Page 78 - Star Wars Insider (Special Edition 2020)
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HOOHAH! STAR WARS INSIDER TAKES A LOOK AT THE LIGHTER SIDE
OF STAR WARS, AS SEEN THROUGH THE EYES OF MAD MAGAZINE.
F
WORDS: ARIE KAPLAN
AD magazine might not As George Lucas mentions
be the first thing that in his foreword to MAD About
springs to mind when it Star Wars: “I grew up in an
M comes to Star Wars, but agricultural town in the 1950s and
whenever a new Star Wars movie or 1960s, which was not exactly the
TV show has debuted, MAD has place for questioning authority. But
always been there to parody it. then MAD magazine came along.”
That’s been the case ever since the He goes on to say that, by satirizing
beloved humor publication spoofed everything in the adult world, the
A New Hope in MAD #196 (January irreverent humor publication
1978). In fact, by 2007 there were showed him, “more often than
enough MAD Star Wars spoofs to not, the emperor, as it were,
fill a book—namely the Del Rey had no clothes.”
collection MAD About Star Wars, This revelation—that
authored by former Lucasfilm the way things really
employee (and then-MAD editor) are and the way they’re
Jonathan Bresman. presented to the public
During the past 40 years, MAD can be two separate things
has skewered the saga so frequently —had a profound effect on
that—as of this writing—the last Lucas. It made him realize
four issues of the magazine (up that if he wanted to see the
to and including MAD #540, August status quo change, he had to
2016) have all included at least one make that change himself.
article or comic strip lampooning The Indeed, he’s spent the bulk of
Force Awakens. And, in its ongoing his filmmaking career making
quest to make fun of all things Star movies about characters who fight
Wars, MAD has used the galaxy far, to change the status quo, such as
far away to satirize everything from Luke Skywalker and Indiana Jones.
politics to commercialism. Just as As a way of paying homage to his
the Jedi are encouraged to use the childhood influence, Lucas hired
Force, the writers, cartoonists, and legendary MAD cartoonist Mort
editors at MAD have consistently Drucker to draw the poster art for
.
used the Farce. his 1973 film American Graffiti.
78 INSIDER
