what he's doing with is supossed anti-fan stance on some issues. One day he's going to die, and probably much sooner stop making movies. We need someone who will create something that will replace Star Wars, not just an army of directors making sequel after sequel of another's ideas.
Lucas's empire may be based on trademarks (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:It's always about money to him (Score:3, Insightful)
Because it's really cool, and we like it?
To all of the "write something *truly* original posts" I say : what have you written, can we see a link?
Admittedly, coming up with a new universe, new characters, etc. would be a greater achievement than writing fanfiction in someone else's setting. But the fanfiction is still better than not writing anything other than sanctimonious posts telling people what they should and shouldn't be writing.