Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.
It wasn't long after I began writing Star Wars that I realized the story was more than a single film could hold. As the saga of the Skywalkers and Jedi Knights unfolded, I began to see it as a tale that could take at least nine films to tell - three trilogies - and I realized, in making my way through the back story and after story, that I was really setting out to make the middle story.
Interpretation
What this quote means
George Lucas reflects on the expansive nature of storytelling in the Star Wars saga, indicating it evolved beyond a single film.
In this quote, George Lucas shares his realization that the narrative he was developing for Star Wars could not be contained within just one film; instead, it grew into a larger saga involving multiple trilogies. This underscores the idea that great stories can expand over time, revealing deeper layers and histories that can enhance the overall experience for the audience and enrich the characters' journeys.
Themes
In practice
Example use cases
During a motivational speech on creativity, one could use this quote to emphasize the importance of expansive thinking in storytelling.
More from George Lucas
All quotes βWhen you are a beginning film maker you are desperate to survive. The most important thing in the end is survival and being able to get to your next picture.
The technology keeps moving forward, which makes it easier for the artists to tell their stories and paint the pictures they want.
I've come to the conclusion that mythology is really a form of archaeological psychology. Mythology gives you a sense of what a people believes, what they fear.
I wanted Yoda to be the traditional kind of character you find in fairy tales and mythology. And that character is usually a frog or a wizened old man on the side of the road. The hero is going down the road and meets this poor and insignificant person. The goal or lesson is for the hero to learn to respect everybody and to pay attention to the poorest person because that's where the key to his success will be.
So this is how liberty dies. With thunderous applause.
Similar quotes
What has our culture lost in 1980 that the avant-garde had in 1890? Ebullience, idealism, confidence, the belief that there was plenty of territory to explore, and above all the sense that art, in the most disinterested and noble way, could find the necessary metaphors by which a radically changing culture could be explained to its inhabitants.
How I envy writers who can work on aeroplanes or in hotel rooms. On the run I can produce an article or a book review, or even a film script, but for fiction I must have my own desk, my own wall with my own postcards pinned to it, and my own window not to look out of.
I can't stand directors who try to micro-manage everything. When it happens these days I just walk off set, saying if they don't like the way I'm doing it they can get someone else.
But remember this, Japanese boy... airplanes are not tools for war. They are not for making money. Airplanes are beautiful dreams. Engineers turn dreams into reality.
Music is a world within itself, with a language we all understand.
Stop trying to treat music like it's a tennis shoe, something to be branded. If the music industry wants to save money, they should take a look at some of their six-figure executive expense accounts. All those lawsuits can't be cheap, either.