Lord of the Rings, Star Wars added to America’s National Film Registry

The National Film Registry, a list of movies deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress, is making room for blockbusters. This year’s inductees include Star Wars Episode VI- Return of the Jedi, The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring, A Nightmare on Elm StreetPlease see the following: WALL•E, which means that they will be “recommended for preservation by those holding the best elements for that film,” according to the Library of Congress’ mission statement. And, while it is not a designation of the best movies in the way that Oscars are, it is a declaration from the Library of Congress that these movies “reflect who we are as a people and as a nation.”

These sci-fi, fantasy, and horror classics received wide critical and commercial praise at their releases. They add star power to an otherwise small list of films that may need more. But the placement of big-budget classics offers some corrective to what Marvel President Kevin Feige recently called “genre bias,” a sense that superheroes, robots, and hobbits might make a movie less palatable to Academy Award voters and the critical community.

It’s hard to argue that any of these movies received much in terms of a negative bias —Fellowship of the Ring This is part of the Trilogy that won Best Picture. Of the major films on this list, Wes Craven’s Nightmare arguably had the longest journey, typically more defined by Robert Englund’s horrifying Freddy rather than its vast cultural appeal. The Registry’s list of horror movies features many classics, but still lacks the depth of some of its other genres.

Image: Warner Bros. Home Entertainment

Of course, it’s not just horror and sci-fi movies that have biases against them. There are racial, gender and sex-based, and political biases against movies, and the Registry’s aims to challenge that history as well.

Joining the 2021 roster of inductees is Howard Alk’s 1971 documentary Fred Hampton MurdersThis challenged the official story surrounding the death and burial of Illinois Black Panther Party leader. There’s Cheryl Dunye’s 1988 movie Watermelon Woman, This film has been praised as being the first narrative feature length movie written and directed entirely by Black lesbians about Black lesbians. And there’s Michael Shultz’s influential Cooley HighSpike Lee was influenced by the movie “The Black High Schoolers of Chicago”, which is a film about Black students at Chicago’s high school.

There are also the biases of time, which can mean that “older movies” all get painted with the same brush. But not every film from the early days of cinema is a Charlie Chaplin comedy, and that’s likely why the Registry highlights movies like Flying AceA silent 1926 movie featuring an all-Black cast, about a World War I soldier who returns home to get a job as railroad detective.

There are many classics that fall between the great movies and smaller treasures. Long Goodbye starring Elliot Gould to the Talking Heads’ legendary concert movie Make Sense!. Hopefully, from concert movies to silent movies to horror, next year’s list will continue to deepen Registry’s understanding of the American film experience.

Here’s the full list of this year’s National Registry inductees:

1. Ringling Bros Parade Film (1902)
2. Jubilo (1919)
3. Flying Ace (1926)
4. Hellbound Train (1930)
5. Flower and tree arrangements (1932)
6. On a Train, Strangers (1951)
7. Baby Jane’s Story: (1962)
8. Evergreen (1965)
9. Requiem-29 (1970)
10. Fred Hampton Murders (1971)
11. Pink Flamingos (1972)
12. Sounder (1972)
13. Long Goodbye (1973)
14. Cooley High (1975)
15. Richard Pryor: Live Concert (1979)
16. Chicana (1979)
17. The Wobblies (1979)
18. Star Wars Episode VI — Return of the Jedi (1983)
19. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)
20. Make Sense! (1984)
21. Vincent Chin was killed by whom? (1987)
22. Watermelon Woman (1996)
23. Selena (1997)
24. The Lord of the Rings – The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
25. WALL•E (2008)