Interview with Jonathan L. Bowen Part Two

Here’s the second and final part of my interview with ‘Anticipation’ and ‘Revenge’ author Jonathan L. Bowen. Thanks again to Jonathan for agreeing to be interviewed!

LP: Why would the media harbor a bias against the prequels?

JB: I think the media is often looking for a story that generates controversy. If a journalist writes an article about how White Noise is a terrible movie and its fans are geeks, nobody cares because few people saw White Noise (thankfully, though I did just see an ad for White Noise 2) and everyone knows it is a terrible movie. An editorial about how the Lord of the Rings films are overrated and fans of the franchise are losers, however, would elicit a large response because the films are not only highly acclaimed but very popular. With the prequels, the people who control the media are not kids, teenagers, or young adults, but rather the same people who grew up worshipping the Original Trilogy.

While many OT fans love the prequels, the largest group of prequel detractors fall into the 35 to 45 age range. The prequels are not the same movies they grew up watching, which for many fans is enough not to like them. Often, newer fans have a more objective look at the films and react in unexpected ways, like the journalist who wrote a story about watching the Star Wars saga for the first time only after all six movies came to theaters. She preferred the prequels and was bored by some of the OT characters. Many members of the media watched the OT as kids and loved the movies, but they avoid asking the same group of moviegoers how they liked the prequel trilogy because “they’re just kids.” We are all just kids once, but kids who grew up watching the prequels will take over the media and the prequels will gain their acceptance as beautiful, classic films alongside the Original Trilogy.

LP: Is the misinformation about the prequel trilogy, especially on box office and the amount of negative reviews, due to bias, laziness, or something else?

JB: I think the misinformation is largely because journalists are asked to cover too many topics and be experts in too many fields at once. I do not want to assume malice on the part of all misinformation. Journalism is a tough profession with tight deadlines, so sometimes the research is not always as good as it should be and the reporting suffers as a result. I also think perception can sometimes be a lot different than reality, so journalists might report on the perception and not the reality without really digging deeper. Take The Phantom Menace, for instance, where Entertainment Weekly had a headline on one of their issues before the film came out asking, “Will the next Star Wars sink Titanic?” The expectations for the film were enormous and the hype led everyone to believe it was destined to beat Titanic at the box office, but even more, that anything short of becoming the highest grossing movie ever would be a disappointment.

When The Phantom Menace came to theaters, it did not surpass The Lost World’s opening weekend total, which to the media already meant that it was a failure. When it then failed to beat Titanic, the media assumed it was a relative disappointment. Unfortunately, in our society every journalist and every moviegoer has become a box office “expert,” which means they think they understand the numbers but have not really studied trends, historical precedent, or the finer points of box office statistics. The best reporting always comes from experts, like Variety and The Hollywood Reporter, which in all cases were fantastic about covering the prequels fairly and without bias because their journalists had expertise in box office affairs. The same was true of The Wall Street Journal’s reporting on financial matters related to the prequels, especially toy sales.

I have no clue about the specifics of medical advances or the inner workings of a microprocessor, so I would not write about those subjects, but many journalists were probably told to cover the box office take for the prequels and wrote their articles without too much thought about the research. Even box office experts are wrong with their predictions sometimes, so it is a more complicated subject than many journalists seem to think. As for the reviews, I think the same situation is to blame. The original films, aside from glowing reviews from many organizations about A New Hope, were not well reviewed either, in most cases much more harshly reviewed than the prequels, but today they are considered classics and almost untouchable, so the perception from many journalists (and fans) was that the prequels were huge disappointments because they did not receive 90% glowing reviews from critics. In reality, each prequel received more than 60% positive reviews, but only Revenge of the Sith could be described as very well reviewed, much like in the Original Trilogy how only A New Hope was well reviewed at the time.

LP: Why do you think the reactions of some longtime fans to the prequels were so harsh?

JB: I partially answered this question above, but I believe people become attached to something and see it one way, but are not always open to having what they like re-interpreted. Imagine if you eat at the same restaurant once a week and order your favorite dish, but a few years later the restaurant switches chefs and the dish changes. New customers judge the dish objectively, not compared to how the dish used to be prepared. Even if the food is just as high quality and the chef just as talented as the last, long-time customers are used to eating the dish prepared a certain way so the change is jolting and might elicit an emotional reaction rather than a logical one. The prequel trilogy changes the way one sees the Original Trilogy, whether for better or worse is for viewers to decide, but it forces a reevaluation of many elements in the original movies that some viewers would rather Lucas have left alone. I understood from the beginning that the prequels would have a different look and focus than the original trilogy, but I was excited to see how they added to the story. I feel many fans just had no clue what they even wanted to see from the prequels, except as Lucas said watching Darth Vader run around the galaxy killing everyone.

To me, the prequels are much more complicated, subtle, and intricate films than those of the OT. In the OT, there are clear “good guys” and “bad guys,” whereas in the prequels life is more complicated and the characters are forced to make tougher decisions based on often flawed information. There is a beauty to the moral simplicity of the OT, and I see both trilogies as equal in quality, but there is a level of moral complexity that I appreciate in the prequel trilogy that is not present in the OT because it would not make sense for the story. The two trilogies fit together perfectly, but I believe many people wanted the prequel trilogy to be more like the OT, which makes no sense to me as they are two halves of a larger story.

LP: There’s been all kinds controversy about the prequels, whether it’s accusations of racism or an organization trying to pressure Burger King to drop its ROTS promotion because it was a PG-13-rated film. What is the oddest controversy to come out of these films?

JB: The oddest controversy I still think is the racism allegations, primarily about Watto because first he was a caricature of Arabs, then he was a racist stereotype of Jewish people, yet the Arab Defamation League thought the accusations of racism were ridiculous. The racism accusations always seemed to come from white liberals, not from the groups who were supposed to be offended, which always seemed puzzling to me. It was like a witch hunt of sorts. The funniest accusation, I thought, was not really a controversy but it made me laugh because of how absurd it was. TriCon, which owned KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell, had their big promotion surrounding The Phantom Menace and later claimed their sales were down 1% because of the Star Wars promotion, like promoting Star Wars actually somehow hurt their business. I find the idea laughably absurd, considering I never eat at fast food restaurants and I went to their chains probably fifteen times just because of their promotion. I believe their sales were down, they are a public company after all, but it had nothing to do with Star Wars. Who is to say their sales would not have been down 10% without Star Wars? I just simply could not believe they were trying to make investors believe that somehow a promotion with the world’s most popular film franchise hurt their sales.

LP: “Revenge” notes that AOTC was perhaps the least-promoted of the SW films. What could have Lucasfilm and its licensees have done better in 2002 and would it have made a difference in terms of box office?

JB: I think the attitude Lucasfilm and Fox took with Attack of the Clones was wrong, but they are not entirely to blame. Because of how much the media overhyped The Phantom Menace, which Lucas could not have controlled, I think the marketing experts felt burned by overexposure. They must have figured that with the second prequel, the media would continue to advertise for them and they would have no need to pump tens of millions of dollars extra into traditional advertising. I kept watching TV thinking, “Come on guys, start advertising!” I remember seeing ads for Attack of the Clones mostly in its first and second week, but afterwards Lucasfilm and Fox did a poor job reminding moviegoers the film was still in theaters and they could go see it. On Revenge of the Sith, the companies must have learned from past mistakes because the advertising was exceptional; they had numerous promotions to keep moviegoers coming back for more or bring in first-time reviews and the TV ads ran throughout the film’s theatrical release.

LP: What do you think was the best aspect of the prequel trilogy?

JB: The best aspect of the prequel trilogy, for me, was seeing what led to the downfall of a peaceful galaxy to the war-torn galaxy we see in the Original Trilogy. Immediately in A New Hope viewers are thrust into a war zone, even from the original title “Star Wars.” I love how Lucas showed that a galaxy does not just erupt into warfare overnight, but rather through a series of events that only could arise from extreme corruption, negligence, and lack of vigilance. Palpatine’s sinister yet brilliant planning is a high point of the prequels, I think. Ian McDiarmid is a remarkable actor and I think the Academy further disgraced themselves by not even nominating him on a single prequel.

LP: Do you think these movies will be even more appreciated over time?

JB: I think the prequel trilogy will gain a lot of popularity over the coming years as people watch all of the movies together and appreciate the differences between the films as well as the similarities. Fans from the younger generations for the most part loved the prequels, so as they grow older the voice of prequel enthusiasts will be much more vocal, I think. When Return of the Jedi came to theaters it received terrible reviews; only about one in three critics called it a good movie. Today, it is considered a classic and many people still think it is the most fun, most gratifying of all six films. Opinions change.

LP: What do you think most moviegoers saw in the prequels that the press and some in fandom missed?

JB: A lot of critics assume their extensive film knowledge makes them experts on the Star Wars movies, but they fail to realize the real experts are the fans who have seen the movies dozens of times and studied every detail about them. As such, many people who bashed the prequels made comments that just made no sense, like that the technology looks “newer” and more advanced than in the Original Trilogy. The technology is not as advanced, but of course the craft and equipment look cleaner and nicer because the galaxy, to begin the prequel trilogy, was not in a state of war. Other comments that critics made seemed equally puzzling sometimes. I think most moviegoers enjoyed the prequels because they were entertaining, fun, and full of amazing special effects. Hopefully a lot of them also appreciated the deeper story elements and the political intrigue, which for me was a highlight of the films.

LP: What industry do you work in now? Is it related to film or t.v.? What are your career aspirations?

JB: I work in the film industry and live in Los Angeles. I co-own a production company, Shutzi Productions, Inc., with my business partner David, where I work various roles depending on the project as we are a startup company so we wear many hats. I am a director, but my responsibilities with the production company mean that I am usually producing or executive producing a project, which amounts to putting together a crew, managing any equipment that needs to be rented, finding locations, working with the client, budgeting, accounting, etc. We are primarily interested in music video production for the time being, working in the Persian and American markets mostly, though we have upcoming projects planned or underway with Assyrian artists, Latin artists, and other ethnic groups as well. Part of my job is to find talented young directors whose careers I can help through the connections I am making and the equipment our company owns.

As a production company we will take projects of almost any sort having to do with the moving image, whether it is corporate videos, music videos, television ads, Web videos, short films, or even pitches for TV shows. One client we are working with wants us to help make a pitch for a reality TV show, for instance, and we are acting as the production company in a limited capacity, providing equipment, logistics, legal documents, etc.; they already have actors and locations in mind. The only markets we are not interested in pursuing are anything X-rated and wedding videos; neither one has any interest to us as we are a mainstream company.

We think of ourselves as a home for peoples’ film projects if they need help putting them together, from low budget amateur filmmakers who need help with a short film to higher budget directors who need a company to handle the paperwork, planning, and logistics of a shoot from start to finish. We both find projects to put together ourselves and help other people with projects they already have going to bring them to a professional level and hopefully make their jobs easier. Many directors, for instance, do not own the means of production or fully understand how to make their project happen, so we can work with them to deal with the details.

As with most people in the business, our aspirations are feature films. I have several feature ideas for which I am writing scripts and I would also like to direct them, but the film industry is very competitive and cutthroat so starting with projects that can make you some money and build your network is the smart way to go, we feel. My goal is to break into the American music video market and work my way up to higher budget projects, in the process building a name for myself as a director so that by the time I am ready to direct a feature, hopefully I will have an agent helping me make the right connections and take my projects to investors with the means to make them happen.

Both ‘Anticipation’ and ‘Revenge’ are published by iUniverse. Both are available from Amazon.com:

http://www.amazon.com/Anticipation-Episode-I-Phantom-Menace/dp/0595671489/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199934831&sr=8-2

http://www.amazon.com/Revenge-Real-Life-Story-Episode/dp/0595429238/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1199934885&sr=1-1

Also, check out the official sites for each book:

http://www.anticipationbook.com/

http://www.episode3book.com/

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