Star Wars and Lord of the Rings

POSTED BY: rockxwl
UPDATED: Tuesday, July 11, 2006 18:10
VIEWED: 4621
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ROCKXWL

Monday, July 10, 2006 6:02 PM

Felt this was the best place for this topic.

We all love Firefly here and since everyone here loves Firefly I think the chances are pretty good that 99% of us have also seen and love Star Wars.

Now hopefully a good amount of the people here also have watched (and hopefully read) Lord of the Rings.

I wholeheartedly declare that I am obsessed with both Star Wars and Lord of the Rings and I know plenty of other people are in love with them both as well which leads to my question.

In your opinion, between LotR and Star Wars, which one is it more socially "acceptable" to be absolutely obsessed with. By this I mean which obsession is less likely to earn you eye-rolls and the title of "nerd" or "geek" from the rest of society?

My opinion: Lord of the Rings was my first fantasy/sci-fi passion and therefore remains my greatest. I have read The Hobbit + LotR about 7 or 8 times in my 21 years. Most of those readings came in the last 4 years when I became smart enough to truly understand and appreciate it. However, since Star Wars was more recent and also delivered as a movie (as we all know, sadly most people nowadays would rather watch movie then read a book) everybody has heard of both Star Wars and Lord of the Rings but most people have probably been surrounded by more people that are passionate about Star Wars over LotR. Since Star Wars is more recent and origniated on a more popular medium, people are more accepting of encyclopedic Star Wars knowledge.

In short, being able to recite a year-by-year timeline of Boba Fett's childhood is less likely to receive shouts of "NERD!" than being able to draw a map of Middle-Earth or Numenor from memory. Tell me what you all think!

P.S. - I would like to try and keep this discussion revolving around the LotR books and Star Wars: A New Hope, Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. However, if you must discuss the other Star Wars films (or Clone Wars or books, etc) or Peter Jackson's LotR films (or even the animated movies from the 80's), that is fine too.

"We always hoped you two kids would get together...who is she?"

PATSRULE

Monday, July 10, 2006 6:10 PM

It depends on who you socialize with and how obsessed you are.

If you are with a literary crowd, its Tolkein, if you are with a movie crowd, its Star Wars. If you are REALLY obsessed, it isn't socially acceptable either way, other than with other really obsessed people.

ROCKXWL

Monday, July 10, 2006 6:15 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by patsrule:
It depends on who you socialize with and how obsessed you are.

If you are with a literary crowd, its Tolkein, if you are with a movie crowd, its Star Wars. If you are REALLY obsessed, it isn't socially acceptable either way, other than with other really obsessed people.

Maybe not OBSESSION necessarily, lets just say the defintion is equally or more passionate than the average person on this board is about Firefly.

"We always hoped you two kids would get together...who is she?"

PATSRULE

Monday, July 10, 2006 6:18 PM

You don't think the average person on this board is OBSESSED with Firefly? I constantly am befuddled by how obsessed people here are with Firefly.

You realise people here were buying tickets for the Firefly movie to shows they couldn't attend just to drive up the box office? Or that several people were buying double digit copies of the tv show dvd to give to everyone they know as Christmas gifts to get its sales positions higher? And that is just the start....

and "Being able to recite a year-by-year timeline of Boba Fett's orbeing able to draw a map of Middle-Earth or Numenor from memory" both qualify as obsessed in my book.

Edit:
And I am not making judgements about Firefly fans, Tolkein fans or Starwars fans. I am not calling anyone a nerd or loser, but none of those fans would be socially acceptable among anone but other fans that are also obsessed.

ROCKXWL

Monday, July 10, 2006 6:44 PM

Quote:
"Being able to recite a year-by-year timeline of Boba Fett's orbeing able to draw a map of Middle-Earth or Numenor from memory" both qualify as obsessed in my book.

You're taking me way to literal. Those were just examples not to be taken seriously. I just want my question viewed vaguely, as a starting point, so hopefully people will want to have a discussion on it.

"We always hoped you two kids would get together...who is she?"

DEEPGIRL187

Monday, July 10, 2006 8:02 PM

I think in some ways it's slightly more socially acceptable to be a LOTR fan than a Star Wars fan. Star Wars still has this stigma from when it wasn't as cool to be a geek. LOTR, on the other hand, has benefitted from the fact that geeks kind of have selling power. I don't people are going to cringe as much when they hear "Lord Of The Rings" as when they hear "Star Wars".

P.S. - By the way, I'm not trying to slam geeks here, especially considering I'm one myself.

**************************************************

"I...won't be just a memory."

FUTUREMRSFILLION

Monday, July 10, 2006 8:07 PM

LOTR definately, and Star Wars the ORIGINAL. Sorry, can NOT get behind Jar Jar and all that other stuff

FYI I saw Teh Fellowship 15 times in theater so - yeah I am obsessed

GUYWHOWANTSAFIREFLYOFHISOWN

Monday, July 10, 2006 9:06 PM

I want a lightsaber and 10 minutes of quality time with Lucas for jar jar

http://www.albinoblacksheep.com/flash/llama.php
-try it out, I dare you

98% of teens have smoked pot, if you are one of the 2% that haven't, copy this into your signature

I'm so into Firefly, my butt glows in the dark.

FUTUREMRSFILLION

Monday, July 10, 2006 9:07 PM

Can you discuss the whole Ewoks thing with him too? They were cute, but the killed that movie for me.

Felt like a muppet movie!

AURAPTOR

Tuesday, July 11, 2006 1:15 AM

That's a tough call. More 'acceptable '. Hmmm.... LOTR is certainly older than most Browncoats, even all if you count The Hobbit. But thing about non - nerds is that they ridicule just about anything remotely sci-fi equally. Doesn't matter if it's Star Wars, Star Trek, or LOTR. I even heard guys on the radio making fun of folks who had lined up for the new Pirates of the Caribbean movie. Seems some had dressed up in Pirate garb, which to me is kinda cool. But, alas, w/ some of our society,....if it's different, then it HAS to be ridiculed.

I'd say, of the two, I'm much more a LOTR fan. Granted, the early SW movies were filled w/ much of the same wonder and thrills, but all that was lost for me w/ the last 3 movies. Tolkien, on the other hand.....his stories only fill me w/ MORE wonder, not less.

People love a happy ending. So every episode, I will explain once again that I don't like people. And then Mal will shoot someone. Someone we like. And their puppy. - Joss

" They don't like it when you shoot at 'em. I worked that out myself. "

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