OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

Check out these two photos...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:T...gress_Hall.jpg

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:EPIV_Throne_Room.jpg

Each link above will open in a new window, so you can compare them side by side.

Downright eerie similarity, isn't it?

Re: OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

There is a scene with a greater similarity. In the example you show Hitler is followed by a mass of party dignitarties. Earlier in the film (I know because I have a copy), Hitler walks alone between ranks of soldiers in a stadium followed from behind by just Himmler, head of the SS, and someone else I assume is the new head of the SA. The three walk to the end and pay honour to what I assume are the Blood martyrs.

Putting aside the subject matter, "Triumph of the Will" is the greatest propoganda film ever made and it wouldn't surprise me that it is studied by directors on how to set up a scene.

Re: OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

Lucas once referred to his liberal views in a comparison of fascism. I guess he meant it. You have to admit though, the Empire does seem a lot like Nazi Germany in many ways and I think that added to the flavor and depth of the movies. A fascist militaristic government with tons of cool military gear spread throughout an entire galaxy with bases and troops just about every where. It sparks ones imagination in a very unique way.

Re: OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

A few weeks ago I was reading an article. I can't even remember what it was about but it made a statement I had never made the connection before. It said something like "....like George Lucas they/he believes in enlightened dictatorship"

It's possible they were basing their statement on the part where Anakin says "Some people should just sit down and decide what is best and then do it, even if it is not popular"

Re: OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

I wouldn't mind seeing more movies that explored what the world would be like if that mad man and his followers had conquered the world. When I watch modern movies that deal with the "order" of a fascist state, equilibrium for one, I get a strong sense of nostalgia and organization. It reminds me why being a free people is so important, and why we had to defeat those murderous bastards. I think Lucas related to that struggle, good verse evil, when he set about writing Star Wars. And we all know how that turned out. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif For me the military feel of Star Wars was what made the movie. From the cool stormtroopers to the X-wing fighters the movie just ignited my imagination and filled me with wonder. So what if Lucas took elements of Nazi Germany in his movie? I think he pulled it off quite nicely and I only wish that his last three films had captured that formula.

Re: OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

Have you ever seen "Fatherland" or perhaps "It happened here"?

Re: OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

I saw one movie with Rugther Howard (sp) in it where it was in the mid 60's and Hitler was still in power and seeking a treaty with the US under Kennedy against the Russians for whom he and his military were still fighting. Evidently the invasion of Normandy had failed and the US sought peace. But Rugthers character, an SS policemen, investigates the disappearances of many former high ranking Nazi's only to discover a horrible secret that the world never knew, and that secret ultimately brings about the collapse of the peace treaty and Hitlers downfall. Was a good movie.

Re: OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

Yeah, that was "Fatherland". The movie is slightly different from the book, but not by much. For example in the book I think it's possible Charlie (the american reporter) doesn't escape with the documents. I have both the book and the movie.

Re: OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

Randall, where does one obtain a copy of Triumph of the Will?

Re: OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

In my case from a stall at the local shopping center. It was something along the lines of piles of videos at 4 for $20. I was amazed it was being sold, I guess that's free speech for you. I got it, an SS documentary, a documentary about Axis tanks and a Finnish war film.

Amazon seems to be stocking it. I can't say what the limitations are elsewhere. Here in Australia we are decidedly socialist and the government is liberal, although Australian Liberal. It goes without saying of course if anyone in Germany want's it.

FORGET IT.

but you'd already know that http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/happy.gif

Re: OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

Lucas made no attempt to hide the Nazi overtones in Star wars or his use of WW2 imagery, I recall an interview where Lucas said that episodes 1-3 were based on the fall of Nazi Germany's republic into Fascism.

And Fatherland was a good what-if film. I caught it on AMC a few months ago. I gotta see if I can find it on DVD. in the film, wasn't Joseph Kennedy president?

Re: OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

No, I think it was John Kennedy. And why do they call John F Kennedy "jack"?

Re: OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

Jack is a common nickname for people named John. Don't know why though.

I can't speak to Lucas' influences concious or unconcious, but as far as the pictures go they really mean nothing. There is nothing unique or inherantly evil about the particular arangment of the people in attendance. Compare them to any ceremonial procession in a similar shaped building and you'll get the same "eerie similarity".

It would be difficult to NOT get the similarity actually. Look at pictures from any wedding in a basically rectangular church with a center ailse (the standard) and you are going to see it. I could probably find one from my first wedding. Though I may have thought the words "Nazi Cow" a few times in reference to my ex-wife, I don't think it had to do with how the wedding procession looked. http://forum.shrapnelgames.com/images/smilies/laugh.gif

Re: OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

Well we all know that the now infamous "column" shots seen in every movie from The Matrix to Equilibrium owe something to Nazi German architecture.

Re: OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

It might be Germanic, but it way predates Nazism. I'm not really an architectural historian. I think a lot of it comes from Greek and Roman arcitecture originally.

Re: OT: Leni Riefenstahl and George Lucas?
 

The President in Fatherland was Joseph Kennedy Sr. JFK's father. He was ambassador to Britain at the beginning of WW2 and was convinced Germany would win. He had a son, also called Joseph, who in OTL was killed when the overloaded bomber he was flying on a secret mission blew up.