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

[MightyMole]

Pretty sure it's Harry Potter. As much as I don't like Harry Potter, it's hard to deny it when little kids buy plastic wands yelling "spells" at each other much like they did with plastic lightsabers. LotR might be better then all of them IMO but it just didn't have a cultural impact (Well the books did, but not on this generation specifically). The sorting hat is the new force, the Hogwart's Houses are the new Jedi and Sith (if I see one more facebook quiz sorting people into Gryffindor I'm gonna scream), Snape kills Dumbledore is the new "I am your father" and Harry is the new Luke.

 

[y04coopa]

I am definitely siding with Dan on this one. lord of the rings.

 

[Prof. Monkeypox]

This is especially directed toward Kyle, but I don't get why a bunch of guys already foreclosed on the idea that their generation had the best film are discussing what "generation Y" wants.

They go on about how people saw the new Star Wars out of a sense of obligation, and that people don't see movies out of excitement, but out of duty, etc. But it wasn't/isn't generation Y that made the Star Wars prequels successful in the first place, that was the previous generation that was nostalgia blinded by the Star Wars brand and went to see them regardless.

When episode 1 was released, I was like, ten. So, my purchasing power did nothing to make them a success.

I watched the original trilogy when I was like, seven, and episode 1 when I was, like, 11. And I thought all of them were "meh."

The idea that "this generation" is marked by movie failures is ridiculous, because most of the failed movies you mentioned (i.e. Star Wars, Transformers) were catering to your generation, not mine.

It's just odd that you claim that "gen Y" films fail because they don't live up to your movie tastes when you were ten years old.

On topic: Harry Potter, if for no other reason than it had the same level of cultural impact on this generation as Star Wars had on the last.

 

[Lunar Templar]

i cast my vote for Harry Potter, cause it was just a massively HUGE thing for SO long, much longer then LotR was, and LotR was fucking HUGE, helped by the fact that there's like what? 8 of those movies? that came out of the course of a decade.

so yeah, i vote Harry Potter as this generation's 'star wars', even though i like LotR more

 

[Drakmeire]

I feel Harry Potter has left the largest cultural impact. Everyone on the street can name characters in Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings and the Star Wars Prequels can't say that.
My grandmother knows ALL the main cast of Harry Potter without having seen the movies. I say star wars prequels she will name characters from the original movies.

 

[DiMono]

This generation's Star Wars is Transformers. It's shiny, with lots of flash and moving parts, but ultimately it doesn't do anything useful.

 

[Aardvaarkman]

I don't understand this "obligation" to watch an entire series.

Star Wars: The first prequel sucked, so I never watched another Star Wars film.
The Matrix: The second film sucked, so I never watched another Matrix film.
Lord of the Rings: The second movie sucked, so I never watched another LotR film.
Harry Potter: The first film sucked, so I never watched another Harry Potter film.

It is possible to just stop watching when something goes bad.

 

[The Grim Ace]

Even though I never really cared for it, this generation's Star Wars is Harry Potter. It really got the flavor of the month book storm thing going (ie. A Series of Unfortunate Events, Hunger Games, and [fucking] Twilight) yet it actually had staying power. The movies made so much consistent money that Warner Brothers tried to recapture that lightning (in the worst possible way, with the Green Lantern) and critics were usually positive about it. Also, it's every where, it's a major cultural touchstone even now, and, yes, it's defining the hell out of everyone involved with its careers now.

The prequel trilogy, though doing very well, was (mostly) abominable and has led to even more love for the holy trilogy. The Lord of the Rings is something I absolutely love but it doesn't seem to have had the same ridiculous effect on this current generation than HP did.

[small]I really wish LotR could be the logical winner, since Tolkein beats Rowling every day of the week...[/small]

 

[T8B95]

I'm just going to preface my thoughts with a few commments: First of all, Harry Potter is my favourite out of all three of these. I prefer it over Lord of the Rings, and I even prefer it over my own choice in this matter. Also, I generally despise comic book movies. However...

I believe that this generation's Star Wars, in terms of cultural impact and redefinition of popular culture, is the Christoper Nolan Batman films.

I say that they redefined cinema as we know it, much like Star Wars did in the 1970's-1980's. For the first time in history, there were movies based on what were ostensibly kid's comic books that were intelligent, serious, and informed. They had multi-dimensional, complex characters, and an intelligent storyline that didn't require having a fucking glossary on hand to understand it. For the first time people who weren't fans began to go see these movies and (for better or for worse) they ensured that these sorts of movies would continue to made for the next several generations.

 

[krellen]

2) Star Trek: The Next Generation. That show has got to be the only sci-fi show that's been watched by so many people since the original Star Trek! It was popular, and was able to turn episodes into huge events! Think of "The Best of Both Worlds" -- we had to wait months for the conclusion after seeing this cliffhanger!

You weren't old enough to remember the months wait that cliffhanger brought. I am, because TNG belongs to my generation (X).

 

[Darknacht]

Harry Potter has only stuck around so long because it has taken so long to finish so it is hard to tell whether or not it will be remembered but it already seems to be fading out quickly.
I think that the prequels are this generations Star Wars. They may not be good but they have had a lasting impact and will be remembered far into the future.

2) Star Trek: The Next Generation. That show has got to be the only sci-fi show that's been watched by so many people since the original Star Trek! It was popular, and was able to turn episodes into huge events! Think of "The Best of Both Worlds" -- we had to wait months for the conclusion after seeing this cliffhanger!

TNG is not the right generation and is that generations Star Trek not Star Wars. The impact of Star Trek has always been a much different one than the impact of Star Wars.

 

[BrunDeign]

Kyle at the end of that video: "I've made a huge mistake."

 

[F-I-D-O]

Out of the choices, I'd have to say Harry Potter. Star Wars (at its launch) was considered a kids movie. It took science fiction to a broader audience, and was an amazing cultural phenomenon.
Harry Potter is, at bare minimum, that.

Spoiler: larger argument incoming

The people who watched New Hope as 6-8 year olds grew up with the original trilogy. People who watched Harry Potter at a similar age are having a much similar experience. It has permeated every part of the popular culture, with multiple people trying to mimic its success (such as Percy Jackson, Twilight, and even Eragorn to a lesser extent). Just as star wars changed cinema with a science fiction film not only being good but succeeding, Harry Potter has shown that a gigantic epic story can, in fact, be critically acclaimed, garner a huge, loyal fanbase, and rake in buckets of money. Wasn't it MovieBob who had some episode dealing with how Harry Potter changed everything(we know how much you guys love MovieBob)? Lord of the Rings is of a different era. Its a damn good story, but its hardly modern. Star Wars is a child trying to meet impossible expectations. Harry Potter was created for and partially by this generation. The prequels played in the world lined out by the original. Harry Potter made its own universe, its own mythology, and its own story that had never been hinted at before.
Lord of the Rings is the world of its generations (a damn good one, but you wouldn't claim The Odyssey belongs to the generation that saw its reprint or movie adaptation, just as Lord of the Rings isn't truly of this time)
The original Star Wars Trilogy is the world of its generation. The prequel trilogy is the child trying to make do in an already created world. I can see an argument for it, but it's not as strong as
Harry Potter. Harry Potter is the world of this generation. No other generation saw it before. No other generation will grow up with it as this current one has. No other generation will see character arcs in almost real time year after year. I heard people lamenting the lack of a new Harry Potter film, as it coming out every year felt normal. I have never heard anyone lament the lack of a new Star Wars release (sometimes I hear people discuss how they want Star wars stuff to stop coming out, particularly when the animated movie launched). Even if the rest is ignored, the fact that Harry Potter was so set in our culture that people would be saddened that it wasn't there, as opposed to cheering for a break, cements it as this generation's Star Wars. Hell, it may have done Star Wars (original) than Star Wars(prequel,original) for this generation.

Posting last sentence here as a TL;DR.
Even if the rest is ignored, the fact that Harry Potter was so set in our culture that people would be saddened that it wasn't there, as opposed to cheering for a break, cements it as this generation's Star Wars.

That mini essay having been written, I could argue that comic book movies, particular Marvel, are this generations Star Wars (but I guess we have to wait until the Avengers to firmly decide that). Hell, Marvel's been putting out multiple movies a year, and I rarely hear any complaints.

 

[Gunjester]

Scoreboard had 4, 3, 2
or 4, 2, 2, whatever.
either way, Harry Potter won. I don't agree, but even though they jumbled the end, the winner in this debate was clear.

 

[Clankenbeard]

Well done all. I enjoyed the three way debate. The gargleclosings were fun. Now go back to your two-perspective format. This was too chaotic on a topic that I thought was already nicely covered last episode.

This is what I would love to see. Do an episode moving from the format:
A. "This is my cool fact." vs. "This is my cool fact." which tends to slowly accumulate points but isn't a great debate. Points have to be arbitrarily awarded. Dan does a nice job, but I often wonder "Why is THAT a point?" when one clicks over.To a format:B. A back and forth bullet pointed debate:1) Debater 1 gets one sentence to make a statement about the topic he is championing.
2) Debater 2 may respond with:
a) Agree (point awarded to Debater 1)
b) Disagree -- Debater 2 says one sentence to refute claim of Debater 1.
1. Sentence lacks merit to refute claim--point awarded to Debater 1
2. Sentence refutes claim--Point awarded to Debater 2

3) Switch lead statement to Debater 2 and repeat.
Speaking out of turn or more than one sentence = point awarded to opponent.


This will likely require more editing to cut out some pregnant pauses while folks consider their single sentences. But I'd bank on some hillarity of folks trying to stretch their sentence into a paragraph and struggling to encapsulate a concept into a single statement. Maybe it needs a bit of tweaking. Maybe you get two sentences. Experiment a little.

 

[Trishbot]

This generation's Star Wars?

The Twilight Saga.

God help us all.

 

[Cain_Zeros]

Wouldn't this generations Star Wars be defined by cultural impact rather than financial or critical success or failure of expectations?

Yes. And as such, it's pretty clearly Harry Potter.

 

[Gizmo1990]

While I hate to say Harry Potter, as I think that it is a badly written, steaming pool of frog piss (thats the books as I have not bothered to see any of the movies past 3 so I cannot judge), it has had the biggest cultural impact.

But I do wonder how may people read the later Harry Potter books just to find out what happened. I was tired of the series by the third but had to keep reading to find out because I am like that. And before abyone tells me it is because they are for kids I was 9 when this book came out.

 

[The Random One]

Ha ha ha, excellent episode, I literally laughed out loud... Poor Dan, he only gets a tiny chair and has to wear only a thin t-shirt when his friends are in cozy jackets! He's too good for you!

I totally buy Kyle's argument. If something defines this generation it's empty cash-grabs that attempt and fail to recapture the wonder of something past due to fundamentally misunderstanding its core value and replicating only its surface, and that's what the new Star Wars is.