LOTR vs. Star Wars

It's been roughly four years and a bit since I saw my first serious glimpses of Peter Jackson's film adaptation of The Lord of the Rings (in the form of internet distributed teaser trailers) and resolved to finally read it cover-to-cover before watching it in theatres. Compare that to the some odd twenty years since I started to become aware of the original Star Wars trilogy, and you're on your way to understanding just how much more deeply the Star Wars phenomenon has resonated throughout my life. As I've repeatedly watched the Lord of the Rings trilogy these past years, however, a revelation has been brewing: a dark, terrible revelation--an epiphany that threatens to shake the core of my very being, invert my moral compass, and tear asunder what sanity I might otherwise have stood to posses.

Simply put, The Lord of the Rings is better than Star Wars. There simply isn't any use denying it. Star Wars is, of course, still brilliant. I love the characters, the themes, the setting, and the fantastic attention to detail. As much as George Lucas was on his game when he brought Star Wars to life, however, he fell short of out-doing J.R.R. Tolkien's beloved fantasy universe. I see that now; perhaps I even suspected as much since the early days of my childhood when I first read The Hobbit, and later read The Fellowship of the Ring. But for whatever reason, I never anticipated that somebody would make a movie out of The Lord of the Rings that could rival my attachment to Star Wars. Even now, I think of The Empire Strikes Back as being my single favourite movie of all time. And yet, my new world view stands: The Lord of the Rings is better.

I knew, while watching The Lord of the Rings on the big screen, that that must be how audiences felt about the Star Wars trilogy during its original run in theatres. It made sense in the same way that I once argued that Nirvana served a similar function for my generation as The Doors did for a previous generation. Star Wars was there for the kids born in around 1960. The Lord of the Rings was there for the kids born in around 1980. The circle of life completes itself.

And yet, some doubt lingers... will kids born in the late nineties or early 00's develop the same unshakable attachment to The Lord of the Rings growing up that I did with Star Wars? Will The Lord of the Rings, as a movie, retain its cult status for more than 25 years following its appearance on the pop-culture radar? Somehow, I believe that it will.

So there you have it--the crux of my argument: The Lord of the Rings (movies) is like Star Wars, but inevitably better because it was based on a better premise. Both movies score top marks for movie making technology and craftsmanship, both movies have the stuff of heart-wrenching, unforgettable epic dramas, and both movies have captured the fanaticism of multiple generations. Ultimately, George Lucas just didn't come up with as good of a story as Tolkien did.

What a glorious time to be alive, and geeky.