By Popular Demand
Jan. 17th, 2026 11:24 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
setsuledSo Kathleen Kennedy has officially stepped down as head of Lucasfilm after years of rumours that she would and arguments that she should of varying degrees of civility. The woman's work with Lucas and Spielberg goes back to the original, classic films but there are numerous articles and videos that demonstrate how she was neither very interested in or had much understanding of Star Wars.
I can't help dwelling on one thing George Lucas says in the video and how eerily prescient it seems now:
It's about good and evil in us . . . as well as our institutions. So--and the idea that some of us think we're really great people but in the real world we're not. We're terrible people . . . you run your life in a very selfish way and you think you're doing good when you're actually not. And, at the same time, it's about how do democracies turn back into dictatorships. Why do people who have the power and the freedom turn it over to someone who's gonna take it away from them. It happens through history forever and ever and . . . All Star Wars is about updating that idea and saying, "Watch out," because there are people out there who don't play by the rules and if you're not careful you're going to lose all your freedom. At the same time, those people who may not play by the rules--because they're selfish and greedy--turn themselves into evil people who don't care about other people.
Say what you will about Lucas' writing, his insight is undeniable and Kennedy never exhibited anything like that. There's an interesting paradox in Lucas' statement, by the way. He talks about people losing their freedom because they don't play by the rules. Doesn't freedom mean having the option not to play by the rules? And if you feel bound by the rules, are you truly free? It's easy to see the danger of people not playing by the rules when Trump and ICE routinely break laws but, on the other hand, I don't support the deportation of everyone who came to the U.S. illegally, i.e. by breaking the rules. Having the freedom to choose to follow a truly ethical code is what allows someone to realise their own humanity, to meaningfully engage with reality.
Anyway, Kennedy's being replaced as head of Lucasfilm by Dave Filoni. I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe if the reception to Ahsoka taught him never to try writing fiction again he can be someone who chooses talent better than Kennedy did. I doubt it. We may be in for a two hour movie of Rosario Dawson slowly reading horoscopes.
If I were in his place, I'd get the writers from Andor to do a series about Imperials during the original trilogy. That Andor and Rogue One were the best things to come out of Disney Star Wars is plain to everyone. But who knows, maybe that Starfighter movie will be good.
I can't help dwelling on one thing George Lucas says in the video and how eerily prescient it seems now:
It's about good and evil in us . . . as well as our institutions. So--and the idea that some of us think we're really great people but in the real world we're not. We're terrible people . . . you run your life in a very selfish way and you think you're doing good when you're actually not. And, at the same time, it's about how do democracies turn back into dictatorships. Why do people who have the power and the freedom turn it over to someone who's gonna take it away from them. It happens through history forever and ever and . . . All Star Wars is about updating that idea and saying, "Watch out," because there are people out there who don't play by the rules and if you're not careful you're going to lose all your freedom. At the same time, those people who may not play by the rules--because they're selfish and greedy--turn themselves into evil people who don't care about other people.
Say what you will about Lucas' writing, his insight is undeniable and Kennedy never exhibited anything like that. There's an interesting paradox in Lucas' statement, by the way. He talks about people losing their freedom because they don't play by the rules. Doesn't freedom mean having the option not to play by the rules? And if you feel bound by the rules, are you truly free? It's easy to see the danger of people not playing by the rules when Trump and ICE routinely break laws but, on the other hand, I don't support the deportation of everyone who came to the U.S. illegally, i.e. by breaking the rules. Having the freedom to choose to follow a truly ethical code is what allows someone to realise their own humanity, to meaningfully engage with reality.
Anyway, Kennedy's being replaced as head of Lucasfilm by Dave Filoni. I have a bad feeling about this. Maybe if the reception to Ahsoka taught him never to try writing fiction again he can be someone who chooses talent better than Kennedy did. I doubt it. We may be in for a two hour movie of Rosario Dawson slowly reading horoscopes.
If I were in his place, I'd get the writers from Andor to do a series about Imperials during the original trilogy. That Andor and Rogue One were the best things to come out of Disney Star Wars is plain to everyone. But who knows, maybe that Starfighter movie will be good.
