Tolkien Media Watch - The Barrow-Downs Discussion Forum

Lalaith · 08-10-2011, 10:04 AM

And yet another political Middle-Earth analogy:
http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europ...lkien-scholars

Galadriel55 · 08-30-2011, 05:32 PM

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2011...erview_lo.html

I'm not really sure where to put this, so I just put it here. It's not really political, but...

Quote:

What Obama read as a youth: "I think I was getting into, like The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, and stuff like that. And I confess that I did read comic books as well, like Spiderman was one of my favorites. And then I read what I was assigned at school.
....But by the time maybe I was Malia's age, I was starting to read more serious books like, To Kill a Mockingbird, or some of the things that I see her reading now that made you think a little bit more. They weren't just kind of adventure stories, but they were also stories that taught me about social problems and taught me about how people interact with each other, and how some people are kind and some people are cruel. And history sweeps them along, and people have a lot of challenges in their lives.

I felt more than a bit indignant when LOTR was called "just kind of adventure story". It might not have been as "useful" to Obama the polititian as To Kill a Mockingbird, but it's certainly more than an adventure story.

Inziladun · 08-30-2011, 08:55 PM

Personally, I'd put LOTR on par with, or above, any of the so-called "serious" novels like Mockingbird.

If only the political sorts would take the lessons from LOTR to heart the world might be a better place, or at least a more pleasant one.

Galadriel55 · 08-30-2011, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Inziladun

If only the political sorts would take the lessons from LOTR to heart the world might be a better place, or at least a more pleasant one.

Professor@Uni: Now students, since you're all going to be polititians in the years to come, the first thing that I have to warn you about is one dreadfully tricky political situation: we call it the Saruman's Noose.

Seriously though, I couldn't agree more.

I think what puts LOTR below Mockingbird in a polititian's eyes is that LOTR is a "long ago" story, with hardly any practical use today. And it's fantasy. "More serious novels" are probably those that are more relevant to today's life.

But I still strongly protest against classifying it as "just an adventure book".

08-10-2011, 10:04 AM	#1
Lalaith Blithe Spirit Join Date: Jan 2003 Posts: 2,779	And yet another political Middle-Earth analogy: http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europ...lkien-scholars __________________ Out went the candle, and we were left darkling

08-30-2011, 08:55 PM	#3
Inziladun Gruesome Spectre Join Date: Dec 2000 Location: Heaven's doorstep Posts: 8,039	Personally, I'd put LOTR on par with, or above, any of the so-called "serious" novels like Mockingbird. If only the political sorts would take the lessons from LOTR to heart the world might be a better place, or at least a more pleasant one. __________________ Music alone proves the existence of God.