No matter how many times I see it, that opening fanfare at the beginning of Star Wars still makes me well up with emotion whenever it plays. Despite all the naysayers, I’m excited about the Star Wars Trilogy finally coming out on DVD.
"What’s Wrong?"
I’ve long had a fascination with Science Fiction films from the 1970s, perhaps in part because I was too young to see them when they were new. Ocassionally, classics such as The Andromeda Strain, Solaris, Soylent Green, Logan’s Run, and Alien spark my interest in what I call Retro Futurism — antiquated visions of future times.
Among these is George Lucas’ first feature film, THX 1138. It was made in 1970, based on a student work he made at film school, and just re-released in an updated and enhanced George Lucas Director’s Edition DVD, ala the Star Wars Trilogy Extended Versions with digitally added scenes and backgrounds.
The story of THX 1138 is reminiscent of the dystopian worlds of George Orwell’s 1984 and Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Humans are named with a string of letters and numbers and work in tiresome, factory-like production jobs. Their every action and impulse is monitored by ubiqutous surveillance cameras. Mates are assigned rather than chosen, all unauthorized sex is forbidden, and behavior is moderated by a daily regimen of pills. Even prayer to an ambiguous, televised diety is compulsory via automated, phone-booth-like confessionals. Having feelings — let alone falling in love — is a crime. Needless to say, life is devoid of any meaning besides the constant commandments to produce and consume. When the main characters act-out in rebellion, they are subject to constant pursuit by tireless robot guards, whirlwind kangaroo courts, and imprisionment and threat of erasure.
Rather than its nightmare vision of monotony and control, I was drawn to the way Lucas chose to make THX 1138. It has an experimental edge that is both refreshing and inspiring. In the extras on the DVD, he details how the film isn’t about predicting the future, but depicting forces at work at the time it was made. Rampant consumerism and social control, over-medication, and an estrangement from nature are extended to extremes.
Lucas explains he wanted to take a ‘Japanese approach’ to making the film by creating a world and letting the story tell itself. He made a conscious decision not to explain what was going on all the time. This lends itself to an immersive experience when watching the film, where the staid camera work, ambiguous sets and lighting, collage-like sound effects and constant radio chatter are particularly effective. I, for one, found THX 11138 engrossing.
The cynic in me wonders whether someone from the Bush camp created the alleged forged Texas National Guard documents as a way to destabilize the whole thing. I mean, what better way to sabotage a scandal than create obviously fake documents, release them, and then make sure others cry wolf; it takes the legs out from under the true story and discredits those who want to run with it. My point: just because the documents were forged, doesn’t mean Bush wasn’t AWOL.
Celebrate Me!
I’ve been brewing a theory for a while that soon everyday people will become celebrities based on everyday habits and personal preferences. What we eat, drink, wear, read, watch, listen to, link to, blog about and so on will create an overall public Personality to be shared and monitored by all. TasteMakers will be celebrated and revered while BadTasters will be ridiculed and shunned based on these pattern-clouds of habits and ratings. Already, tools are emerging to promote and perpetuate this.
Right now for example, LastFM.com will automatically create an online radio stream of their tracks based on the AudioScrobbler profile of my personal music collection. And, the music is largely from the actual artists I listen to though may not actually have in my iTunes collection. Everyone and anyone can listen to a mix based loosely on my listening habits and taste patterns in music. Likewise, my recent bookmarks, favorite feed page and currently reading list all have feeds for someone (if not me) to aggregate into a big picture.
Sometimes, I joke I want someday to have a cult following; with fervent fans who will collect anything and everything I’m into. No matter how obscure, self-indulgent or aimless, someone will lap it up. I envision myself having immeasurable indie street cred, merely by just being myself. Not famous; infamous. Perhaps with all these emerging tools, that’s not so impossible (no matter how unlikely).