I’m a bit surprised about Cannes deciding to give their annual honorary Palme d’Or to George Lucas. There’s no question that he changed the entire film industry in 1977, but for the better? I don’t think so. Regardless, he is what one might qualify as a “visionary.”
In announcing the Palme d’Or, Cannes praised Lucas for building “a Hollywood empire through the nine episodes of the saga — four of which he directed himself,” and for his “unflagging passion for technology” which has made him “one of the pioneers of the visual effects industry.”
Yes, Lucas started off his career with “THX-1138,” and “American Graffiti,” the latter is one of the defining films of the ‘70s, and then there was “Star Wars,” and the sequels — this woke up Hollywood to the multi-billion dollar potential of franchise filmmaking.
The commercial success of Star Wars created a boom in state-of-the-art special effects in the late 1970s. The innovative marketing also forever changed how films would get sold — don’t forget about licensed toys and memorabilia. Not to mention the targeting of specific demographics. The film also pioneered the concept of the summer blockbuster, forever altering the release strategy of Hollywood studios.
Star Wars also destroyed the ‘70s boom of adult-oriented filmmaking. It fundamentally changed the aesthetics and narratives of Hollywood films and, instead, promoted and marketed infantilism. Gone were the deep, meaningful stories based on dramatic themes, and entering the picture was the “blockbuster.”
The three prequels Lucas wrote and directed, in 1999, 2002 and 2005, made even more money. However, the man who directed “American Graffiti” was long gone by then. Lucas didn’t care about original moviemaking anymore. Hell, even his friend, Francis Ford Coppola, came out and said he felt bad about George wasting away his cinematic potential as a filmmaker.
Don’t get me wrong, Lucas’ conception of story is second-to-none, but, as we’ve seen it with his work in the ‘Star Wars’ and Indiana Jones movies, his directing and writing has always been better handled by the likes of Lawrence Kasdan, Steven Spielberg, and, especially, Irvin Kershner in “The Empire Strikes Back,” still the best Star Wars movie ever made.