The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum - View Single Post - Daily life in M-E

Bêthberry · 06-07-2002, 07:39 AM

*skips in to say hello to Child of the 7th Age and Everyone Else on this thread*

That sense of 'historical retreat' is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure how well it fits my reading of the various cultures in Middle Earth and I'm not sure the movie follows through with that.

The social etiquette of the Shire resembles that of Victorian or Edwardian England, with its 'Miss' this and 'Mr' that and the decorum humorously at odds with the gossiping and petty jealousies (vaguely Dickensian?). But would an Edwardian context suit the pre-Industrial Shire? (Certainly the dinnerware in the movie is not Wedgewood or Spode, LOL!) I had always imagined, from the book, something Tudorish or Elizabethan for The Shire, something Italian Renaissance for Minas Tirith (warring city states and all that). The descriptions of Bree, with their marked sense of a retreat from trade and outside commerce, their insularity, seemed more suited to the walled or 'gated' communities of the Middle Ages.

Not so much a march back in time, as the variation of European cultures.

The movie gave me the sense that celtic imagery was used for Rivendell while some of the archways of Lothlorien reminded me of the flying buttresses of French cathedrals such as Chartres.

Not to say that I am terribly knowledgable about European history myself, coming from that almost druidic Old Forest.

*curtsies respectfully*

Bethberry

[ June 09, 2002: Message edited by: Bethberry ]

06-07-2002, 07:39 AM	#7
Bêthberry Cryptic Aura Join Date: May 2002 Posts: 6,003	skips in to say hello to Child of the 7th Age* and Everyone Else on this thread* That sense of 'historical retreat' is an interesting idea, but I'm not sure how well it fits my reading of the various cultures in Middle Earth and I'm not sure the movie follows through with that. The social etiquette of the Shire resembles that of Victorian or Edwardian England, with its 'Miss' this and 'Mr' that and the decorum humorously at odds with the gossiping and petty jealousies (vaguely Dickensian?). But would an Edwardian context suit the pre-Industrial Shire? (Certainly the dinnerware in the movie is not Wedgewood or Spode, LOL!) I had always imagined, from the book, something Tudorish or Elizabethan for The Shire, something Italian Renaissance for Minas Tirith (warring city states and all that). The descriptions of Bree, with their marked sense of a retreat from trade and outside commerce, their insularity, seemed more suited to the walled or 'gated' communities of the Middle Ages. Not so much a march back in time, as the variation of European cultures. The movie gave me the sense that celtic imagery was used for Rivendell while some of the archways of Lothlorien reminded me of the flying buttresses of French cathedrals such as Chartres. Not to say that I am terribly knowledgable about European history myself, coming from that almost druidic Old Forest. curtsies respectfully Bethberry [ June 09, 2002: Message edited by: Bethberry ] __________________ I’ll sing his roots off. I’ll sing a wind up and blow leaf and branch away.