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Originally Posted by Elladan and Elrohir
Wish I had seen the film or read the books so I could contribute to this thread. For what it's worth, I will say, as a Christian whom most would describe as a "right-wing fundamentalist", that I have zero problem with these films being made. Doesn't affect me one iota. I'm not gonna take my kids to them (assuming I have kids, which I don't, yet), but censorship is idiotic and immoral.
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I don't think censorship played any part in the movie's failure at the box office - this is a book which, in comparison to LotR, hardly anyone had read, so the fan base was fairly small. The trailer was too confusing & by removing the 'dangerous' message the movie was reduced to a bland adventure movie about a little girl & her best friend, a polar bear in a suit of armour. It wasn't going to attract the kind of audience New Line needed. Let's face it, the same people calling for a boycott of TGC called for a boycott of the Harry Potter movies - & look how far that got them.
Of course, I'm sure they'll claim it was all down to their boycott - though what effect that claim will have - whether it will be believed by the studios & lead to a situation where only movies (& possibly in the longer term TV series & books) that don't challenge religion get green-lighted - is something we'll have to wait & see about.
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I don't see my God (the God of the New Testament and Old alike) as petty, vengeful, spiteful, or distant. Tolkien didn't either, and I doubt he would appreciate his Eru being characterized as such. But that goes way beyond this thread's topic.
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The problem is, taking the books on their own, & seperating them from primary world elements/concepts//beings like God, one has to say that Eru is a very minor character who is not developed at all. The only thing Tolkien gives us is a few lines from him in Ainulindale & then the odd reference to him in some of the minor, posthumous, works - his two big moments are, one, the propounding of the Themes, in which he comes across as a kind of ultra petulant Beethoven, & the creation of Arda, in which he basically calls Arda into being, snaps 'Now see what you've done! Don't you think you should go sort that mess out?' & stomps off &, two, his totalling of Numenor, in which he comes across as more than a little trigger-happy, & less than a little creative, in his response.
The point is, if we avoid importing aspects of the Christian/Muslim/Jewish/(fill in the blank) Deity into Eru, we have a character who actually
is 'vengeful, spiteful & distant', not to mention a major league egotist, & probably the least interesting character Tolkien invented - & one, as I've argued before, who seems only to exist in order to make the Legendarium a monotheistic mythology. When he does crop up its to be thoroughly irritating & the worst kind of deus ex machina.