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Sunday, Nov 22, 2009
At that moment, I think about how "Star Wars" and Luke's tale changed my life. And then I think about Jar Jar, those damned Ewoks and how diluted the original impact has become. The "Star Wars" of my youth, like my desire to purchase action figures, left me long ago. What's left isn't bad -- but while I'm not too old to enjoy a fun movie, I prefer my motion pictures to do something other than have pictures that move.
And so, like Luke, I decide to let go. I leap into the pit -- but not to my doom, because I know there is a vent down there. And that vent's name is Peter Jackson -- director of "The Lord of the Rings."
And as I wait for my ride beneath Cloud City, let me say it for all to hear, and later e-mail me angrily about: "Lord of the Rings" is better than "Star Wars"!
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It's a tough call to make. Both films -- and both phenomena -- are worthy ways to spend your cinema dollar. Both films are transcendental -- defying genres and expectations, taking the viewer to struggles in fantastical lands and in the process illuminating the struggles within ourselves. That illumination has inspired legions of fans on both sides. J.R.R. Tolkien's "Lord of the Rings" has been part of world consciousness for generations, inspiring artists, writers -- including George Lucas. "Star Wars" defined modern fantasy filmmaking. (There is no science and, therefore, no science fiction in "Star Wars.") The way Lucas went about making "Star Wars" and its sequels -- from the storytelling and special effects to the marketing -- is nearly as much an influence on Jackson as Tolkien.
In her recent Salon article "'The Lord of the Rings' vs. 'Star Wars,'" Jean Tang takes the view that "Star Wars" is the superior effort. She states, quite well, that the simplicity and humanity of "Star Wars," which led to greater accessibility and ultimately a greater phenomenon, made it superior to the dark, explicit and increasingly humorless "Lord of the Rings."
Her citing of plot and character problems in "LOTR" is interesting -- although one could easily catalog the same of "Star Wars," if not more so. I tittered at the supposedly fearsome but easily addled storm troopers when I was 8, yet still overlooked that for the greater film at hand. And in that spirit I'll also overlook the greatest problem with Tang's article: Why on earth compare these two films?
OK, they tell the same story for starters. In his landmark 1949 "The Hero With a Thousand Faces," mythologist Joseph Campbell -- who would later use Luke Skywalker as an example for his theories -- writes of the "monomyth," in which a hero leaves the average world for a supernatural one, defeating foes decisively, growing in the process and returning from this "mysterious adventure with the power to bestow boons on his fellow man."
