What do you assign to Mordor?

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

I assign today's psych class. When your attention span is already questionable and the very room itself seems to be warring against it, trying to concentrate in your hardest class becomes all the harder. Imagine, if you will, all of the sights and sounds that could make a very random girl like myself lose total sight of the lecture itself (about four pages worth of material on psychotherapy that I really needed to be learning and totally missed out on). The droning, ever droning sounds of a movie from across the hall, first filtered by distance, but also by two walls, until the only things you hear are the tones of voices, if that, and much though you strain to understand even only one word, you can't, and it just continues like an inaudible murmer or a swarm of bees mid-summer. Next add drums. The class on the other side of the other wall is listening to music from another culture. So now you have bees droning about to the sounds of a dozen drums beating in time. You professor continues talking, but your attention is so compromised already that when the light starts to randomly flicker, like lightening on drugs, not only do you entirely give up on lobotomies, but when the vzvzvzving sound of the projector fan meets your ears, and you know that this is your last class before you go home on break...

That class was torture. By the time it was finally over, I was so paranoid of what the class was thinking of me, what with the way that my body had taken to flinching slightly whenever the lights flickered, as well as my nervous habit of toying with my pen. I must have looked like a drug-addict who desparately needed a fix. And then the teacher started talking about the way that lobotomies used to be performed. The "ice pick method". And she described it... in detail. As somebody with a distinct fear of puncture wounds (just think of my assignation of needles), I was having serious issues with the fact that I'd finally been able to listen to what my teacher was saying just in time for my face to blanch from it.

[The Saucepan Man]

Originally Posted by Lalaith

Hugs 'n' Learning is a point in any given drama when someone learns that they've been making mistakes or behaving unreasonably, and becomes reconciled (usually emotionally) to their situation/fellow cast members.

But aren't there many aspects of this in Tolkien's original tale also? Characters developing morally, spiritually or mentally as a result of their experience? Surely the Scouring of the Shire is a Hugs 'n' Learning epsisode - the culmination of the younger Hobbits' "arc of development"?

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by The Saucepan Man

Surely the Scouring of the Shire is a Hugs 'n' Learning epsisode - the culmination of the younger Hobbits' "arc of development"?

Well, I'm not going to assign anything to Mordor this post but I do want to ask Sauce something.

Why have you used the expression "Hugs 'n' Learning episode" for the Scouring of the Shire? How do you think it is--our favourite word here on the Downs--'applicable'?

[Fordim Hedgethistle]

The Canonicity Thread (in case it's not been conassigned already)

[Roa_Aoife]

I've only been studying Psych for a few months, but didn't Freud more or less invent the entire concept of psychology? Which means that, by sending him to Mordor, you also send psychiatrists, psychiatric wards, and mental care, as well as indirect effects of the discovery of psychology, such as maternity leave and parents being allowed to visit hospitals with children?

Actually, that's a common misconception. Freud was considered the father of psycho-analysis, which is only a branch on psychology as a whole. However, he got his ideas from a colleage, who gave him help with some clients. Basically, Freud is all hype, and should be thrown into Mordor with all the other hype.

Also, and I'm sure this has been mentioned, POLITICIANS. All of them, no exceptions. I don't care what they're political leaning is, toss 'em in. I think I'll also throw in people who drive exactly the speed limit in the fast lane, diplomats, and research papers. And Microsoft.


Well, on second thought, nevermind. I shudder to think what Bill Gates would do there. Probably come up with the one OS of Power.

[littlemanpoet]

Originally Posted by Roa_Aoife

Basically, Freud is all hype, and should be thrown into Mordor with all the other hype. ... Also, and I'm sure this has been mentioned, POLITICIANS. All of them, no exceptions.... I shudder to think what Bill Gates would do there. Probably come up with the one OS of Power.

Well, there you go, a bunch of new ideas for ATM. Sigmund Freud (as a pretentious politican), and Bill Gates as, well, we'll just have to see. Thanks for the assignments, RA.

[the guy who be short]

When I have a second, I'll make a list of all the Real People who have been conassigned to Mordor. If BDer-cameos aren't a possibilty, I'm sure it would still be amusing to encounter all of the much hated figures of public life.

[Lalaith]

I agree, Bethberry, I wouldn't apply Hugs N Learning to the Scouring. The hobbits encounter an unexpectedly unpleasant situation which, thanks to their experiences, they are able to deal with effectively.
There are no hugs - except perhaps off-stage between Rosie and Sam - and they have already done their learning. As for Frodo, he is not reconciled at all and ends up leaving for the West.

The most annoying Hugs N Learning scenes take place outside, in a rainstorm, with both protagonists weeping and drenched, and finally falling into a sodden hug.
I have seen this very scene played out in a dozen or more films, nobody ever has a row during breakfast or in the car, it all has to be conducted while being battered by the elements.
Oh, and I understand that the current film version of Pride and Prejudice contains an extra six minutes of solid Hugs N Learning for American audiences only.

[Estelyn Telcontar]

Originally Posted by Lalaith

I understand that the current film version of Pride and Prejudice contains an extra six minutes of solid Hugs N Learning for American audiences only.

Yes, I heard that the European version is not thought sappy or sweet enough for the American audience, so a passionate kiss, at least, has been added. To Mordor with film producers' preconceived notions on the taste of their audience!