George Lucas And The Impact Star Wars Had On Modern Society. By: Rahmon Garcia George Lucas was a very famous director, and made many different films in his time as a director, but his most famous film he ever produced was Star Wars. The effect Star Wars had on modern society was pretty incredible; the way he could create an amazing story from a very abstract idea; If you walked up to any person and asked them if they knew the movie series Star Wars, their answer would definitely be yes. His movies changed our modern society and the way we look at aspects of life. George Walton Lucas Jr. was born May 14 1944, in Modesto, California. In his youth he attended the Southern California University for film. He was the Screenwriter and director of his school project and first major film, THX 1138 4EB, which was his first step on the path to becoming a great director. Although George Lucas was mostly known for being the director of movies such as ‘Star Wars’ and ‘Indiana Jones’, he also made many other films, such as ‘Twice Upon A Time’, ‘The Land Before Time’, ‘Willow’, ‘Strange Magic’, ect. Even though we now think of Star Wars as a great movie series, when it was in the making it was very hard to picture it would turn into such an incredible saga. Ever since George Lucas was in High School, he was obsessed with Car Racing, and would often try to repair or create a new engine for his car, until one day when he was racing he got into a really bad accident and was nearly killed, if it wasn't for his seat which ejected him after his seat belt broke. After spending many months in a hospital he started rethinking his life, and decided to follow a artistic way of life; His friend told him that he had a test for a Filmmaking school and didn't want to take it alone so he asked George Lucas to do it with him, After completing the test George Lucas didn't expect anything to come out of the test, but was pretty surprised when he found out he had passed and was accepted into the filmmaking school. When George Lucas received his first assignment, he got a one minute roll of film and was asked to move the camera up and down and side to side. But instead George Lucas decided to go further than the assignment and turn it into a short film, which he called ‘Look At Life’. His film blew everyone away, and was sent all over the United States, which soon won over 30 awards. After this new turn in his life he decided filmmaking is what he wanted to do for his career. Long before ‘Star Wars’ was made, Lucas was trying to make his film ‘American Graffiti’. He made the film, but he was completely broke afterwards. The United Artist’s company he made the deal with asked him if he had any other ideas for another possible film. He told them he had an idea for a “Space Adventure” film. After he made ‘American Graffiti’ he was trying to produce the film. After being turned down by United Artists and Universal, finally the head of and 20 Century Fox heard and saw American Graffiti and told George Lucas that he loved the film and thought that he was very talented. He also agreed to fund his new film for him and help him produce it. American Graffiti was a really big hit and George Lucas soon realized that this was his chance to become independent, and make his “Space Adventure” film, that has now turned into a huge 9 Movie Saga. When the first Star Wars was being filmed, in addition to the fact that George Lucas did not have a very large budget and was a rather new director, many people had doubts about the film. All the actors thought the whole thing wouldn't turn out to be a success. Because George Lucas did not have the money to make a big film, all the actors on set got paid a very low wage. After stumbling through the first movie makings and adding the soundtrack by John Williams, he first showed it to a small audience, and was pretty happy by how blown away everyone in the theatre was. After his first premiere, basically all anyone would talk about was, Star Wars. The lineups for the movie were incredible; they would stretch across multiple blocks to see the new film, everyone who saw the film, dressed up as characters from the movie. After his first success, everyone was really excited for his next addition to the upcoming saga, which in turn no doubt put a lot of stress on George Lucas, who now had to make a second film that would exceed his audience’s expectations. After his first film success of the first Star Wars in May 1977, for a long time a lot of references were made in different movies or shows. Hundreds of different toys were made based on the first movie. After the second one was released, different merchandise were made, including multiple books that really expanded on the Star Wars universe. As the years went on hundreds more were made. Star Wars has now become a part of our everyday life. His friend Steven Spielerg said “Star Wars has changed the way directors look at cinema” and probably the storytelling of filmmaking. The Star Wars universe has expanded far more than just the movies in the last three decades. Hundreds of books were made about the Star Wars universe that has now expanded the knowledge surrounding the epic saga. The first Star Wars movie ever made {The A New Hope} was released in May 1977, and shortly after the next movie Empire Strikes Back was made in 1980 soon followed by The Return Of The Jedi in 1983. In later years George Lucas expanded the movie series even more by adding three more movies to the saga. The first one, The Phantom Menace was made in 1999, the second one, The Attack Of The Clones was made in 2003, and finally the new thief addition and finale to ‘The Revenge Of Sith’ made in May 2005. In later years we have five new additions to the saga all made by Disney, the first one being made by Disney was ‘Rogue One’ in 2016, the second one ‘Han Solo film’ in 2018 and the last three ‘The Force Awakens’ made in 2015, ‘The Last Jedi’ made in 2017 and finally, ‘The Rise Of Skywalker’ made in 2019. After many years creating the Star Wars saga and thirty five years in the film industry, George Lucas started thinking of a retirement. He couldn't just leave Lucasfilm, considering it was a Multi-Billion dollar company. So he sold Lucasfilm to Disney. Who has now added 5 new movies to the story of Star Wars, and a few shows. Although Disney continued the saga, many people are disappointed by the outcome of the new movies. That is how his saga ended, but it has been rumored that George Lucas was thinking of buying Lucasfilm back. With that being said, he has changed the way of Filmmaking in all aspects, such as storytelling, and he is considered one of the greatest directors ever. There are still many fans who would still like to see a new ‘Star Wars’ directed by George Lucas himself. George Lucas developed a unique way of filmmaking with his incredible movie productions. He has inspired many people, not just with his movies, but how he made them. Who would have thought a Space Adventure film could impact the world in such a big way. .