No Right Answer: This Generation's "Star Wars" Part 2

[emeraldrafael]

For me its between The Prequels or harry potter. LotR has been around forever, and people link the original star wars to IT rarther than it to star wars. Plus it the last one of the three, so thats out.

so between the reamining two, I'd say harry potter. the prequels didnt really MAKE a cultural impact as much as they rode on the cultural impact made for them. HP MADE a cultural uimpact of its own, on its own. It brought back magic and being cool by being a wizard.

 

[g3ko]

I'm really surprised that no one mentioned The Matrix trilogy (except from that scene from the third one). Hidden meanings, old ideeas with a new twist, based on asian legends, stories or anime. It also was a big hit when it came out, with a meaningful phylosophical question, so yes, I'd say Matrix... but then again, that's just my opinion. As for the ones already mentioned:
Harry Potter- great series, but mostly different directors, which have done their job almost flawlessly, but you can feel the difference(+ some things they missed while making the movies, that turned out to be important in later movies, due to the fact that the books were still being written). Somewhat of a letdown from the books, but the first three and the last movie were sublime.
Lord of the Rings - again, great job from Peter Jackson to take on such an epic saga and turn it into a movie, but it's disqualified for being a book almost 50 years before the movie came out. Exactly as expected, Epic.
Star Wars- trying to reboot and finnish the series (from the begginning), a great trilogy set of prequels(not to mention I personally got a shocker when I realised that it was the republic that turned into the empire, not taken over by it...note: Tried to avoid all possible spoilers until the third movie of the prequels came out). It's not anything new, so that's not it.
while I wasn't able to apreciate the original Star Wars trilogy when it came out(lack of age), I had the unique opportunity to(just for the 90's), to get a boom of out of the country movies that were a big hit (nothing before due to... strict... never mind, it's a long story). So I caught them in the late 90's, and they were still pretty new technology and ideeas here(after that, it caught up in a matter of a couple of years).
The Matrix on the other hand (except for the somewhat dissapointing fact that everything is solved with a city-shattering battle between two people in vr), the ideeas behind the plot, the simple brain teaser it was, superb for the time.
just my opinion
Edit:

They're all good choices (except LOTR, wrong generation), so just to screw with y'all I'm gonna vote for the Matrix!

mentioned before, sorry, didn't see page 2

 

[DTWolfwood]

my heart says Lord of the Rings. my gut says Harry Potter. But my brain says Star Wars.

Love the 3 LOTR movies more than any all the Harry Potter and new Star Wars. So they will be the films including the Hobbit that i will want to revisit decades from now. I don't feel that way about the other 2.

Harry Potter is so damn prevalent world wide. It got kids to read BOOKS if anything is astounding all in itself. It took a decade to come together. It over arcing story went from childish to serious. It GREW UP with its audience. I mean if that doesn't cry out generational phenom i don't know what would.

Star Wars on the other hand has spawn Television series and merchandising on a scale far greater than the other 2 combined. LOTR and Harry Potter are relegated to the movies (and lesser extend books.) The Star Wars franchise is everywhere much it was in the 70s. The Clone Wars cartoons is a huge success. SWTOR looks like a success. Force Unleash was a good game. Mind you this is all a decade after episode 1.

Conclusion: Star Wars > Harry Potter > Lord of the Rings.

p.s. as a Dan myself Dan's choice is what i would vote for tbh! To bad logic has to get in the way >.<

They're all good choices (except LOTR, wrong generation), so just to screw with y'all I'm gonna vote for the Matrix!

Hah good point totally forgot about the Matrix. That was a paradigm shifting event wasn't it.

 

[orangeapples]

I would have to define "this generation's Star Wars" as something that originally belongs to this generation. Lord of the Rings belongs to the 50s, Star Wars belongs to the 70s-80s and this generation has Harry Potter 90s-2000s. As a matter of fact, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone was originally published before the Star Wars prequels AND the Lord of the Rings movies. So what I'm saying is that Star Wars and LotR do not belong to this generation and are thus disqualified leaving Harry Potter. Another thing is that people were attracted to LotR and Star Wars when they came out. Same could be said about Harry Potter.

Now that isn't to say that Harry Potter is this generation's Star Wars since we'll only know if it has a lasting effect and transcends time and reaches the next generation. Star Wars and LotR are still around today and still culturally relevant. We wont know for sure until 2025.

For all we know this generation will best be known for Avatar: The Last Airbender I don't think AtLA is as culturally known as HP, but we don't know who will be at the top. For all we know, this generation will be known as "the generation that gave us Twilight."

 

[Guardian of Nekops]

Sorry guys, but the three-way debate just doesn't work. You had not one, not two, but three different definitions of what "being Star Wars" entailed in play at the same time, and thus you never even got to the point where you were agreeing to disagree on definitions.

On the other hand, simulataneous final words and chugging went well.

 

[Rakor]

Well, ever the issue is how you define it as being a current star wars. I would roll along the story structure a bit as well. The original trilogy had your classic farmboy going from errand boy to Rancor Slayer to Toppler of the Empire. It had the giant organization to deal with and big battles (in which our protagonist actually does things). It had the Han, it had the princess to save but who also kicked ass at times, and it had an absolute evil, dark robed dude of absurd power. Also.....its a Science fiction, space opera piece with all this.

The prequels actually fit pretty well along the same formula as the Original Trilogy. Space Opera, big battles, technically the same major villain (eventually). A.....I hate to call him this, but for examples sake.....protagonist who goes from being a junkyard slave to powerful jedi....but then to sith. The problem is that the Original trilogy begins, has some epic deeds, and ends with cheering and victory while the prequels are just that, prequels. The story is obviously not ended within them so they can't end with the same impact.

Harry Potter definitely has the character progression of power, the dark secrets around him....

You know, halfway into this post I suddenly think about a real defining quality of Star Wars, an expanding Universe. The whole reason we have the prequels is the Universe set up by the Trilogy that is ever expanding. Harry Potter is fairly limited to its own story, but Lord of the Rings? LotR has a similar power of expansion to Star Wars that Harry Potter simply does not. Like Star Wars, LotR is more than just a story, it's a world with significant potential for expansion and explanation. Lo the Hobbit. Harry Potter (as far as I know) is just it's own story without much expansion and diversion from the main plot.

My vote goes with Lord of the Rings.

 

[JPArbiter]

Really I have to say that Lord of the Rigns does not come close to being this generations star wars because of it's age. Lord of the Rings is a pop culture icon from the 50's that made it to films long after the impact was made. it is the defining cultural movement of the Baby Boomers more then anything else.

Star wars prequels likewise was trying to recapture lightning in a bottle, and for the youth set, it worked. the biggest problem is that it will forever be overshadowed by its older cousin and it's fans who will not let go.

Harry Potter on the other hand, is new and fresh. its impact is less then 15 years old. it changed the way movies could be made, much like Star Wars originally did. it also speaks to Generation Y in the sense that everything Gen Y likes is derrivative of something, rather then ideas springing forth from a content creators heads (at least as far as the films are concerned.)

 

[MorganL4]

I'd have to say Harry Potter wins this one. LoTR though great, was and is by deffinition a product of my parents generation ( the Baby Boomers, even though it was a member "the greatest generation" who wrote it) it still is not a Gen Y product as such it gets disqualified IMO. And the prequels had no where NEAR the impact that the originals had, they did not change peoples behavior, they did not instill a sense of wonder ( okay maybe the little kids were awed by the flashy saber fights) but not by the story as the original three were.

So yeah..... Harry wins it. IMO



Side note: I thought we were called the Millennium Generation.... eh whatever.........

 

[secretshadow90]

I'm tossing my vote in for Harry Potter. That had the biggest cultural impact of all those. People are excited about all those things, but Harry Potter whips up the most enthusiasm in the most amount of people (judging off my college experience).

 

[Dango]

My vote goes to Lord of the Rings, simply because it's my duty to vote for it.

 

[cricket chirps]

Lord of the Rings

Why?

Because when star wars came out it had a following. Now those followers, though they were many, were looked at as nerdy people. But each and every one of them would stress to anyone who brought it up that they were the best things ever.

Today, that is what Lord of the Rings fans are. There are tons of them, but they are seen as nerdy for likeing it. ALL of them will tell you that "the first one is the slowest but necessary, and the rest are perfect"

 

[BlindChance]

It's Harry Potter. As Mel Brooks once said, the point of Star Wars is moichandising, moichandising, moichandising. Harry Potter's merch has been utterly frigging pervasive in a way that neither Lord of the Rings nor Star Wars 1-3 could. It's been all over the friggin' place, and has achieved that same cultural touchstone existence that Star Wars once did, but that the prequels could not. Harry Potter is impossible to escape; even if you've never seen one, it's likely in defiance. It's defined a generation as either Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw, Slytherin, or hating the whole franchise.

Honestly, to beat out Harry Potter you'd need to show me a bunch of movies in a franchise who EACH grossed more than any of the Harry Potter films and...

Anyway, this generation's Star Wars is Transformers - Most popular, Highest Grossing, and goddam embarassed to have ever seen it. And you'll STILL get people telling you that Bayformers is greater than ORSON WELLS as Unicron.

GODDAMMIT.

(But you're right. I thought of that argument watching the video, actually.)

 

[Wriggle Wyrm]

I?d have to go with Harry Potter. People of all ages were inspired to read the books and see the movies. It also rose up from nothing to 7 books and 8 movies in much the same way the original Star Wars did. While it isn?t as popular now as it was a couple of years ago, it was literally a cultural phenomenon at its height.

Lord of the Rings, while a success, never reached the same level of as HP. It was well received but not nearly as much, despite having more financial backing from the start. There are also more people like me, who liked the books but were never that impressed by the movies.

Past the Phantom Menace, people only really only watched the movies because it was an obligation, they were too young to know any better or as a weird sort of cultural rubbernecking. No matter how horrific, you simply had to slow down and look at the twisted wreckage of the last generation?s beloved franchise. While I?ll admit there is a strong argument for Star Wars, because it?s a shitty, derivative piece of crap that only gets by because of monstrous corporate backing and nostalgia. While that sadly does seem to be a fairly accurate reflection of where our culture is at the moment, I find most people have just written Star Wars off, only like ragging on it over the internet or are just kids who like light sabres.

 

[karloss01]

They're all good choices (except LOTR, wrong generation), so just to screw with y'all I'm gonna vote for the Matrix!

I'm with George, The matrix revolutionised the way directors film action with bullettime/slow mo, anime-inspired action shots the way fight scenes were structured. today slow motion is a common technique used in almost every action film in some way or another, and action scenes have moved to a more anime/comic book style that has made films like the marvel series possible without looking cheap or poorly captured.

Tolkien defined the fantasy world with his books that pretty much every fantasy setting draws inspiration from.

Star Wars did the same as LOTR with the Sci-fi genre showing a universe where multi-racial species living amongst each other which many other Sci-Fi programs/books/games have drawn from.

finally the Matrix redefined how cinematography was implemented in western film exspecially that used in the action genre.

EDIT: if we are talking about full franchises (not just in film) i hate to say it but Call of Duty. its everywhere, everyone loves/hates it, and its performed better then any of the three in terms of sales and if not given enough time it will. and there is most likely at least a film being considered.

 

[personion]

Heh.

Three way thing.

I agree with Kyle, "this generation's star wars" is definitely "star wars"

 

[Altorin]

I said it before in the last video and the last comment section. There really is no right answer to this question, because "Star Wars" means a bunch of different things. Star Wars is the movies, their critical success, their visionary direction, their odes to former times and classic art, it's the world that spawned from those movies in the form of lore and books, and it's also the culture that star wars spawned and that it was a major part of and reflection of. That was a horrible run on sentence, I apologize. But if you take those 3 elements apart and look at them individually, those are the answers for that question. There is no one "Star Wars" of this generation. it takes 15 movies to have the same combined impact that star wars did with 3 movies.

 

[Wriggle Wyrm]

They're all good choices (except LOTR, wrong generation), so just to screw with y'all I'm gonna vote for the Matrix!

I'm with George, The matrix revolutionised the way directors film action with bullettime/slow mo, anime-inspired action shots the way fight scenes were structured. today slow motion is a common technique used in almost every action film in some way or another, and action scenes have moved to a more anime/comic book style that has made films like the marvel series possible without looking cheap or poorly captured.

Tolkien defined the fantasy world with his books that pretty much every fantasy setting draws inspiration from.

Star Wars did the same as LOTR with the Sci-fi genre showing a universe where multi-racial species living amongst each other which many other Sci-Fi programs/books/games have drawn from.

finally the Matrix redefined how cinematography was implemented in western film exspecially that used in the action genre.

EDIT: if we are talking about full franchises (not just in film) i hate to say it but Call of Duty. its everywhere, everyone loves/hates it, and its performed better then any of the three in terms of sales and if not given enough time it will. and there is most likely at least a film being considered.

I disagree that the Matrix should be a contender. I?ll admit that the first movie was pretty good and did influence how movies were shot but it stops there. As the sequels went on, the quality dropped and it became pretty obvious that deep mystical ?philosophy? they were always touting was mostly just stuff the creators pulled out of their asses. After the theatrical and DVD runs The Matrix sort of dropped off the map.

Also with Call of Duty, I'd say it would only apply in video game circles, not the culture at large.

 

[newwiseman]

I'm going with LoTR, it redefined the term epic.

As much as Harry Potter was a cultural phenomenon it took a couple movies to build up a huge main stream impact and break away from the "kid" target audience. LoTR had a lot of hype prior to it coming out and we didn't have to wait for the third movie for it to finally get good.

And, while Star Wars is technically Star Wars, it fails to match in any way the ground breaking nature of the original three movies (unless your counting how pissed off they made the fans)

If you want something that really matches the original Star Wars then look no farther than Pirates of the Caribbean. The first movie exploded into the scene as a stand alone film with the remaining two being filmed as one story with the divide between the two being bringing back the popular character (Han Solo and Captain Jack). They also share that their 4th film (in order of release) was a shitty cash grab.

 

[JaceArveduin]

I'm going LOTR, how many other movies, other than star wars, can go 9 years before releasing the prequels? Harry Potter released 8 movies over 10 years, and as a fan that liked the books, I only saw the movies because i was drug to see them, and whoever was dragging me generally payed for the tickets. LOTR, on the other hand, was able to convince me to buy the extended editions for 20 a piece. While also spinning off more than a few good games, compared to how many good HP games?