Emotion vs Power

"It's like in the great stories Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered."
                    -Samwise Gamgee from The Lord of the Rings by J R R Tolkien

I watched the Fellowship of the Ring this week and because of it I had a couple of conversations about the Lord of the Rings and just thought about it. Some people say the series is boring, and you know it is a lot slower than what today's media prepares us for. One thought I had was because the point of view is omniscient and kind of sees the whole story instead of being in someone's head the whole time there is less emotion that is blatantly shown. Don't get me wrong, there is still great emotion but that almost isn't the point. The point is the overall story in other words the themes almost seem more prominent. Other older books have some of the same characteristics, such as "Tale of Two Cities."
Brandon Sanderson is arguably the best, modern fantasy writer. The point of view he uses is always in his characters' heads, very close to the action and the emotions of the characters. This makes for a much faster pace and is honestly what today's readers want. Other modern authors, such as Orson Scott Card or J K Rowling, have this fast paced, emotional writing style. And they still have some amazingly honorable, brave, and courageous characters, and themes of triumph over evil just like Tolkien.
But sometimes I feel like because we are so close to the action and emotion in much of today's entertainment it is easy to feel the emotional power while missing some of the overall themes even when authors put them in.
It almost seems like sometimes meaningful or powerful ideas can be missed or stripped of their significance when there is too much emotion. Because emotion is so distracting in some ways. And yet.... if you don't care about the characters at all the meaning doesn't come through.
Maybe it isn't about the point of view, maybe it is more about the motive of the author. Are they trying to entertain or are they trying to moralize (don't take that in a negative way). Perhaps, there is some other reason completely.
I also think that emotion definitely has a place and brings another type of power to books. In a previous post I wrote about the emotion I felt when reading The Killer Angels by Shaara. Without being in some of those characters heads I wouldn't grasped the significance or the devastation of the battle of Gettysburg.
Ultimately, the question I have as an aspiring author is can I write a fast-paced, character-based book that is still meaningful? And what should my motive be?