Chum

USA Today is holding a “Star Wars vs Lord of the Rings” write-in poll. Let the bloodbath begin!

1. Do the The Lord of the Rings movies show signs of having enough of a cultural impact and popularity to become the Star Wars for this generation?

I think Star Wars came at a time when (a) SF and fantasy were marginal “kids stuff” genres, and (b) movies were about Bad, Awful Things — the zeitgeist of the period.

The SW success meant that (a) SF and fantasy could become mainstream (including a lot of really bad stuff, of course), and that (b) we saw more escapist fare films, less sturm und drang. It was perfect post-Vietnam, post-Watergate fare.

I don’t think LotR comes at the same sort of time, so its overall effect will be less. It will be a film saga that people refer back to in the future, though.

2. Is Peter Jackson, the director and effects wizard behind the Rings movies, the new George Lucas?

I hope not. Lucas has seriously lost his way. Jackson doesn’t show any sign of a Messiah/Golden Boy complex. Yet. Plus, he can direct.

3. Are you one of the original Star Wars fans who have been disappointed by the recent episodes —The Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones— in the series? Has The Lord of the Rings replaced Star Wars as your film series of choice. If so, why.

Yes, to both questions. Lucas has over-relied on glitz, on cheap humor, and has thrown out much of the whimsy and simple heroism that made the original SW trilogy so popular. Jackson, on the other hand, has shown amazing — yet effective — respect to his source material.

Plus, he can direct, which Lucas can’t.

I would much rather be stuck on a desert island with just the two LotR films than with all of the SW saga thus far.

Of course, I’ve been a long-time Tolkien fan, so it’s not that big of a stretch, except that the expectations were so high (as high, in some ways, as the wait for Episode I).

4. If you are age 25 and under, do you find that the Rings movies mean more to you than the Star Wars films. And why?

Don’t qualify, I’m afraid.

5. Which film are you looking forward to the most —Star Wars: Episode III (due in 2005) or The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, due this Christmas?

I’m looking forward to both of them. Episode III will be a fabulous spectacle, at the very least, and there’s that barely-open question of whether Lucas can “fix” things. But it’s Return of the King that has me panting … and it’s going to be a very hard Christmas 2004 without a new film.

(via Andrea)