TheRobin Posted January 9, 2016 Posted January 9, 2016 "How George Lucas used an ancient technique called “ring composition” to reach a level of storytelling sophistication in his six-part saga that is unprecedented in cinema history." http://www.starwarsringtheory.com/ring-composition-chiasmus-hidden-artistry-star-wars-prequels/Very much worth the read, surely the best analysis of the movies I ever recall reading. Blew my mind on several occasions. Enjoy!
Wuzzums Posted January 9, 2016 Posted January 9, 2016 George Lucas said it himself that he intended to make the prequels mirror the originals. However he's more of a businessman than a director which is why the original trilogy far exceeds the prequels in quality of storytelling. Like all movies, the prequels were a unified effort of many people with different ideas all coming together to make a coherent story. This is in contrast with the prequel story which is just Lucas' vision of how the story should be. To understand how much help Star Wars got from sources other than Lucas you should check out the Dune series (or more particularly Jodorowsky's Dune) and the original draft of the story called "The Star Wars". I find it fascinating how these long arching stories evolve over time and how the audience has an active hand in it too. Like for instance how Jar Jar was supposed to mirror Yoda's role in the prequels, an idea that what was scraped because of all the hate the character got.
Will Torbald Posted January 9, 2016 Posted January 9, 2016 I had to pause at around page 4 because my brain was drippping out from my ears a bit. Thanks for the stuff, it's fascinating. I never hated the prequels but conceded that the originals were better. This makes me want to rewatch them sometime with this commentary.
shirgall Posted January 10, 2016 Posted January 10, 2016 I don't mind the idea that he had a great idea for writing it all, but the execution was rather flawed. It is interesting to see how increasing singular control of the films decreased their quality on successive iterations, whether or not he had a great idea for their structure.
tasmlab Posted February 5, 2016 Posted February 5, 2016 Interesting. I had just finished redlettermedia's critique of the prequels (about 3 hours long on youtube) and those are both insightful and hilarious, but you'll come out disliking them more than ever.
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