Lord of the Rings also fits that narrative, but rather than accept the end and the death as inevitable it challenges heroic men to rage against the dying of the light. When we are introduced to Middle Earth, Gondor's nobility has withered and faded into obscurity, with stewards focused on their tragic end and unable to take action. Rohan is betrayed, its King witless and under the spell of evil forces that let enemy hordes destroy its people and plunder its land, while punishing those who try and fight against it. The dwarves and elves are in decline, strongholds falling as their realms shrink and their time on middle earth comes to an end. But small acts of heroism by ordinary folk are all thats needed to shift the tide. For me at least, and hopefully my fellow Zoomers, there's an underlying belief that even if we're living in the decline of the republic/ Imperium/ whatever, maybe all it takes is the strength to keep fighting, and maybe those better days will come again.
Whatever else you might say, this is one of the smartest observations of JB Peterson that so many myths have the rescue of the father at their heart.
Because it's always been that way. Father is always dying, the torch is fading, it's your turn now to pick up that torch and carry it as far as you can...
And then be rescued by your children who have to pick up that torch for the next leg. Such is life. Because of death. Civilization must ever and always be fought for.
My daughter is at the younger part of the Gen Z age range. Being a female, she's rightly not super into Star Wars. She's cool with watching it, but not a fan. As a Gen X'er, I'm proud of her because she didn't fall for the new Disney Star Wars garbage. That said, I've never broke down the angle you expressed so well in this article. Well done. Thanks for the illumination.
If she's a reader get her John Wright's Starquest. It was what the Star Wars sequels could have been. The aliens are also all different varieties of uplifted animals so it's got a nice amime vibe as well.
This is a genius-level insight. I have watched Star Wars from the beginning (I vividly remember watching scenes from the first one) - and I am astonished that I (and other fans) did not see this!
There are a lot of us boomers who loved the original trilogy. I was 18 when the new hope aired. The youngest boomers were 13. Cool hand Luke was ancient history by then and most of us never saw it.
According to marketing research, no. Gen Z was never into Marvel the way previous generations were. It was part of the reason they panicked, dumped the old characters to try and tap into "Youth culture." Comic books were the traditional feeder for superheroes and they'd stopped making those with kids in mind.
The MCU seemed to have a lot of “flirt” fans but not many “advocates”
As an aside note, Mr Herald, could you please upload your old article about the different fan archetypes (flirt, advocate, etc.)?
It was one of the most illuminating articles which I have ever read but I cannot find it online because your old blog has a terrible search function (even worse than Substack which is saying a lot)
Lord of the Rings also fits that narrative, but rather than accept the end and the death as inevitable it challenges heroic men to rage against the dying of the light. When we are introduced to Middle Earth, Gondor's nobility has withered and faded into obscurity, with stewards focused on their tragic end and unable to take action. Rohan is betrayed, its King witless and under the spell of evil forces that let enemy hordes destroy its people and plunder its land, while punishing those who try and fight against it. The dwarves and elves are in decline, strongholds falling as their realms shrink and their time on middle earth comes to an end. But small acts of heroism by ordinary folk are all thats needed to shift the tide. For me at least, and hopefully my fellow Zoomers, there's an underlying belief that even if we're living in the decline of the republic/ Imperium/ whatever, maybe all it takes is the strength to keep fighting, and maybe those better days will come again.
This holds true, considering that the recent re-screenings of the Jackson trilogy were packed with Young people.
Whatever else you might say, this is one of the smartest observations of JB Peterson that so many myths have the rescue of the father at their heart.
Because it's always been that way. Father is always dying, the torch is fading, it's your turn now to pick up that torch and carry it as far as you can...
And then be rescued by your children who have to pick up that torch for the next leg. Such is life. Because of death. Civilization must ever and always be fought for.
My daughter is at the younger part of the Gen Z age range. Being a female, she's rightly not super into Star Wars. She's cool with watching it, but not a fan. As a Gen X'er, I'm proud of her because she didn't fall for the new Disney Star Wars garbage. That said, I've never broke down the angle you expressed so well in this article. Well done. Thanks for the illumination.
If she's a reader get her John Wright's Starquest. It was what the Star Wars sequels could have been. The aliens are also all different varieties of uplifted animals so it's got a nice amime vibe as well.
Thanks for the recommendation.
This is a genius-level insight. I have watched Star Wars from the beginning (I vividly remember watching scenes from the first one) - and I am astonished that I (and other fans) did not see this!
Like tears… in rain.
There are a lot of us boomers who loved the original trilogy. I was 18 when the new hope aired. The youngest boomers were 13. Cool hand Luke was ancient history by then and most of us never saw it.
Millennials also have Kotor 1 & 2. So we saw that death of the golden age story as well.
Iron Man was released in 2008 when the youngest millenials were 12 and the eldest were 27.
Most millennials were therefore too old to have considered the MCU to be a formative franchise.
Generation Z were the right age for the MCU to have been formative, particularly for its Infinity War peak.
Did it have any influence upon them at all?
According to marketing research, no. Gen Z was never into Marvel the way previous generations were. It was part of the reason they panicked, dumped the old characters to try and tap into "Youth culture." Comic books were the traditional feeder for superheroes and they'd stopped making those with kids in mind.
I suppose that makes sense
The MCU seemed to have a lot of “flirt” fans but not many “advocates”
As an aside note, Mr Herald, could you please upload your old article about the different fan archetypes (flirt, advocate, etc.)?
It was one of the most illuminating articles which I have ever read but I cannot find it online because your old blog has a terrible search function (even worse than Substack which is saying a lot)
Thankyou very much