Quentin Tarintino's Star Wars?

In this article, Henry Jenkins talks about how certain things in pop culture, namely Star Wars, aren't just an untouchable work of art any more, but instead an invitation for the viewer to bring his or her own participation into the picture as well. Not just viewers however, peers also take bits and pieces of influence from the original work, to create parodies and spoofs. Austin Powers II, David Letterman, Doonsbury, and Weird Al Yankovich were just some of the 'media outlets' who spoofed on Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. This not only helped them tap into new audiences and sales themselves, but it also built up even more awareness of the film's upcoming release.

The DIY aspect of his article is extremely interesting, and he has many good points. Like, for instance, the idea that fan-fiction (fandom?) helps bring to light un-aired and under-represented materials. People spoofed the movies, the trailers, the character's and more. "Fans reject the idea of a definitive version produced, authorized, and regulated by some media conglomerate. Instead, fans envision a world where all of us can participate in the creation and circulation of central cultural myths." Things like The Force.net Film theater help amateur directors explain their movies. Kids Wars was made by a fourteen year who got his hands on a video camera. Films like George Lucas in Love take these ideas even further, spoofing the movie and the director himself. When I read the description of this movie, I thought it was plain genius, and as a Star Wars fan, I have got too seek it out and see it for myself now. To think that on a small budget, while attending a film school, someone could create such an elaborate work of art is fascinating.

But not all aspects of this phenomenon are DIY fans trying to live more and more of the original creation. Much of is is brought in from other areas of the media itself. Before the aforementioned Episode I spoofs came things like Douglas Coupland's underground comic Microserfs, Kevin Smith's film Clerks, and 'zines publishing 'non eroctic stories' about Star Wars characters, authorized by Lucasfilms themselves. I clearly remember at the MTV Movie Awards a few years back, MTV super imposed Jimmy Fallon into on of the final scenes of Episode III: Revenge of the Sith. They had him accidentally choking Natalie Portman while taking about cup holders, and arguing with Ewan McGregor over spilled barbeque sauce on his robe. It was extremely well done, and the final scene of Fallon jumping strainght over McGregor's head and into the fire had me falling out of my chair laughing.

Much of the rest of the article jumps all over the place to cover more fan fiction, films inspired by other fan films, and a few other spoofs that differ slightly from the previously mentioned, such as Tie-Tanic and The Throne Room, which were both made by fans who chopped up, re-edited, and overdubbed original footage from the Star Wars movies. He touches on books such as Shadows of the Empire (a person favorite of mine), which depicts everything that happens between Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back, and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. I feel like such a nerd reliving this Star Wars stuff. He also mentions the aspect of authentic Star Wars action figures being used o make many spoofs as well such as Toy Wars, which supposedly has shot or will shoot a remake of the entire first movie. Also, a favortie show of mine, Robot Chicken, had so many short spoofs of Star Wars that they decided to make a half-hour long episode comprised of those spoofs and a few new ones as well. These shorts sound very much like Mather's films which inspired the title of the article.

This was a fascinating article, because while I've always seen these kinds of things around, I never really took them into this kind of account before. I never noticed how many different spoofs and parodies actual existed. Well, maybe I did notice them, but never really put it together how many there actually were floating around TV, movies, trailers, and the web. It's amazing, and it's quite a feat for Star Wars itself.

Test test test

Got this set up BETTER now.

All the links are on the side.
Divided into groups.
Took WAAAY too long.
But I'm a little OCD, so it's cool.

-Alex