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STAR WARS HAS ALREADY BEEN BLAMED BY MOVIE PUNDITS FOR THE DEATH OF CINEMA. WILL GEORGE LUCAS'S
EMBRACE OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY PROVE THEM RIGHTOR IS IT A NEW HOPE? BY GREGORY SOLMAN
If George Lucas had truly regained his popular touch, Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones might have started with Senator Amidala's ship landing on Coruscant, cutting then to an in-your-face close-up of Jar Jar Binks yamming at Amidala's decoy. Hee'sa just waiting for the Senator-- an extra-annoying member of the entourage participating in the ruse. Before the audience jeering could subside, the assassin's bomb would kill Jar Jar along with the others-his tongue hanging limply, ear drapes smoking, big cartoon Xs over his eyes-sending the crowd into gleeful Gungan cheek-shaking paroxysins and Ewok victory dances. Thus Jar Jar could die one of those Joseph Campbell hero's deaths and Lucas could revitalize his once-humble sense of showmanship by responding to the disturbance in the Force that caused legions of his anlent fansto flee from The Phantom Menace.
Robert Ray might call the movie business's "encouragement of amnesia," its version of planned obsolescence. Lucas revised the original trilogy's effects and fixed mistakes that bothered him a billion dollars later, and the Phantom Menace DVD already has new scenes, making it a different movie than the original release, and effectively supplanting it.
That attitude - shared cultural memory doesn't matter, movie art has no integrity as a fixed object but is subject to treatment as a New and Improved product - gives courage to Star Wars fans like the Phantom Editor. Describing himself as someone of the "George Lucas Generation" in the replaced opening title crawl, the anonymous editor lion dollars later, and the DVD already has new scenes, making ace DVD a different movie than new scenes, original release, and effectively than the original release, and effectively shared cultural it. ory doesn't matter, movie art hared cultural no ory doesn't matter, movie art has a fixed object but is subject to treatment as a New and Improved object but is subject product-gives courage to treatment as a New and Improved product-gives courage the Phantom Editor. Wars fang himself as someone of the Phantom Editor. De ing himself as Generation" in the replaced...