Now, for the quote of the day. In normal times in America, this wouldn’t be considered “funny”. But in the reign of King Obama I, humor is where you find it.
This is from Monday’s Wall Street Journal’s “Notable&Quotable” (we’ve highlighted some key phrases):
“Star Wars” creator George Lucas, in a recent interview with Charlie Rose:
“In the world we live in—and the system we’ve created for ourselves in terms of it’s a big industry—you cannot lose money. So the point is you’re forced to make a particular kind of movie. And I used to say this all the time, with people, you know, back when Russia was the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, and they’d say, “Oh but aren’t you so glad that you’re in America?” And I’d say, well, I know a lot of Russian filmmakers and they have a lot more freedom than I have. All they have to do is be careful about criticizing the government. Otherwise, they can do anything they want.”
It’s easy to pass this off as just another odd kind of observation by a Hollywood celebrity believing he has to say something in an interview which clearly sets him apart from “ordinary” people…with their pathetic, unsophisticated little views and infantile concerns.
But, as I read it a second time, along with an accompanying excerpt from “A History of Russian Cinema”, which describes the drab, dark reality of filmmaking in the former USSR, Lucas’s comments are so indescribably silly and condescending one wonders if he meant them as a joke.
George Lucas, multi-, multi-billionaire (net worth, $4.9 billion according to Forbes), one of the most successful moviemakers in history, lamenting his lack of “freedom”… “forced” to make films that people will pay money to see… “forced” to profit from his work…! America…what a terrible place!!!!
Pray for George Lucas America! Pray that he can be freed from the oppression he suffers, having to produce stuff that actually entertains us sad and ignorant “huddled masses”.
And some of us wonder why Hollywood seems to be a plush refuge for the world’s most extreme nut cases…think Sean Penn, Michael Moore, “Barbra”, et al…and now, add George Lucas.
DLH
(Note: This wasn’t the only bizarre comment from Lucas in the Rose interview. He called Disney, which bought from Lucas the rights to the “Star Wars” properties for $4 billion, “White Slavers”, an insult he quickly backed away from as soon as he was off the air.
