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Great topic, Lal! You've brought up a fascinating aspect we haven't discussed at length yet.
Interestingly, though I am not a fan of Gothic novels or other blood-curdling stories, and though battle depictions and and descriptions of violence, torture, etc. usually make me turn the pages of a book faster to get over them (or hold my hands in front of my eyes in a movie - yes, I really do), I don't avoid them in LotR. Whether in the book or in the movie*, I can handle aspects that I normally do not enjoy, just because they are embedded in this fantastic tale.
I wonder what it is about the context that keeps me from cringing when someone is killed or scary creatures are described? Is it the Hobbit viewpoint, having the Shire in the background as an island of security, or the strong good characters such as Gandalf and Aragorn who give me the feeling of safety as I travel with them?
Or have I simply read the book so often that I have lost the fear I felt upon reading it the first time?
*Admittedly, it helped that a lot of the blood shed there was orcish, which is black - somehow it doesn't scream out at one like red blood does!
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'Mercy!' cried Gandalf. 'If the giving of information is to be the cure of your inquisitiveness, I shall spend all the rest of my days in answering you. What more do you want to know?' 'The whole history of Middle-earth.. .'
Last edited by Estelyn Telcontar; 09-07-2006 at 06:16 AM.
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