George

I was talking to lada earlier about my previous post. After much heated discussion concerning certain scenes and shots that George Lucas had deemed Ok to subject us fanboys to, she asked me why I wouldn't be more angry with him. Tricky question. Sort of like: If God loves me so much then why did he create spiders? That's valid. I tried to explain the situation to lada and I think she understood it enough for a non-fanboy crazy about Star Wars.
George Lucas is a maverick filmmaker. It's something I've always loved about him. It's that quality that moved him to make a series of independent space operas that had no connection to the studios other than a vague distribution deal. In case you didn't know, Star Wars is the most successful independent film ever made. Blows the Greek Wedding thing away. Bulletpoint here is that George doesn't care what people think. And sometimes that's us fanboys.
When the Special Editions came out I loved them. What 15-year old kid wouldn't? They made Star Wars relevant again; something to be discussed. They gave an outlet for a kid who didn't have much else. But were they the classics? Of course not. My favorite film of all time, Return of the Jedi, was completely butchered. I could have backed out of my loyalty to Mr. Lucas then and there. But I didn't.
Out of a lot of people, I understand what it is like to have a creative vision, especially one that changes frequently. Sure, I wasn't personally happy with some of the changes he made, but they were his changes to make. It's what made him great; he didn't follow the normal rules of Hollywood. I think that's why we love George Lucas. In the process of adding to an industry that he loved, he completely changed it. Everything post-Star Wars is exactly that; it probably couldn't be made before the summer of 1977. At the least it wouldn't have made money.
The fact of the matter is that George is something special, something that comes along a couple of times a century. This is a man who I have never met, probably never will, and that I have no personal experience with. Still, this is a man who has influenced and impacted my life, no matter how indirectly, in a way that few men in my life have. This man made dreams come alive and helped my imagination run wild without fear from conservative elements in society. Suddenly, it was Ok, even encouraged, to make up stories and just simply BELIEVE. Few people have had such an impact on my childhood, and frankly my entire life. That might sound incredibly weird or psycho, but that's the beauty of it. I couldn't care less what other people think; it's my life and my passion. If you don't share it, that's fine as long as you don't try to beat me down about it. George Lucas is a man who gave me hope, dreams, imagination, and six films that have fiercely shaped my childhood and the years that have since followed. And that's why I can put up with dumb Special Edition revisionist history.