not all those who wander are lost

In Star Wars I was striving to make a strong positive statement. My first film [THX-1138] was a parable about the way we are living our lives today. I realize it was a rather depressing statement. People weren’t really interested in a depressing statement. Being a pessimist doesn’t seem to accomplish anything. I looked at THX and said if I wanted to change the world, it was no use saying how awful our society is, or how stupid. The way to make things progress is to point people in the right direction, to show how wonderful life can be. Tearing things down, being pessimistic makes people simply accept the conditions that prevail. Whereas if you give them hope and point them in the right direction, things are more likely to get better. In the sixties the vogue in literature and film was to lift the carpet and see the ugly side of life and say how awful and despicable human beings are. I realize there’s a place for that. But I don’t think it has much of an effect on society.