Here is the general rumor that will be challenged: Star Wars was successful because of special effects, timing and other people who stepped in to help, but, otherwise, George Lucas couldn’t write a decent movie to save his life.
To put this question in perspective, there is almost no other movie that has enveloped the globe and been consumed over and over by so many people for multiple generations already with more likely to come. There is little else that has people of almost every age, education, social class and country activity reliving every word, scene and major moment over and over. But could that all be despite poor writing? That is the charge some make. No movie or story of any sort is perfect, so at what point do the problems equate poor ability of the writer? Can this be objectively tested?
While a portion will be each person’s own opinion, there are definitely components of the issue that have objective standards and comparisons that can be used to test George Lucas’ writing ability. This will either lend credibility to the accusation that Lucas is a bad writer, or dismantle the accusation all together.
For clarity, let’s define screenwriter and setup objective standards of excellence:
Screenwriter: A person who writes a movie or television scenario.
Standard of excellence: There are many publications with an assortment of different criteria. Ultimately, these themes sum the majority up:
- Consistent motive.
- Strong opening and closing.
- Heroes with secondary problems(two-dimensional).
- Story achieves a realistic buildup towards the impossible.
- Ambitious scope.
- The characters and struggle are relatable.
With the above in mind, let’s first see if George Lucas is a good, average or bad screenwriter. Here are the movies that he wrote the screenplay for:
THX 1138
American Graffiti
Star Wars A New Hope
Return of the Jedi
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith
I think THX 1138 and American Graffiti can probably be removed from consideration given one was a class project and the other was his rookie endeavor.
A New Hope: The motive certainly is constant: Good fighting back against oppressive evil. This possibly has one of the strongest opening and closing scenes of any movie ever. In fact, George’s writing here set a new standard. Fast-forward four decades later and many, including JJ Abrams, are preaching about the brilliance of the way A New Hope ended and analyzing how and why it worked so well. The characters had secondary problems: Han’s brash aggressiveness kept putting him in situations that only his cunning and luck could get him out of, Leila’s royal arrogance caused division with her rescuers from the second Luke opened up her cell door while Luke’s immaturity and naivety made him foolishly impulsive (the rescue plan, shooting bridge controls, etc). These personality flaws, plus the characters’ emotions, reactions, etc, certainly are relatable to us. The story is immensely ambitious and builds in a believable and easily followed manner. Add all of this up and A New Hope hits each standard of excellence without question. Objective conclusion: This is a well-written screenplay.
One good screenplay, however, does not make someone a great writer.
Return of the Jedi: Given this has the same basic characters continuing the a larger version of the same quest, this movie hits each standard of excellence in almost the same way as A New Hope. The tension during Luke’s confrontation with Palpatine, his battle with his father and eventual unexpected and seemingly anti-climatic sudden halt and surrender, became one of the most impactful and defining scenes of the entire series. Lucas did this by writing his main hero into a corner. Luke had failed to convert his father and inadvertently helped Palpatine position his friends and the Rebellion to be wiped out. Typical thought is that Luke’s only option at that point is just to kill Vader and Palpatine, which, of course, he was on the way to doing at one point. But he didn’t continue. He realized Palatine’s real victory was Luke as practitioner of the Dark Side. Vader had warned Luke how overpowering the Dark Side is. Luke stopped his dark transformation. He just stopped. He stood in complete surrender. He was going to let the Emperor bring destruction, death and despair, but he was not going to make him more powerful. He was not going to become a tool for evil. So he stopped. He accepted that he would die along with everyone else, but he would die “…a Jedi, like my father before me”. I wrote all of this here to underscore the power, creativity and depth Lucas shows in his writing. This is not normal and certainly is a great reason why so much of what he wrote became so engrained in our culture. Return of the Jedi is a much more complicated and emotionally involved screenplay than A New Hope, and seems to be an example of very good writing.
It is likely unfair to Lucas to lump all of the prequels into one analytical paragraph. The three screenplays were certainly written much more purposefully as one consistent story, so I think looking at the writing as a whole makes sense, even if a little unfair. The series took place in a very different time and environment than the original trilogy, and so the writing was very different. While this different approach angered some fans, it was a more story-focused approach instead of action-movie approach. It did not seem to attempt to just recreate the OT. Still, there was some disconnect with fans on a few of the standards of excellence. Personally, I loved the prequels, but I know many didn’t really connect Anakin’s inner struggle over the course of the three movies with his eventual shift toward evil at the conclusion. It was all, for the most part, there, but Lucas likely did not do enough to tie these many moments together. For example, Anakin’s view on government is crucial, but it is lightly tucked into the “falling in love” scene where he and Padme are rolling around in the grass. Similarly, his outburst after killing the Tuskin Raiders out of raw anger was impactful, but there was no apparent ripple affect. Perhaps showing him privately struggling with his rage, but keeping a positive outward appearance together many times after this scene would have better highlighted what we know he was going through. There are other examples, but you get the idea. Lucas attempted to do a lot with this series, and much of the detail important to his core motive was clouded out. In addition, the story needing to center partly around the political transfer from a republic to an imperial dictatorship. Much of the struggles were subtle and nuanced. This led some to feel the characters were more one-dimensional. Again, I think the struggle was there, but Lucas could have done more to highlight the significance of the otherwise seemingly small conflicts. That means three of the six standards of excellence are probably fairly rated more average writing. The other three, strong opening and closing, a realistic build and an ambitious scope appear to still have been achieved. Lucas continued to come up with awe-inspiring early scenes and powerful, gripping conclusions. The entire last half of Revenge of the Sith is simply dark, emotional, stunning and epic. Overall, I think Lucas’ writing effort here achieves three of the standards of excellence, while smoothing-over some of the missed three with strong and memorable scenes. That all equals average writing, or perhaps slightly above average writing.
So, is George Lucas a good writer or not? With two well-written movies and three average to above average, a fair assessment would be that he is an above average writer with flashes of brilliance.
Really, the question should not be about George Lucas’ ability as a screenwriter. The better question to ask when challenging his writing ability: “Is he able to move and inspire his audience?” That is the main, and often only, goal of a writer. The answer to that question from millions of fans all over the world is a resounding “Yes!”. He has brought us into a world that never existed and we have eagerly, actively and happily set up permanent residence. The guy can tell a story.
