Gene Ward Smith wrote:
> Lawrence Watt-Evans <lwe@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in
> news:1bbmu3pl5qsdg0o65nbf61kjpfanerem28@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>
>
>>>A year younger than Spielberg.
>>
>>Okay, then you should remember the '70s as well as I do. You really
>>think it's fatuous?
>>
>>If so, I can't really argue, but we remember 1977 differently.
>>
>
>
> Differently how? How can your memories of 1977 possibly include the
> counterfactual claim that CE3K would have flopped without Star Wars, if
that
> is what you are suggesting?
Not what he was suggesting, nor I, since I conceded that one. Though
I suspect, as does Lawrence apparently, that its success was very much
increased by Star Wars. Maybe it would've made its dime back. Maybe
not. Star Wars made it a cast-iron certainty; first significant SF
movie with Kewl Effects after Star Wars' release? Damn skippy it was
going to make money then!
You and others have brought up points that I have neither argued, nor
have any interest in ("influential filmmaker", for instance). I'm
talking about influence on the GENRE -- specifically, influence in the
sense that it became, if not "cool", at least acceptable, to be an
SF/F fan, while before Star Wars, it was NOT. And yes, there had been
a prior wave of movies, which were quite popular -- Forbidden Planet,
et. al. -- but they had petered out. The change in our entertainment
culture since 1977 has not faded out; it's continued to spread and
become more pervasive. The generation influenced by Star Wars didn't
forget, and the culture didn't, either.
Did Spielberg have any effect? Of course he did; I would certainly
give him credit for helping the wave continue to crest, since if no
one had produced any decent follow-up movies in the next, say, 10
years, the effect of Star Wars might well have faded, or at least not
have ended up being so profound. And what he DID do previously was to
have the movie that created the concept of Summer Blockbuster, where
before summer films were seen more as throwaway films, lightweight and
not to be taken as serious business. Nowadays, as we know well, the
summer film season is one of the primary battlegrounds of the Big Picture.
Now, you CAN argue (as I have with the Beatles) that yes, Star Wars
had that effect, but no, there's nothing special about it
specifically; it was just in the right place at the right time with
just the right mix of elements, but SOMETHING like it was going to
trigger the explosion. I don't think that's *quite* the case, but if
that was the direction you wanted to take, I wouldn't argue with it.
Certainly there has to be an element of that, as well as of us finally
getting to the point where such spectacular films could be done well
and reliably.
But it DID have that titanic effect, and I really can't seriously see
any argument against that.
--
Sea Wasp
/^\
;;;
Live Journal: http://seawasp.livejournal.com
|
