Quote:
Originally Posted by dreeness
(... A prominent antiwar activist inherits shares in a company that produces missile guidance systems. He finds this morally abhorrent. He could promptly sell his shares. Or donate 100% of his dividends to Peace Studies programs at universities. Or he could keep the money, but continue to rail against the very company that is making him rich. But that would be "crying all the way to the bank"; that would be, in a word, hypocritical.)
(That was an analogy.)
|
Not the best analogy really. I'm a civil servant and a leftie and our Government is a bunch of neo-cons. I'm not about to give up my job though, as I need to feed the family - and more pertinently to this issue, we are not expected to support the Government, we are impartial in our working life and free in our personal opinions. Just as Christopher Tolkien may well have to manage cheques earnt from selling Lego Frodos and Arwen Tea Towels (I'd like one of these, wonder where I can get one???) as part of his job, yet with a peg on his nose. Not everyone can afford the luxury of self righteousness over things like that. Such is life.
And no, I don't worship at the altar of Christopher Tolkien, nor the Estate who have done some quite odious things (giving to charidee doesn't give you an exemption clause from being decent to small businesses etc). He has also got himself a job for life and I have concerns about 'sole gatekeepers' to literary estates after the debacle over the control Ted Hughes's sister had over the Plath literary estate. But you have to be realistic, he's human! And the Estate was entitled to that cash.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Formendacil
I took it, as you suggest, in the sense of "dead academic of medieval things" vs. "living, less-educated children of the 30-second soundbite and Hollywood glitz", and in that respect I didn't read it as a post-modern idea at all. Within the context of the article, it seemed less to me to suggest that people today can't get the message; rather that they probably won't--not because it is inaccessible but because they are habituated to receiving things in the Hollywood mode--and Jackson has now given them the Hollywood mode.
|
I often think that with writers such as Tolkien who produced very vivid, readable epics, the received wisdom that a 'Hollywood' treatment can alter things doesn't always hold true. Even after those blockbusting films which introduced characters such as Gollum and Gandalf to the mainstream mindset (how many people do you know who use 'Hobbits' as a general term for anyone short?) those images have not been set in stone. Looking at fan art works you can see this - people still ahve their own vision.
That, I think, is because the writing, and in particular, the visual message implied in the langauge, is so strong. It's shared with George RR Martin too. JK Rowling, as much as I love her to pieces, doesn't share this, sadly. Or perhaps it is down to maturity of audience?
It could be an interesting discussion, to root out whether the films really
have altered our mental Middle-earth landscape, and to what extent...
I do sneakily like the idea that it's all out of Tolkien's hands though, as that's where actual mythology begins.