elvis and star wars

29 years ago today elvis died and i saw star wars for the first time. neither events changed my life to any great degree. i was never a big elvis fan nor do i worship at the altar of star wars. george lucas is not my guru and the force does not rule my life.

on the surface it would seem that other than being two of the big news stories of 1977 that star wars and elvis would have little in common. below the surface there may be more than meets the eye.

elvis defined a generation. once he burst on to the scene neither music nor america were ever the same.

star wars also defined a generation. once the first movie grabbed hold of the culture the movie industry and how america viewed entertainment has never been the same.

in the fifties and the sixties elvis was the true king. he set the standard that few were able to match. by the seventies he had except for brief moments become a parody of what he once was. a bloated ego where once stood a creative genius.

in the seventies and early eighties george lucas was the king of cinema. the star wars triology ruled the roost and the herd of wanna be's who attempted to match his success were mere echoes unable to go where the master had gone. fast forward to the nineties and into the new milineum. like the king lucas's bloated ego left his films little more than a parody of what they once were.

yet despite the egos and lack of later creativity both have a strong legion of followers.

29 years have passed since elvis died yet his memory lives on. his records still sell. graceland is a huge tourist attraction. and untold amounts of impersonators make a living vainly attempting to capture the essence of elvis. performing before seas of spandex a generation trying to recapture a moment in time.

star wars is no different. despite the universal dislike of the second triology the movies went on to make millions. people waited in line for weeks to see the films. books from the basic continuation of the story to ones teaching the force with reliogous furur fly off the shelves. dvd's of various incarnations of the original films including coming soon the original, original without lucas's ego infested edits. the list goes on and on.

the elvis generation and the star wars generation would seem on the surface to have little in common. except for the millions they spend each year trying to return to a time that for them at least in their memories was a time of innoncence.