The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Does LotR have cross-cultural appeal?

Bêthberry · 08-16-2005, 06:53 AM

May I make a suggestion here? Sauce, since you raised the issue, perhaps you could provide some quotations or point to particular passages and events which you think might represent a Eurocentric cultural view rather than a 'universal' view (even if regarded by Caucasians as universal) which people of other cultures might not see as a universal truth?

It is all well and good to say that all peoples and all cultures and all faiths understand 'good vs evil', but there are very different ways of understanding those terms. I don't say this to discredit anyone's beliefs--and I apply here all of SpM's cautionary comments from his first post--but to consider more specifically how different events can be understood.

For instance, the entire framework of a march south to battle evil and repel it from Gondor: Does this read too much like the medieval crusades from some points of view? I mean, would it remind some readers of the crusades and battles to exclude the Muslims from Europe? We all have a certain understanding about Tolkien's methods in describing the Easterlings and men from Harad--we know he wasn't racist--but how do those descriptions at least initially impact on Asian or Middle eastern or African people? What does it mean for black readers to constantly see the words 'dark' and 'black' used for the evil side? And before any of you jump on me, let me suggest you read some of Toni Morrison's thought here, say, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination.

Sauce, were you asking us to consider LotR through other eyes than our own?

08-16-2005, 06:53 AM	#31
Bêthberry Cryptic Aura Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 6,003	May I make a suggestion here? Sauce, since you raised the issue, perhaps you could provide some quotations or point to particular passages and events which you think might represent a Eurocentric cultural view rather than a 'universal' view (even if regarded by Caucasians as universal) which people of other cultures might not see as a universal truth? It is all well and good to say that all peoples and all cultures and all faiths understand 'good vs evil', but there are very different ways of understanding those terms. I don't say this to discredit anyone's beliefs--and I apply here all of SpM's cautionary comments from his first post--but to consider more specifically how different events can be understood. For instance, the entire framework of a march south to battle evil and repel it from Gondor: Does this read too much like the medieval crusades from some points of view? I mean, would it remind some readers of the crusades and battles to exclude the Muslims from Europe? We all have a certain understanding about Tolkien's methods in describing the Easterlings and men from Harad--we know he wasn't racist--but how do those descriptions at least initially impact on Asian or Middle eastern or African people? What does it mean for black readers to constantly see the words 'dark' and 'black' used for the evil side? And before any of you jump on me, let me suggest you read some of Toni Morrison's thought here, say, Playing in the Dark: Whiteness and the Literary Imagination. Sauce, were you asking us to consider LotR through other eyes than our own? __________________ I’ll sing his roots off. I’ll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away.