There is a quote from George Lucas talking about how he wanted the world of Star Wars to feel like it had been around forever, and that not everything was perfect. He called this idea the “used future.” It is one of the things that makes the original trilogy engaging: this is a place that you could imagine actually exists because you can empathize with the mess all over the Millineum Falcon and the rust on the ships and the sand that gets everywhere on Tatooine. The prequels lacked this lived-in feel, and as a result the worlds seemed sterile, lifeless, and boring. It mirrors the acting, which was by and large done on blue screen stages that were sterile, lifeless, and boring.
A few weekends ago, Sonja and I watched the entire extended The Lord of the Rings DVDs set in three consecutive nights, one movie each night. It took forever to get through it all, but it was fun. And while we were watching, I sudddenly thought “The Lord of the Rings is the ‘used past.’” Everything is deliberately meant to have a weight, a history, a backstory. There are ruins everywhere, a testament to the past civilizations that are now lost. The main action is a reprecussion of a war that happened 3000 years ago. Even the swords have names and histories.
LotRs was also filmed on sterile, lifeless, boring bluescreens, but nothing else is allowed to even approach that level of banality. The costumes are embroidered with patterns of elvish runes. The props are made by real blacksmiths. Theodin’s armor has decoration inside, where no audience member will ever see it. The production department went to great lengths to make every item the actors touched have that same history that embues every bit of Tolkien’s world. Throughout the special features is a drumbeat of ‘make it seem real’ and ‘attention to detail.’
One of the things I love about LotR (and Harry Potter, and the Head First books, etc) is that they engage in world-building, which is this niche little interest that I don’t think many people really share with me, but that everyone I know reacts to in a very visceral way: “yeah, those Oliphants rocked.” This is why people come back to these worlds: it’s because you get a sense that there is so much more to it than just the little slice of story you were served, and you’re wondering what it is. The original Star Wars has that, and I think we were all a little disappointed that the backstory was a whiny kid.