Beware the Lightsaber Lens Flares

Have you heard? There are a lot of rumors floating around about whether or not J.J. Abrams is directing the new Star Wars movie. Personally, I like Abrams's work but I don't think I want him directing Star Wars. There are a few reasons why. To lay them out quickly, it comes down to variety, variety, and variety.

What? Too vague? Ok, I’ll go into a little bit more detail.

I’m not going to go into the Trek vs. Wars arguments. I like them both. Star Wars a bit more, but that’s beside the point. I’m more concerned about the quality of both franchises. If you have one person masterminding both creative universes, then they’ll burn out. This is precisely the same reason why I don’t want Joss Whedon directing Ep. VII either. He’s doing fantastic stuff with the Avengers. Let Abrams and Whedon do what they’re doing and enjoy the gratification of watching quality projects.

This brings up something that I’m incredibly afraid of in terms of fandom in general, anyway. There’s a trend towards a homogenization in taste. Abrams and Whedon have become the two largest faces in nerd cinema. Christopher Nolan would be the third in the triumvirate. These three men are the trendsetters in geek film. And, where film goes, the rest of geek culture follows.

When it comes to concepts and storytelling, homogenization is anathema. It is staleness. It is ad nauseum.  If fear is the little-death that brings obliteration, homogenization of thought is the big-death that brings submission to mediocrity.  Where is the forward thinking in genre these days?

Yes, all three are talented craftsmen. But I would argue that their better work is in the smaller vehicles. They have their own motifs and agendas (in the case of Abrams, vagendas), and I would argue that an artist's vision works out better in their own worlds than it does in a licensed world. In my opinion, Super 8 is a much better movie than Star Trek. Serenity beats the pants off The Avengers. And Memento is more moving than the entire Batman trilogy (which, aside from the first, fails because of its own hubris). This sentiment is mine alone, though. I think it's because I'm moving more towards favoring stories that are about smaller, character driven situations rather than stories that are about Big Idea. 

So, if not Abrams, and not a big name, who would I like to see to direct Star Wars Ep. VII? Honestly, I don't know. It would be nice if they could honor the tradition of the original Ep. IV and bring in a director and actors that no one knows. It doesn't have to be a director who isn't established, but it should be one that people haven't heard of.  If I could have my way, I think I would have either someone from Hong Kong or South Korea direct at least one of the new movies. 

It seems like a bit of a stretch, doesn't it? But I don't really think so. Think back to the roots of Star Wars. A lot of Lucas's original inspiration came from a Japanese movie called Hidden Fortress. The Force has strong Buddhist and Taoist overtones (I once heard the Jedi described as Buddhist monks running around with laser swords). It would make sense to take visual aesthetics from that part of the world  and apply them to a fantasy universe that tries to combine both Eastern and Western sensibilities.

Of course, Hollywood isn't about what makes sense, and it's not about making art. It's about's making a buck, which Ep. VII will deliver.