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.
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At a certain place in Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, for example, he might feel that he is floating above the earth in a starry dome, with the dream of immortality in his heart; all the stars seem to glimmer around him, and the earth seems to sink ever deeper downwards.