40 Celebrities We Need To Keep Safe From 2016

HOLLYWOOD, CA – JUNE 09: Director George Lucas speaks onstage during American Film Institute’s 44th Life Achievement Award Gala Tribute show to John Williams at Dolby Theatre on June 9, 2016 in Hollywood, California. 26148_005 (Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images for Turner)

 8. George Lucas

Father of the biggest science fiction franchise in the world. Pioneer of visual effects. And, ironically, the object of more fans’ furor than any other fiction creator.

George Lucas is often the subject of heated debate. Some people love him, some hate him. Some people appreciate his quirky sense of humor. Others wish someone had been supervising him when he decided to put a silly character called Jar Jar Binks – who is still an object of passionate original trilogy fans’ hatred to this day – in his first Star Wars film in almost twenty years.

No matter how negative your opinion is about some of Lucas’s creative choices regarding the prequels, there is one thing no one, no matter how much they despise Jar Jar, can deny: Lucas is a brilliant storyteller and a master filmmaker. You don’t produce a blockbuster space opera like Star Wars and attribute its success to the luck of the draw. Lucas took old story elements – the hero’s journey, the dark lord, the three-act adventure – and created a whole new epic. More importantly, he took tropes like the damsel in distress, and females in subordinate roles, and turned them on their heads.

Combine that feminist outlook with a reverence for the history of cinema and a imagination too big for Hollywood to hold, and you have a director who will never outgrow his potential, nor go out of style. George Lucas changed the face of filmmaking with Star Wars. It is he filmmakers and artists today should look to as an example for how to change the world.

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