National Film Registry deems Return Of The Jedi and The Lord Of The Rings culturally significant

Thanks to the Library Of Congress, future generations will always have access to the Ewoks

By Sam Barsanti | December 14, 2021 | 9:23pm

Aux News National Film Registry

National Film Registry deems Return Of The Jedi and The Lord Of The Rings culturally significant

An Ewok from Return Of The Jedi Photo: Michael Buckner

If, for some inconceivable reason, you refuse to watch any movies unless they’re deemed historically and/or culturally significant enough to be included in the Library Of Congress’ National Film Registry (which preserves a running collection of important films like Shrek), we have some good news for you: You can finally watch the whole original Star Wars trilogy. Yes, more than a decade after including The Empire Strikes Back and three decades after adding Star Wars, the Library Of Congress has decided that Return Of The Jedi is also Important—now to wait and see what happens with the next eight movies in the series, which will help us all settle some arguments.

The Library Of Congress doesn’t only care about Star Wars, though, as there are a number of similarly interesting additions to the National Film Registry this year, including The Lord Of The Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring (setting up another trilogy the Congress Librarians will have to deal with), Selena, WALL-E, Cooley High, Pink Flamingos, Strangers On A Train, Stop Making Sense, The Watermelon Woman, What Ever Happened To Baby Jane?, and A Nightmare On Elm Street, as well as influential silent films made by Black Americans like 1926's The Flying Ace (a film that reportedly inspired the Tuskegee Airmen) and 1930's Hellbound Train (a “staunchly Christian film” made by Black filmmakers James and Eloyce Gist that had previously been lost).