They are also bad for supporting a corrupt republic in my book.
I don't see it like that- The Jedi are an apolitical Force.. a more or less private organization (much more similar to a religion or church) which has a high public standing and regard that gives them some inofficial clout politically.
They would be a political factor if the Masters would speak publicly about politics and endorse certain candidates or run for office themselves bit they are careful not to meddle in politics.
Their task and motto is to defend the people against all threats but that doesn't include overthrowing rightfully elected governments no matter how inept or dysfunctional it is.
This is the job of the people themselves but if the government decided to turn on the people (think Tian An Men square for example) i'm pretty sure the Jedi would ignite their Lightsabres and stand with the people.
^ Yeah, one can criticize Lucas for many things, not only in his art but in his personal life, but I don't think a fixation on personal wealth isn't one of them. He may allow stuff like Detours and themed Angry Birds games to water down the Star Wars brand past all sane barriers, but I do think that that's his loopy way of giving the people what they want rather than a means to buy himself a new dressage horse or yacht.
That's also something that has always bothered me in the years past.. i sincerely doubt it was about the money for Lucas at any time. The financial success of Star Wars made him independent of the studio system.. something that is very rare and not even grand directors like Spielberg or Scorsese have that freedom. Lucas could have made a new movie every few years since the first one and pay for it himself and not go broke but for all the other problems i have with him about his writing and direction being a greedy bastard is not one of them.
Lucas makes adventure movies for those wide-eyed kids and the adults who have retained that quality.. he's making those movies in a style he hopes that kids will love and be entranced by them. He's telling grand stories, uses huge visuals and cool stuff to make it a ride for 2 hours and i bet he'd be happy as he could be when he would sit in a schoolyard to hear the kids talk about the new Star Wars he just made.
This is why we got Jar Jar Binks, racially stereotyped Neimodians, slapstick combat droids etc.. adults will roll their eyes at it but kids love this stuff and they don't think too much about it. This is the core audience of Star Wars and under Lucas it always was.. of course a better writer and director could have pleased both kids and adults (Pixar proves it can be done) but we got what we got.
So no.. Lucas doesn't do it for the money.. he does it to make kids happy. And for that i applaud him.. i was a kid once and Star Wars was the greatest.
