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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Merlion" data-source="post: 2595060" data-attributes="member: 10397">This is an interesting topic and I'm really not quite sure what my take on it is. I'm a little older than the original poster, but not a whole lot. I did not see any of the Star Wars movies in their original release, however Star Wars was always pretty big in my family, so I could be said to have grown up with it. I've also been watching the Rank and Bass animated Hobbit and Return of the King for as long as I can remember, and I read the books when I was 10. So for me, they are both stories that I am greatly fond of, although I enjoy Lord of the Rings/the Silmarillion etc more overall, simply because there is more too them. In some ways the issue of it being a new Star Wars in terms of people attachment to it is so personal and so much a matter of circumstance and perspective, its hard to really discuss. However I think it is safe to say that many many people will develop a happy-childhood carryover connection to the movies, and in terms of the number of people with that reaction it will probably equal or exceed Star Wars just because as has been mentioned LOTR recieved a much wider release much faster.  But the funny thing about it is, the LOTR books are one of the major foundation stones of fantasy as a genre for both books and movies, and so Willow still owes a bit to the LOTR story, just not the movie.  This is something I have thought much about as well, because it has been proved time and again that sci fi and even fantasy can be profitable and popular, and now with LOTR its even been shown that such a film can recieve high awards from the filmaking industry. When you think about it, excluding titanic, most of the highest grossing films have been or at least had strong elements of sci fi/fantasy etc. E.T. the Jurrasic Park movies, Harry Potter, LOTR etcI think Harry Potter has contributed quite a bit as well, and as you said Narnia is coming up. But one still wonders at the reasons behind moviemakers reluctance in this area. Of course, its going to vary from director to director and producer to producer and whatever.I think many see fantasy as fairytales for young kids...as Disney stuff. I think some are afraid of the themes that tend to get touched on...religion and spirituality, free will, the price of power, racism and elitism etc. But I think LOTR has had an impact, and I think we will see it more and more. Theres probably also a lot of fear of seeming to simply be a copycat, trying to cash in on LOTR's popularity. I think once that passes the floodgates will really open. As far as cultural impact well again it must be remembered that LOTR has impacted the culture twice...as literature and as movies. The literature was one of the major things responsible for creating the fantasy genre we know. Its impact on our culture was slow and subtle, and its been the same with the movies. Even though many many people saw them, a lesser percetage really took to them enough to adopt quotes from the movie and such like. But that will only increase with time.</blockquote>

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