I’ve spent a lot longer than I should have just now reading John Scalzi’s recent post The Lie of Star Wars as entertainment. The crux of his argument is that Lucas was not trying to create entertainment but mythology. My favorite quote from his post is “What’s interesting about mythology is that it’s the residue of a teleological system that’s dead; it’s what you get after everyone who believed in something has croaked and nothing is left but stories.”

My favorite quote from the lengthy (but definitely-worth-reading) comments: “Which makes the prequels the world’s most expensive exercise in fanfiction.” Hah.

I feel like I ought to say more about the mythology quote, but can’t think what. I’ll think about it and maybe come back to it at a later day. On a side note, another viewpoint about mythology from Neil Gaiman’s interview with Bookslut: “Mythology tends to be what religion decays into. A sort of second stage religion. Or it’s the bits of religion that won’t get you shot or harmed if you don’t take them seriously enough.”