Lord of the Rings versus Star Wars

Seconds out, round two…

Jonathan Hicks investigates the strange battle brewing between these two huge franchises.

I've had a lot of free time on my hands recently. I've been able to surf the net and have a great old time - catching up on old sites, dropping lines to old net-friends. Mostly, though, I've been surfing the site looking for news and reviews on the newest release from Peter Jackson and team - Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

I can't deny that these new movies excite and delight me. My very first exposure to the realms of science fiction and fantasy was The Hobbit. I'd like to say that it made a huge impression on me and I wanted to live in a hole in the ground - but, unfortunately, I was seven years old so the impression lasted for as long as it took for the next fad to come along, and that fad was Star Wars. For years I leapt about wanting to be a Jedi Knight and praying for the next film to arrive.

Then, whilst I was at school in about 1980, our teacher decided to treat us to a radio play they had acquired from the BBC. In groups we would sit with headphones on and listen to this strange tale, concerning Hobbits, a grey wizard, Elves, Dwarves, Balrogs, battles, great sacrifice and legendary heroism. Every day I'd scrabble to be first to get the headphones on.

At first I was amazed - there was something other than Star Wars to inflame the senses? So I hunted out a copy of this radio play and a copy of the book it was based on. The land of Middle-Earth had entered my life. The Hobbit, the Silmarillion, the Books of Lost Tales, all these and more I gathered to me and read with a passion. It got so involving that Star Wars Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back passed me by completely. I never saw the film at the cinema on its original release. I never saw it in the cinema until the Special Edition re-releases back in 1997.

So what had happened to my love of Star Wars? Well, it hadn't gone anywhere. I was still enamored by this world of blaster fights and spaceships, mystical energies and amazing feats of heroism. The two shared a theme - heroes and personal struggle, but whilst Star Wars was huge heart-pumping action and spurts of melodrama, the whole Middle-Earth was more emotional, with a history so rich you could almost believe it. The two helped me escape in different ways.

So it was with a sense of confusion, then, that I first read blurb like: 'Star Wars is dead, long live The Lord of the Rings!' - 'Lucas move over, Jackson is the new Lord!' - 'Lucas had better buck his ideas up, Jackson holds the torch now!' - 'Jackson is the pretender to the throne, Lucas is the true master!' - 'Lord of the Rings is trying and failing to fill the shoes of Lucas!' - 'Stormtroopers could kick Orc ass any day!' I was a little surprised that the two had been set against each other but, the more I thought about it the more I realised that the two teams of fans would be head-to-head, so it's not a bit shocking. We've seen it all before with the Star Trek/Star Wars stuff.

I've given it a lot of thought. I've gone over the views of people, fans and non-fans alike, and I've come to a conclusion. I wish I could say that it has a reason set deep in the subconscious, a conflict of the perception of heroes and the emotional and physical toil of individuals against evil. The presentation of the corruption of power, the grey in between the good and bad sides, the conflict of decisions that could change the future. I thought that these arguments were based around the perception of such things and how they are handled in the medium of science fiction and fantasy. So I read the opinions of the fans who were arguing for both sides and came to a startling conclusion. It had nothing to do with that. It was much simpler.

They were analy retentive fanboys.

It's true. All we've got here are a bunch of people who have been exposed to/grown up with/found a love for each of their chosen genres and are defending it. It's got nothing to do with the content of each story, or the visual competency of the film makers, it's the simple fact that they're concerned that their favourite movie is going to be eclipsed by the other. They're obsessed with statistics and numbers, spouting all kinds of stuff about Oscar©®™ nominations and box office takings to improve the image of their genre. The Lord of the Rings cycle of movies does stand to make cinema history in many respects, but Star Wars is going to remain in the books as the first one to define that history.

So lets take a look at the main arguments:

'The special effects are worse/better than Star Wars/Lord of the Rings!'

It's obvious that ILM does not hold the top slot for CGI effects anymore, but wasn't it obvious that this would happen, that the level of effects would get to a point and then people would catch up? If it makes you feel any better, Jackson and some of his guys were invited to The Ranch by McCallum and Lucas and wandered the place seeing how the Star Wars guys did it, and took some of that experience back with them. So, other than the fact that Weta Digital have some talented guys working for them, they got a little bit of knowledge from the fellas that have been doing it for years. Besides, special effects do not a movie make. Remember some of the travesties of recent years? Great special effects, lousy movie. I'm one of the first to say that Star Wars Episode One - The Phantom Menace is not a great film, but the effects are great. If you try to argue your point by saying 'Star Wars is one long computer game' or Lord of the Rings effects are all in the dark' then you're as shallow as you sound. Star Wars may have a lot of digital effects, but they can do it so why not? And the Rings are mostly dark - but it works! Deal with it.

'Lucas/Jackson created it all - Lucas/Jackson just ripped off Tolkien/Flash Gordon! Lucas/Jackson is a creative genius!'

I'm going to have to disagree with that one, I'm afraid. How can Jackson 'rip off' an interpretation of a well-known book? Perhaps if he called Frodo 'Brodo', had him protecting the Shire from the 'Lord of the Bracelets' and had to throw the bracelet into the fires of 'Mount Dum' then I might of got a little suspicious. If Lucas had called Luke Skywalker 'Flush Golden' fighting against 'Mang the Misery' then I might have rubbed my chin and gone 'hmmm... strange'. But that's not what happened, is it? George Lucas designed his own world of science fiction and borrowed from all kinds of sources; Saturday morning serials, old westerns, even Akira Kurosawa movies, and balled them all together to make his own legend. Jackson took the most famous book after the Bible, changed it slightly to suit the medium of the silver screen and took design cues from history and two of the most famous Tolkien artists. So what did they rip off? Nothing! They took established mediums and made them their own, so they're both as skilled/sneaky as each other. On the side of Lord of the Rings, you have to wonder whether the Lucas camp is now just a huge merchandising campaign... but now that I have a bunch of Lord of the Rings action figures around my PC and movie tie-in books then I can see that the studios are as bad as each other and I try to stay out of that whole affair. No-one is forcing you to buy it, people!

'Lord of the Rings/Star Wars has a better story/more heart than Star Wars/Lord of the Rings!'

Since when? If you take the story of the original Star Wars you've got a protagonist living away from the troubles of the world and is pointed to adventure by an old man who has great power, and he must battle against a great evil by destroying his instrument of destructive force. Lord of the Rings is about a protagonist living away from the troubles of the world and is pointed to adventure by an old man who has great power, and he must battle against a great evil by destroying his instrument of destructive force. Erm... hold on a second...

So, what is my take on all of this? Well, it's simple - it's like two football teams and the reason they like the team they have decided to support is simply because they have. Variety in the medium is what makes the cinema enjoyable, but there are some who have a very blinkered view of what they want to see and feel threatened if something comes along that might topple their single-minded object of affection. In extreme cases it's bloody-minded fanboys who refuse to allow their genre to be threatened by a newcomer. Perhaps Jackson's view will raise the bar and set the standards for films to come, but it does not detract from the enjoyment and love for other films like Star Wars. I'd like to say 'why can't we all get along' but that's just wishful thinking. All those people felt betrayed when Star Wars Episode One - The Phantom Menace wasn't the film they wanted it to be are looking for something new and they have latched onto the Lord of the Rings, declaring Lucas's demise because he apparently 'raped their childhood' (a horrible phrase used by short-sighted hypocrites) and rallying under the banner of Jackson. It's like they need someone to feed them the escapism they crave without realising any of it for themselves, or the Star Wars Episode Two - Attack of the Clones bandwagon is the new way to go so they take a huge jump and land in the back.

I honestly despair for the filmmakers when I read this tripe. I like both, I have my problems with both, there a certain things in both I wish they hadn't done. But, at the end of the day, it's how much I enjoy those films that count. I thought Star Wars Episode One - The Phantom Menace was a bad film, but when it came out I spent time defending it like the fanboy I was, until one day I sat and watched it and thought 'this is actually quite a bad film'. But it hasn't destroyed my faith in Star Wars. It's just one part of a greater picture. And if films like Lord of the Rings do raise the bar, forcing filmmakers to create cinema bigger and better then more power to it and them. All I see is the whole movie world benefiting from it all. A lot of people say 'Lucas had better do something special to beat Jackson's movie!' and if he rises to the challenge and makes the biggest Star Wars movie ever then who benefits? Everyone!

So enjoy your films but don't carp on about why 'my film is better than yours', because you just sound like an insecure fanboy whose worried about people not liking your genre and trying desperately to justify your pastime. If you don't like it then fine; state your reasons and that's that. But why limit it to Lord of the Rings/Star Wars? You’re self-centered ignorants with a bloated sense of self-importance. Get over yourselves.

JONATHAN HICKS - December 2002