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Old 02-22-2005, 07:55 AM   #35
Lalwendė
A Mere Boggart
 
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Lalwendė is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.Lalwendė is battling Black Riders on Weathertop.
Sophia, that was fascinating stuff, and I have to respond to some things, though how random they will be I am not sure yet.

Good and beauty - I can see that there is this link in Tolkien's work, indeed it is something that would be common through most of literature and art, that the inherently good is usually portrayed as beautiful. I say usually, because sometimes it is not portrayed as beautiful. And this happens in Tolkien's work too. Consider Aragorn's words at The Prancing Pony:

Quote:
'I look foul and feel fair. Is that it? All that is gold does not glitter, not all those that wander are lost.'
Even in terms of language, those who speak beautifully can be speaking words which have evil intent, Saruman being the prime example. The Silmarils are beautiful, but they also provoke turmoil. The One Ring is an eye catching item, literally, and it tempts Smeagol into murder. Perhaps things of evil necessarily have to adopt the appearance of beauty in order to worm their way into the hearts and minds of the good. So Gandalf's words to Frodo, "All that is gold does not glitter" can not only apply to Aragorn as Strider, but to many things Frodo is likely to come across on his way.

I have also been thinking about the link between language and power lately in the light of the 'dumbing it down' thread. In seeking to make his films more accessible, Jackson's team have edited and altered Tolkien's language, which I see as denying audiences the chance or the opportunity to enjoy that more complex and beautiful language. Cultural products are all too often deemed 'too complicated' for large groups of society, including the young, the supposedly less well educated, and watered down versions are presented instead, if indeed at all. The works of Shakespeare and Chaucer all too often come in for this kind of treatment in our schools. News also suffers in this way in much of the media. This is the exercise of language as a tool of power. We offer a simplified version but in the long run this can also deny the audience the full truth. And it can work the other way. In the workplace bosses will often produce documents wreathed in complex language in order to confuse and bewilder and effectively exclude those who they deem ought not to be included. Personnnel departments frequently do this with contracts, as do financial companies, hoping for the innocent debtor to sign on the dotted line for excessive payments. Language and power are inextricably linked.

In Tolkien's world, there are many examples of this. Saruman attempts to coerce Gandalf by using language which those listening do not understand; the image used is of people listening to a king talking to a minister. They are excluded. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the Eldar are not supposed to use Quenya in exile, which makes me think of periods in our own history when we have attempted to quell use of languages which have political significance, such as Gaelic in Ireland. And yet Quenya is the 'high' language. Would this not exclude the elves who have never been to Valinor? The 'native Sindarin speakers'? Again I'm reminded of the Norman invasion of England and the use of Latin as the 'official' langauge, which excluded English speakers from high office; the introduction of the English bible and prayer book was nothing short of a revolution. Could this link be drawn to the more widespread use of the Common Speech over Elvish tongues?

I hope that didn't ramble too much, I've had such thoughts in the back of my mind for a while but haven't written them down til now.
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