Andrea Harris explains why Lord of the Rings is so much better than Star Wars.
Dazzling special effects are no longer sufficient to hide a weak storyline from the audience. The storyline in Lord of the Rings exposes the Star Wars “mythos” as a randomly pasted-up pastiche of old fifties sci-fi, Saturday matinee serials, rescue-the-princess fairy tales, and badly-digested kung-fu-movie pseudo-mysticism.
I thought Star Wars was just an entertaining film, and nothing more. There’s no deep philosophical meaning, and no consistant worldbuilding behind the scenes. But there was never meant to be.
Anyone that tries to make sense of the “Star Wars Universe” as a coherent world deserves to spend eternity trying to make sense of the continuity of Dr.Who.
On the other hand, LOTR was Prof. Tolkien’s life’s work. And it shows.
I get the feeling, that most people here are not familiar with the Expanded Universe (EU) of Star Wars – the books, novels, comics, games, RPGs etc. many of which are far better than the movies – in philosophy, plot and conclusion. Here are some examples:
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lumiya – the story of Darth Lumia, selfless (oh, yes!) follower of the Dark Side of the Force.
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Darth_Caedus – the story of Darth Caedus, one of the greatest Sith Lords of all times, who find balance between the Light and the Dark sides of the Force and uses his anger constructively.
http://www.starwars.com/eu/lit/novel/f20080513/index.html?page=2 – the final understanding of the nature of the Force by Darth Caedus. Very interesting reflection about the self-absorption and downfall of the Sith.
http://blogs.starwars.com/abelgpena/93/comments – essay from the Star Wars author Abel G. Pena, discussing the deception as a tool of enlightenment. Must-read.
http://blogs.starwars.com/abelgpena/1/comments – another essay from mr. Pena, discussing the fall of Anakin. Very insightful. Again, must-read.
Although Star Wars is actiony and adventurous, there’s no feeling that you actually get from it. Star Wars is way too simple and seems like every little thing that happens is repeated over and over again so that the audience will understand it. But the Lord of the Rings is filled with deep intelect and thought. The emotion is heavy and the whole story itself is far beyond incredible.
Lord of the Rings won 17 Oscars in total while Star Wars only won 7. Heck, The Return of the King (last LOTR movie) won more Oscars than the entire Star Wars series together.
I say the only reason Star Wars made it so big was because of the special effects. And let’s not forget that Star Wars too was taken from a book. Hardly anyone had heard about Star Wars when it was a book because there were no special effects in the book, but LOTR was heard of when it was a book. LOTR even had a biblical relationship. And we can all say that Star Wars took some ideas from Star Trek. You can’t argue with that.
Like many Science Fiction and Fantasy fans I am very widely read and have varied tastes. I tend to find Tolkiens masterpiece a little long winded, I thought the Hobbit to be much more enjoyable by comparison.
However – on to my point. Why say ones better than the other, as its just a matter of opinion its a spurious argument at best. I like Star Wars, AND LotR, (and Star Trek for that matter) none are any better than the others – they are stronger in some areas, and weaker in others.
It doesn’t make one rubbish by comparison, just different. The sooner people realize that the better IMHO, it would save wasting time and webspace on trivial arguments.
If you don’t like something, fair enough – so why waste your time rattling on about it Lol!
As for Star Wars only getting 7 Oscars as opposed to LotR getting 17. Star Wars won its 7 at a time when Science Fiction was ridiculed in the general media and villified by Critics and the Oscar people.
Peter Jackson has admitted he is a Star Wars fan, and that LotR would not have come into celluloid being if not for George Lucas having paved the way with Star Wars.
I very much enjoyed both franchises, however, Jackson/Walsh/Boyens’ adaptation of Tolkien’s LOTR trilogy are quite simply among the greatest movie experiences I have ever witnessed. I admired the way they were sympathetic to Tolkien’s book & only changed certain parts to get a natural flow to the films (such as the ommision of Tom Bombadil, Shelob appearing in ROTK when in fact her fight with Sam is in TTT book etc).
As for the CGI used in the films, I felt Jackson used just the right amount without resorting to overkill (i thought the SW prequels overdosed on CGI). The acting, the costumes, the casting, locations & Jackson’s trademark sweeping shots have cemented these LOTR movies as timeless classics.
It will be interesting to see the forthcoming ‘The Hobbit’ films, currently in production in New Zealand. As I understand, it will be a 2-part Hobbit film as opposed to the original idea of 1 Hobbit film & 1 film which bridges the gap between The Hobbit & FOTR (the initial idea was to take Tolkien’s material from the appendices from LOTR books). Incidentally Peter Jackson will produce & Guillermo Del Toro will wear the director’s hat. To say I’m excited about these is an understatement. 2010 & 2012 release dates, I believe.
Ok so I must admit that I am a geek and have gone through and read alot of the comments. So now I am going to give you my speal. LOTR was a very good series that finally brought to the big screen what fantasy should be. Peter Jackson painted beautifully some of our most ardent thoughts on film. That being said I feel that the 3rd film left much to be desired. It was too long. And really the story behind it was too dark for too long. When I look back on the time I spent on watching it I find that the parts I remember most are the few happy moments with lights. In contrast Star Wars was a masterful melding of Ideas culminating into something that not only lives on for decades but small bits are copied in virtually every part of society. Just to note a few Star Wars defense system, the way music is now used in movies, not to mention special effects. These were all built from the ground up by George Lucas which in my book makes him a genius. I like both series but I have to give the edge to Star Wars. I think on every major principle of a good movie it would beat out LOTR. This is not to say that it is perfect or really for that matter a better movie just that if you compared I challenge in any one category Star Wars has not been beaten yet as far as I can tell. One more comment whoever was talking about music and emotions of the film and sided with LOTR I can’t understand at all because John Williams stated that each character was assigned their own theme music to be played whenever they were around. And really every time the starwars music plays instant emotions rise inside me. Adieu
for me, the greatest movie is non other than War of the Worlds.”-
I’d love to see a big-budget adaptation of War of the Worlds that doesn’t relocate it to America and set it in the present-day. I want Martian tripods clanking across the 1890s England of H.G.Wells’ original book.
Agreed Tim. Speilberg’s effort should have been set in Victorian Sussex, as per the original story. Morgan Freeman saying “the martians were waiting for the right time” (or words to that effect) – WHAT? The right time being when the human race had developed technoligical advances in military hardware? Hmmm.