What makes a classic?

[jack]

On wednesday, I watched "True Lies", perhaps the best film in which Schwartzneger plays a human :) It's got a good mix of action, sex, and pretty funny too.

I've also just re-read Niven/Pournelle's "Moat around Murchurson's Eye". In many ways it's got everything a good science fiction book should. Some of the best aliens I've ever read. Lots of action. Science pretty realistic + two necessary innovations (shields and wormholes) which are consistent. Fun characters, including a Muslim ex-potential-terrorist (which is suddenly a much hotter topic now...).

I enjoyed both, and would recommend them without hesitation, but somehow I wouldn't describe either as a classic, in the way I would LOTR, Dune, Star Wars. And I'm not sure why. It's like they did everything right, but were just a perfection of themes found in other things, and not genuinely new. But then you could say the same for starwars. Do you have to create a genre to be a classic? That seems a bit stringent. What other works fit this pattern?

Comments

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

Can I be really vague as I haven't really thought this out? I think it comes down to legend and mythology. The three films you've described could almost be a modern day (or futuristic, FTM) telling of the same stories that have been around for generations. The plots are not original - you've got the prince, the quest, the fight against evil. I can't remember who the terrorists in True Lies are, but they're not _evil_ exactly

Hmm, want to go watch "Star Wars" now. Oh dear.

[cartesiandaemon.livejournal.com]

Actually, the terrorists were 'Crimson Jihad', so to an american producer pretty much were the embodiment of evil :) but I get what you mean. Hmmm, maybe I should include more ultimate evils in my stories :)

[nakedtoes.livejournal.com]

Yeah! Ultimate evil's great! Think of The First from Buffy (actually don't, it was a little lame. Damn it!)