PaSsIoN

I was supposed to be writing about sleep depravation and writing and my own experiences with it but something else has been bouncing around in my head.

Two weeks ago I went to see the Star Wars: Clone Wars movie. While using CGI caricatures rather than real life actors and not even having all the official actors on board for voices, it still is an official Star Wars movie, bridging the gap between Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. although he didn't direct it (hell, he didn't direct Empire, remember?) George Lucas worked on it and obviously endorsed it and approved of it in every sense.

Besides the factors mentioned above, it's also pretty short and the music isn't done by John Williams (although some of his existing themes are worked in in places). I thought it was ok but there were things about it that bugged me. Needless to say, it's not up to the standard of the rest of the series. I think of it as just a little extra side-story so I don't really care. But the hardcore Star Wars fans, of which there are trillions, care very much. So message boards everywhere are flooded with complaints and opinions flying every which way.

I was on one such message board on imdb just to see if anyone actually liked the movie when i came across a thread in which the original poster basically said everyone should just shut up and stop complaining about this movie, and they should especially stop criticizing Lucas himself. Addressing the argument that Lucas was "selling out" and ruining the great name of Star Wars, this poster stated that Star Wars and everything encapsulated within it (and that's quite a lot) belongs to George Lucas, NOT the fans. It was his vision, his creation, his property, period. He can do as he pleases with it.

This of course lead to a response with one of those speeches saying how Star Wars is art created for its audience and it belongs as much to them as its creator. That as soon as Lucas released the first Star Wars to the public in 1977, it became in part, public property as well. Over the decades, Star Wars has spawned many, many fans who are absolutely nuts over it - they know everything about it and care very, very much about anything that is added to it. This obviously leads to a level of snobbishness - the diehards feeling they are "true" fans and much more deserving than people who only enjoy the movies and so on on a casual level. These fans become very opinionated over time and extremely protective of what they like. So it was one of these fans talking here. The basic idea being that fans like him/herself care SO MUCH about all things Star Wars, they are perfectly entitled to criticizing Lucas for any "mistakes" they feel he's making with his own creation.

And I agree. To a point. Of course, ANYONE, diehard fan or casual fan, has the right to have a freaking opinion. Call George Lucas the biggest moron of all time - it's completely legal, I assure you. But I'd like to talk about where I disagree with this poster and this argument. It's pretty simple, really. George Lucas does love Star Wars. If he didn't, it would never have even happened. He had to fight like crazy to make the first movie and completing the original trilogy the way he wanted to was a huge struggle. I think people do know that but some will argue that over time, all Lucas really loved about Star Wars was the MONEY it was making for him. This would lead him to cut corners or not try as hard when it came to making the prequels. A lot of people believe that. And now they see this latest movie as just a quick cash-grab, capitalizing on the Star Wars name. But I just don't think so. Cause, yeah, I know there are tons of fans out there that love Star Wars SO MUCH. They care SO MUCH. I know. But you know who's on an even higher level in that category? The people that worked on these newer films with Lucas. The guy who directed Clone Wars had been a fan of Star Wars his whole life. He loved it SO MUCH. He cared SO MUCH. How much? Well....he became a director. He wanted to make movies like his hero, George Lucas. So he went out and worked hard to get where he is today. Obviously, he's done a fair share of work before ever getting handed what he considered to be a dream job. And he probably didn't absolutely love everything he worked on. But it didn't matter because he was prepared to do whatever it took to get himself in the position to work on projects he really cared about. The animators, the artists - they all love Star Wars so much they're animators and artists. These people didn't sit in their basements and complain when a sequel to a movie they liked wasn't up to their standards. They said "i'm going to make movies too" and they went out and worked to make that happen. OK, so not every single one of them was inspired to what they do by Star Wars but it's the same principle - there was SOMETHING, some movie or show or comic or whatever that moved them in such a way that they wanted to be part of that world too - to create.

It's how I feel whenever I read a letters section in a comic book. Reader feedback is of course an important part of the comics industry, more than ever these days with the Internet. It's important for writers, editors and artists to listen to their fans. But Christ, you should see some of the DEMANDS some of these people are making. "I don't like this character, you should kill him off." "I think the whole whoever and whoever relationship is overdone." "Could you maybe put x character into this book? Get them on x team?" And on and on and on. Some people downright attack Marvel and DC and whoever, sometimes even vowing never to buy another one of their books because something has upset them so much.

And as I huge fan, I can of course relate. I'm not in love with every single decision that is made in, say, the Marvel universe. I don't adore every character, story arc and plot twist. Sometimes I'll read something and think something like "Mr. Fantastic would never do that. That's dumb." I live in that world. I love that world SO MUCH. I care SO MUCH. But you know what? I don't think that entitles me to much. No one's holding a gun to my head, forcing me to spend my money on these comics. How I feel about it is this: I love these characters, this world SO MUCH, that I want to be a part of it. I'm going to work my ass off so that I can be. To someday work on a title I've spent years enjoying reading. To write stories about the characters I've grown up adoring. Then they'll do what I want them to do. I'll try my best to appeal to as many people as I can, to not fuck up these things they love so much. But any idiot knows you just can't please everyone.

So if I ever get there it's cool with me if you want to talk to your friends or go on message boards and call me an idiot and go on and on about how I'm ruining this or that. Go ahead and vow to stop reading. I'd hate to lose any readers but that's how it goes and you can do as you please. But if you think you're more entitled or smart when it comes to this stuff then don't complain to me, accusing me of not trying or not caring. Step right up and do my job. And if you're not prepared to do that or you're just incapable, well, then I think we'll both know which of us is the bigger fan and who actually cares more.

reminder

I've been thinking about talking a little about sleep depravation and the writing process as it relates to me. i don't have time to do it right now. i'm just posting this to remind myself about it. i forget so many ideas, good and bad.