[Ardent]

In the film 'Adam's Family Values' the sensibilities of Tolkien and Disney come face to face in a summer camp. Anyone who has seen it will know what I mean, but if you haven't then imagine how Legolas and Gimli might feel having been forced to watch Disney films all night. Fantasia's Night on Bare Mountain with its balrog emerging from the pit, Snow White's dwarves, hippos in tutus... chilling.

As to the two authors copyrighting their work I do not find it surprising or a problem; if I had put years of experience into my works I wouldn't want their messages skewed or lost either. I'd be more in favour of the Tolkien-esque than Disney-esque but either way something of 'me and mine' would innevitably be lost. Even where the two converge they remain distinct; "Tra la la lally down here in the valley" is as far from 'The Lay of Gilgalad' as it is from "Hi ho, hi ho".

That said, both have had a huge influence on me. In childhood I 'got' Disney and though I have grown out of that simplicity I still remember when things like 'The Sourcerer's Apprentice' and 'Dumbo' were new to me, how they made me feel. I have not traded one in for the other but, like a tree, the one ring has grown outside the other. Indeed, one might say that when dealing with the ancient stories Tolkien is more like Saruman, taking them and their languages apart to show us many colours. Where Disney shows us the 'baddy' and the 'happy ever after', Tolkien shows us the 'baddy-who-was-just-like-us' and the happy ending 'at-the-cost-of-eternal-loss'.