When the movie that some of us still think of as Star Wars came out in 1977 (it's name today is Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope), there were no toys to go with it. The movie must have had some hype, because I saw it the day it opened (when they gave out buttons that read "May the Force be with you"), but the fan merchandise wasn't in the stores yet. At best you could get a promise of a toy, when they were finally released. Bad planning on somebody's part...
It took a while to get from there to here:
George Lucas has long ago gone off on his own personal tangent regarding his intellectual property. On the positive side, he allows fans to create their own fiction, while on the negative side, he keeps mucking around with the canon, so that for all intents and purposes, even the presumably canonical materials, that is, the movies themselves, are these days simply Lucas's own fan fiction based on the originals. (Which may be one of the most profound things Grinwout's will say this week.)
No longer are fans waiting for the merchandise, of course. In fact, the movies have crossed over into promoting other people's merchandise. Occasionally, as with the Volkswagen ad above, it's pretty funny. But the ads are as likely to be terrible. I don't necessarily agree with Topless Robot's The 5 Best (and 5 Worst) Star Wars-Themed Commercials—that tuna fish ad is one of the best?—but I had to watch every single one of them. No doubt you will too. May the force (of commerce) be with you.
1 comment:
"On the positive side, he allows fans to create their own fiction, while on the negative side, he keeps mucking around with the canon, so that for all intents and purposes, even the presumably canonical materials, that is, the movies themselves, are these days simply Lucas's own fan fiction based on the originals."
This is indeed profound. I do treasure all of my West End Games roleplaying game supplements from the 80s and 90s; they had more of an appreciation for the "reality" of Star Wars than much of the prequels, unfortunately. (And i am often a Lucas defender.)
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