Sorry to link a second time to the same article, but I find George Lucas and the NYT article fawning over him just so hilarious. This I-am-the-99% quote comes in the context of talking about Lucas's girlfriend of 5 years, Mellody Hobson. Lucas is 67. The article declines to tell us how old she is, but a quick Google shows she's 42. Lucas has made a movie about black people and Hobson is black "and a friend of the Obamas’ and Oprah Winfrey’s." Lucas is calling himself a 99 percenter in the context of contrasting himself to her:
“And she’s an East Coast, Princeton grad, Wall Street fund manager, knows all the big players, works in the big world. You would never think that we would get together, have anything in common. But when we did, we realized we had everything in common. It was the most unlikely coupling.”He doesn't know "big players" and work in the "big world"?! What delusion!
What delusion? It's the delusion of a ’60s lefty who imagines himself at one with some idea he has of the underclass.
IN THE COMMENTS: MayBee said:
It's interesting that his girlfriend is a buddy with all the Obama people. At the time of the AF1 panic-inducing flyover of Manhattan, it was redtails accompanying the plane. That has never been explained. A lot of people speculated it was related to this film.Thanks for reminding us of that! Here's a NY Post article from April 27, 2009:
A jumbo jet being chased by a F-16 fighter jets buzzed Lower Manhattan this morning, panicking New Yorkers, many of whom were forced to evacuate their office buildings.Here's my post reacting to the official story, which was that the flight was for the purpose of taking an inexplicably crappy photograph.
President Obama was in Washington at the time, but the low-flying 747 circling the Statue of Liberty was one of the planes used as Air Force One, sources said...
AND: Remember that 2009 Halloween party at the White House that we just found out about: "George Lucas sent the original Chewbacca to mingle with invited guests."
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71 comments:
These guys write Lefty Establishment drivel for 40 or 50 years and tell themselves they're Speaking Truth To Power.
His neck waddle is the 1%.
What delusion? It's the delusion of a ’60s lefty who imagines himself at one with some idea he has of the underclass.
How many actual lefty's are die-hard western fans, which Lucas admittedly is. Rugged individualism and conflicts settled at the barrel of a blaster, so to speak. Sci-fi is simply the western moved into the vacuum of space. Star Wars more so than most others.
It's interesting that his girlfriend is a buddy with all the Obama people. At the time of the AF1 panic-inducing flyover of Manhattan, it was redtails accompanying the plane. That has never been explained. A lot of people speculated it was related to this film.
Really, George Lucas is even more authentically black than Mellody Hobson, or a lot of other blacks.
Truly a credit to his race.
Ed Driscoll wrote a nice piece a few years ago pointing out that Lucas originally thought of Star Wars as an allegory of the Viet Nam war, with the rebels playing the part of the Viet Cong.
I'd love to see a graph of the net worth over time of "working class heroes" (in their own mind) like Lucas, Springsteen, et. al. vs. people like Mitt Romney. What do you want to bet that they made their first million before Mitt.
It must be hell to have that much dough and still feel like you want to be liked by the cool kids, but you're not.
I mean, fer shizzle, I feel for the guy. Must have gotten the shit kicked outta him as a kid, and never learned anything from it, other than appeasement.
The Sally Field of directors.
Lucas first heard the story of the Tuskegee Airmen from a friend, the photographer George Hall, in 1988.
So a 67 year old man first heard of the Tuskegee Airmen 23 years ago?
Huh.
Rugged individualism and conflicts settled at the barrel of a blaster, so to speak. Sci-fi is simply the western moved into the vacuum of space. Star Wars more so than most others.
Don't forget that Star Wars was about reestablishing a monarchy headed by Princess Leia. Apparently, it's good to establish a monarchy if it's dreamed up by a lefty.
Any kids these two might have will get the benefits of affirmative action.
Gotta give the underprivileged a hand up, ya know.
The noble rebels winning against the Empire is an attractive meme, and one Lucas did well.
I know people who go see another performance of Les Miserables every chance they get...and I go and pretend to cry.
It took Speilberg to do the more realistic meme for the 20th century which is one Empire beating another Empire, beating another Empire (See, Empire of the Sun.)
Marin County uber alles.
Don't forget that Star Wars was about reestablishing a monarchy headed by Princess Leia. Apparently, it's good to establish a monarchy if it's dreamed up by a lefty.
I hate to geek out on you, but this is not true. She was a princess from a single member planet. They were fighting the Empire to restore the Republic, which had a senate of elected officials.
I don't get no respect!...at least not like those White House schvartzes do.
Dude, I have no need to be seen as underclass, but apparently you do. A very large check from you to me would make us both happy. Let's be men of action - lets' do that, OK?
Scott M wrote:
I hate to geek out on you, but this is not true...
And how many episodes of Star Trek TOS are there, 73 or 74?
Star Wars is like a sausage, it's best to gloss over the details.
*****************
Thank you, Ann, for pointing out that Lucas is just another fabulously wealthy Hollywood lefty jerk. I was looking forward to Redtails, but bow it looks like I must forego the pleasure to keep my self-respect.
You all had to have heard his interview on The Daily Show, right? Lefty, liberal Hollywood would not help with the financing of his project. Even John Stewart was surprised. Start around 1:45 in if you want the relevant information.
http://tinyurl.com/6rju792
I do think at some point, you've made enough money.
It's not about your money.
It's not about your race.
It's not about your sex.
It's not about your sexuality.
These are just the lines and lures they use to hook you, Victim.
It is, and always has been, about consolidating power in the State.
Hippies selling out is insanely fun.
And a college grad first heard of the Tuskegee airmen in the 80s? Apparently college sucked longer than I thought.
And how many episodes of Star Trek TOS are there, 73 or 74?
I'm a low level geek and certainly not any more knowledgeable of Star Trek than the usual stuff everyone else knows...okay, maybe a little more, but definitely not a capital-T trekkie.
Lucas is part of the 1% that thought Jar Jar Binks was a good idea.
Remember, Lucas is down with you hep cats and your groovy swinger ways. For realz yo.
I know when i think 99% I think "the dude who created Ewoks and Jar Jar"
(The Uncredentialed, Crypto Jew)
I'm a low level geek and certainly not any more knowledgeable of Star Trek than the usual stuff everyone else knows...okay, maybe a little more, but definitely not a capital-T trekkie
But you’d be all over it if there were zombies, right?
I’ll look around for the link, there’s a discussion why a Conservative would back Palpatine over the “Republic.” And it makes sense, the Republic and the Jedi were foolish elitists, running the Galaxy into the ground….as a political entity the “Republic” failed in its most basic political duty, protection of its citizens and its constituent jurisdictions, whilst relying on an ossified, elitist group of goobers to “defend” it…and the Empire could take the UFP, BTW.
Lastly, it’s TREKKER, not Trekkie, ScottM…get it right!
I always confuse Melody Barnes, Obama's former domestic policy adviser, with Mellody Hobson.
It so happens that I've met Mellody Hobson several times. The first was when she and John Rogers came to Minneapolis to give a presentation on investing to the local chapter of the National Black MBA Association. At the time Rogers had just started Ariel Capital and she was his assistant.
Then I started seeing her on Good Morning America giving personal finance advice. We moved in somewhat similar social circles so I wondered where she had disappeared to; now I know.
BTW, John Rogers is the ex-husband of Desiree Rogers; the former White House social secretary.
Lucas is part of the 1% that thought Jar Jar Binks was a good idea.
A point of order. Nowhere will you be able to find 1% of people that think Jar-Jar was a good idea.
But you’d be all over it if there were zombies, right?
Yes, I'm far too familiar with the subject matter at this point.
Empire could take the UFP, BTW
Absolutely.
Lastly, it’s TREKKER, not Trekkie, ScottM…get it right!
See? I'm a low-level geek.
3.2 billion dollars, why doesn't he finance his movie? Does he know his movie is a money loser that he doesn't want to make a slightest dent in his $3.2 billion (a "b")?
"It's the delusion of a ’60s lefty ...." Is he delusional or just hypocritical, like Buffett, Kaiser, and Perelman? If he were not a lefty, he would be "occupied". One has to be a lefty to stay rich and powerful without being pitchforked.
For a guy whose company appears to be using questionable accounting (apparently everybody does it in Hollywood) to avoid paying residuals, maybe he's not as 99% as he thinks.
Ann misses the point. Lucas is a self-made 1% in the financial sense, but ideologically he was always part of the 99%. Or something like that. Anyways anything he did after THX-1138 was crap.
BTW there were 79 episodes of Star Trek: TOS not including "The Cage".
Red Tails is not the story line that Liberals want told. In WWII the fighter pilot was accepted to be the top job description carrying with it the highest class prestige and power.
The real story is that the USA literally won the Air Power war which won the World War by opening up pilot training ranks to commoners.
The Tuskegee, Alabama black men were then as low on our social caste totem pole as you could go. But we went there. And we won the war because we trained those pilots.
The Germans, Italians and the Japanese kept their pilot training to the narrow elites in caste systems in their cultures. And we ran them out, not out of planes, but of out of pilots.
The Black man needs to take pride in that event. Truman great fully opened the US Army to blacks, lost the DixieCrats votes but won re-election anyway over a GOP stuck with Tom Dewey's 1930s crime fighter schtick.
After fighting WWII, people instinctively valued reality over ideology. And fighting Nazi Germany and The Empire of Japan had been all reality as were the black men who fought in that war with us. That trumped jailing a few mafia dons for bragging rights.
(The Uncredentialed, Crypto Jew)
Lucas is part of the 1% that thought Jar Jar Binks was a good idea.
A point of order. Nowhere will you be able to find 1% of people that think Jar-Jar was a good idea
Honestly who besides Lucas thought that Jar-Jar was anything CLOSE to a good idea? He’s annoying, he’s vaguely racist, and he just is violation of good “literature”-who doesn’t grow, he doesn’t add anything to plot, he just is this annoying blob, that will NOT go away and leave us in our peaceful enjoyment of that last pieces of cr@p that Lucas chose to send us!
Lucas’ problem is that he has too much money! Star Wars had backers and investors and a studio, they leaned on Lucas, and so it wasn’t the “vision” he had…thankfully. But once he became “George Lucas” well he could just ignore those people and have total control of his oeuvre, and we see how that turned out!
Lastly, Lucas is a filthy hypocrite…Chewbacca (actor who played Chewbacca) has received NO royalties on his work, as I understand it, because Star Wars has yet to turn a “profit.” Lucas, Spielberg, or Schwarzenegger work in an industry WORSE than Enron in its accounting tricks, but they have the audacity to tell me how unjust or unfair corporate America is!
(The Uncredentialed, Crypto Jew)
Anyways anything he did after THX-1138 was crap
You LIKED THX-1138? The book was very good, for a Leftist screed, but the movie is interminable….
Anyways anything he did after THX-1138 was crap
Uh, what? Even if you think Star Wars is crap (I don't, but I can see an argument there) I don't see how you could say that about American Graffiti.
I have no patience for Boomer nostalgia, but that was a great film.
"Chewbacca (actor who played Chewbacca) has received NO...."
blah, blah, blah
If the guy has a legitimate case he should take it to a court room. Otherwise, stop your whining.
Sheesh.
As usual MayBee's right. I speculated online about that at the time, too. No reasonable explanation for that overflight or who was on it or why was ever offered and it was taken just as Lucas was making the film. In stereotype Hollywood thinking what better ending to the film than red tails following the first black president's AF1 jet?
If the guy has a legitimate case he should take it to a court room. Otherwise, stop your whining.
You don't have a problem with business as usual in Hollywood, I presume? In which a Harry Potter movie can make over $900 million in revenue and yet the studio shows it to be a $167 million loss?
"Star Wars" was just a rip-off of Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress".
I think it's even more absurd that Lucas thinks of himself as "artsy" than that he thinks of himself as one of the "99 percent", since 99 percent of people don't have any artistic talent. Just like George Lucas.
Enron's accounting wasn't as sketchy as Hollywood's.
http://www.cracked.com/funny-2585-george-lucas/
"The Lesson for Starving Artists: Sometimes 'the man keeping you down' is the only thing preventing you from hurtling off the face of the earth and into a ravenous void of retardation and insanity."
Lucas made some great films (sort of, http://www.cracked.com/article_19576_6-pop-culture-visionaries-who-get-too-much-credit.html). Okay, Lucas made A great film, American Graffiti, and a lot of money since then for being "in the area" when other cultural landmarks were produced. And hurtled off the face of the earth into the ravenous void of retardation and insanity.
With all his money, Lucas does not have to acknowledge reality. Reality is for the little people and dead Ewoks. He gets to pretend that Star Wars was about Viet Nam. Sure, George, whatever you say. He gets to put on his Luke Skywalker mask and pretend that he's the 99%. Sure, George, whatever you say. You're poor and oppressed by the Eeeeevil Empire. (Oh, and Daddy has some issues, but that's not your fault. Or his fault either really. Apparently. According to bad Star Wars trilogy. I guess. I fell asleep during that.) Anyway, typical whacked out delusional lefty logic, thinking that progressivism is all about them and their personas, their (fake) suffering, their issues. It's not. It's about central control and power.
Star Wars, an obvious classic. Empire was undisputedly the best in the series, ironically the only one he didn't direct.
Then who can forget the Star Wars Xmas special? I wish I could but its seared, seared into my brain. Sometimes I still wake up screaming.
But I do enjoy listening to billionaires like Lucas claim to really be normal folk like me. I get all fuzzy and tinglely.
Lucas is another relativist; he is whatever he thinks he is.
Michel Foucault is, again, laughing his ass off in hell.
Then who can forget the Star Wars Xmas special?
Nerd.
And for your information, HD, it was the "Star Wars Christmas Special". Why do you want to take Christ out of Star Wars?
Haha. The War on Star Wars Christmas Special.
George Takei: You see, the show was banned after the Star Trek wars.
Captain Zapp Brannigan: You mean the mass migration of Star Wars fans?
Nichelle Nichols: No, that was the Star Wars trek.
Yet another quote from Nichelle Nichols that's a personal favorite...
Nichelle Nichols: Something's wrong. Murder's not working and it's all we're good at.
There was a piece on the morning new about Lucas spending his own money(!) for this movie and while I listened I tried to remember if Mel Gibson got the same treatment for financing his film.
I wonder if Lucas will keep re-editing his new movie every few years. (Han shot first!)
Didn't Star Wars take place before Christ?
What about the Flintstones celebrating Christmas? That always confused me too.
If you watch the History Channel's
"Dogfights" you can see a 1 hour episode that uses computer graphics coupled with first person commentary of the Redtails most significant actions. I doubt any movie can beat this.
What about the Flintstones celebrating Christmas? That always confused me too.
Doesn't anyone pay attention? The Jetsons showed them the true meaning of Christmas when they traveled back in time.
"Star Wars" was just a rip-off of Kurosawa's "The Hidden Fortress".
That's not true at all! It ripped off "The Dam Busters", too. :)
"With all his money, Lucas does not have to acknowledge reality."
How could Lucas possibly make a good movie anymore, when there's no one left who can tell him when some or all of it is no good and needs to be fixed before it's released?
So Lucas thinks Hobson is choice?
And for your information, HD, it was the "Star Wars Christmas Special". Why do you want to take Christ out of Star Wars?
Cause I don't want to go to hell for linking the Son of God to that pos.
I have to think that Carrie Fisher was sharing her coke stash with Lucas and that show was the end result.
The unpardonable sin that the cast of the first Star Wars was lily white must be atoned for! Ergo Redtails.
"How could Lucas possibly make a good movie anymore, when there's no one left who can tell him when some or all of it is no good and needs to be fixed before it's released?"
Exactly.
Sometimes "the man keeping you down" is the only thing preventing you from hurtling off the face of the earth and into a ravenous void of retardation and insanity.
All the movie critics are enthusiastic about Red Tails. Ergo, it will suck.
I hate to geek out on you, but this is not true. She was a princess from a single member planet. They were fighting the Empire to restore the Republic, which had a senate of elected officials.
That's what the series in the late 90's showed, but I don't recall any of that in the original series. I don't mind you getting all geeky on me. I'm not a giant fan of Star Wars anyway, so I could be wrong about the original series. Is that in original three or was it only in the later series where Leia was revealed to be a princess of a single planet and the rebels fought for a republic?
Is that in original three or was it only in the later series where Leia was revealed to be a princess of a single planet and the rebels fought for a republic?
Just off the top of my head, in the first movie it's established that she's a) a princess (implying a monarchy on Aldaraan) and a senator (of the Republic). They mention that the Emperor has basically ended the Senate when she protests being captured. Later, when she's taken in front of Tarkin, she mentions that the firmer they tighten their grasp, the more systems will slip through their fingers, ie, join the rebellion. Paraphrasing, of course.
The real tragedy is that I started actively disliking the whole SW universe after the first prequel came out, but I still remember all of this stuff.
That's what the series in the late 90's showed, but I don't recall any of that in the original series.
Tarkin mentions in the original film that the Emperor has just dissolved the "imperial senate", referring to it as a vestige of the old Republic. Of course, the existence of a Senate doesn't imply democracy in the modern sense; Rome originally had a Senate comprised of members of the nobility, if I recall correctly.
That aside, it is never said in ANY of the movies that the rebels are fighting to restore the Republic -- they're fighting to overthrow the Empire. What they plan to replace it with is never stated (nor is it important to the first two films).
"If the guy has a legitimate case he should take it to a court room. Otherwise, stop your whining."
Pretty much how I feel about the Occupy people.
Leave a comment if you want a pizza roll.
That's what the series in the late 90's showed, but I don't recall any of that in the original series. I don't mind you getting all geeky on me. I'm not a giant fan of Star Wars anyway, so I could be wrong about the original series. Is that in original three or was it only in the later series where Leia was revealed to be a princess of a single planet and the rebels fought for a republic?
It was in the novelization of Star Wars: A New Hope (which is canon):
From the Prologue:
“But a small number of systems rebelled at these new outrages. Declaring themselves opposed to the New Order they began the great battle to restore the Old Republic.”
From when R2D2 plays Leia’s message to Ben Kenobi:
“"General Obi-Wan Kenobi," the mellifluous voice was saying, "I present myself in the name of the world family of Alderaan and of the Alliance to Restore the Republic. I break your solitude at the bidding of my father, Bail Organa, Viceroy and First Chairman of the Alderaan system."
The “Alliance to Restore the Republic” is the formal name of what is referred to by the Imperials as the “Rebel Alliance.”
That Lucas is a sanctimonious twatwaffle is not exactly news in the Bay Area.
stop your whining
PBJ, staunch defender of the 1%.
He's as much of a 99%-er as anyone else is. It doesn't bother me at all that he uses it as a description of his counter-culture origins.
Anyhow... the guy is good to his employees. No Unions! Dear freaking gawd... you worked, explicitly and in writing, at the whim of George who reserved the right to fire you for no reason whatsoever. But people were paid well and got huge bonuses (this was back at Skywalker Ranch) and fun perks (free movies for the whole family pre-matinee hours) really nice gifts at Christmas and a huge family 4th of July picnic (not potluck!) and Christmas party galas for 4000 people (I was impressed by the male and female Atlas "statues" that flanked the entrance to one of them... real people, just for decorations) and bring your kid to work day was AWESOME.
In any case, my point.
It seemed to me, back when my husband worked for him, that he treated his employees very well and did a number of things to make sure that everyone felt valued and part of the whole thing, even if you were only IT support for the business end and never so much as breathed the air of the movie making side as you went past it.
My husband had already been gone for three or four months and they sent on the bonus for Episode 3.
Also... Jar Jar was not that bad! It was a kid's movie. Get over it.
:)
Wouldn't it be 20th Century Fox that gypped the guy, not Lucas? Lucas didn't finance the first movie, so I would assume he wasn't the guy responsible for distributing the profits.
George Lucas is full of it, just like the rest of the limousine liberals.
That's not actually George Lucas, the real George Lucas was kidnapped after the original trilogy was made and replaced with a fraud Lucas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BMgegut3UM
Also, did you know his daughter was an MMA fighter? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amanda_Lucas
@Synova - You have to remember that nerds of a certain age (of which I consider myself a member) have a love-hate relationship with Lucas. For many, he created the absolutely coolest thing of their young lives: the original Star Wars Trilogy. And later, he betrayed that vision with the prequel movies.
Jar Jar Binks is the symbol of that betrayal. Lucas told his fans with that character that he never considered the original series anything more than childish entertainment. When the architect of the coolest thing ever tells you "it was all for laughs and you didn't really take it seriously, now did you?" that can lead to a certain amount of resentment. Resentment, I can honestly say, that I rather share.
In that respect, Lucas is like Andrew Sullivan. The hatred of him would never be so intense if he hadn't originally been such a source of admiration.
Spielberg now exists mostly in the same sort of reality distortion field as Lucas.
I've heard good things about "War Horse," but otherwise, he hasn't done anything worth a poop in a decade. "Minority Report" was interesting, but had some pretty flaky segments. "Munich" had a few good parts, but overall was rather dull.
The last great thing Spielberg did was "Saving Private Ryan."
Both Spielberg -and- Lucas should be strung up by their short hairs for the travesty that is Indy 4.
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