George Lucas: Perfectionist

This quote strikes me as very odd, especially the part where Lucas says "I'm the one who has to have everybody throw rocks at me...for something I love rather than something I think is not very good, or at least something I think is not finished." I understand his dislike for an original work, usually when an artist, in my case writer/poet, views their first work as unfinished or the worst copy. He takes responsibility but the two versions can and should coexist because we can compare the old and newer versions, the progress in technology, and in the end it is art. Art improves and continues to grow but to get rid of the original does not fully mean you accept responsibility of how awful it is and how everyone loved it but that you are erasing an original piece of art that was very fine on it's own. Lucas is clearly a professional and before he had edited Star Wars he must have had some pride in the first version. To erase something so impactful and replace with not just some upgrading in shading and tech but to add and replace specific things to fit your own vision is a bit selfish.