Hey! I’ve been thinking about this for awhile and after seeing that Trauma lotr post, I really wanted to share this with someone. It’s totally ok if you don’t wanna discuss it tho
I’ve been thinking about the difference between SW and Marvel, I know that it’s really hard to compare them, but I still enjoy doing it and I’ve seen many people do it online. It will always be SW for me, but the reason behind this isn’t the cooler heroes or anything. I genuinely believe that SW explores more meaningful themes, darker and more sober. Like, Marvel has the whole worthiness idea and redemption arcs, and sacrifice, but then SW…the pure tragedy of Anakin’s story will never be beaten by anything Marvel could create. And then children in war, child slavery, clone slavery, balance of light and darkness, Anakin’s entire storyline…It seems deeper than Marvel. Idk why this interests me so much, but it does and I’d like to hear your thoughts on this mess of ideas, if you don’t mind:)
Thanks for reading my ramblings, love your blog❤️
Hey my friend!
Its absolutely fine for you to discuss this with me! I love to talk about stories and literature, and won't pass up the oppurtunity to do so.
I will admit, I don't consume a lot of Marvel material. I'm really not a superhero movie fan. I've seen a few of them, but not that many, so any judgements I make will be based on those.
What I do think though is that what makes SW superior (or at least the OT and the PT) was the way in which Lucas drew so much inspiration from the great Literature of the past. From the Classics, and from Mythology.
Don't believe the people who say that Star Wars is based purely on Buddhism and nothing else. Lucas openly talked about how he drew inspiration from Greek Mythology (and other sources) in various interviews.
When you build on what came before, stand on the shoulders of giants, so to speak, you have a much more solid foundation. Marvel doesn't have that kind of foundation, with the exception perhaps of some of the Thor stories which are meant to be based on Norse Mythology.
The thing about the "great stories" as Sam once called them, is that they reflect the realities of human nature and experience. Tolkien defined "myths" as stories which convey some kind of deeper truth or message, and I am with him on that.
They don't shy away from the nastier aspects. You get flawed heroes, tragedy and war. You get messed up people doing messed up things, but heroism shining through it all. "Good" people do bad things, bad people do good things.
What you don't get are Mary Sues who just do good things all the time, and live happily ever after TM. Stories in which there are no shades of gray.
I think @mynameisanakin said it well when she talked about how a lot of Marvel and SW fans aren't used to the Mythological tradition, and so want simplistic, moralistic stories without any shades of gray. (Sorry its grey. I don't spell it with an "a".)
That's why you enjoy SW more than Marvel. Because you are a lover of myth, and that is a good thing. Don't ever be ashamed of that. Don't think it means you're weird or strange.
