Turl Street in Oxford. Old haunt of Tolkien's college days.
Posted on 12/10/2001 2:57:51 AM PST by maquiladora
I know what you mean. While watching "Guys and Dolls" yesterday and all I could think of was Aragorn and Arwen:
When you see some guy reach for stars in the sky
You can bet that he's doing it for some doll.
By their deeds you shall know them!
I don't really have one favorite book. I enjoy different things, or even the same idea expressed in different ways. For example, some of Robert A. Heinlein's fiction is as enjoyable and engaging as any literature on the planet, while some of it is complete garbage and/or polemic disguised as literature. The same goes for Frederick Pohl, Orson Scott Card, Frank Herbert, Gibbons, Michael Shaara, Shakespeare, Keith Laumer, James Fenimore Cooper, and others whose works grace my bookshelves.
If you found Lord Of The Rings to be such a lowly tome, then I am deeply anxious to know what class of book you find entertaining?
I don't find LOTR to be all that "lowly" - just inpenetrable and tedious to read. I even have a copy of LOTR on my bookshelf - I bought it in trade paperback earlier in the year, just to see if Tolkien had become any easier to read. He hadn't, but at least I made it to Page 30 this time before giving up.
Except for Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (which I inherited from my grandfather), I don't have a complete set of any one author's works in my library at home. I tend to buy the works that interest me in some way and dispose of the drek or use it as trade bait at Half-Price Books.
No. I have been as polite and respectful as I know how to be on this thread. But I get to have an opinion too, and my opinion is that life is too short to try to parse any of Tolkien's tedious prose.
I hope you enjoy the movie, and may your popcorn remain warm and buttered.
People like their portrayals of evil to be sanitized. I'm sure the Devil likes it too.
Turl Street in Oxford. Old haunt of Tolkien's college days.
LOL! Tolkien was canonized years ago. The movie had better not be shlock, and judging by the advance reviews, avoided that - a previous attempt by a fellow named Bakshi did not.
As for thee, wretch, I have this curse (courtesy of Bored of the Rings):
Tim, Tim Benzedrine
Hash, boo, Valvoline
Clean, clean, Clean For Gene,
First, second, neutral, park,
Hie thee hence, you leafy narc!
Harrumph!
Heck, I think your post was okay.
And the screwiest thing about the LoTR hype is that people aren't just talking about it as a movie. They constantly present it as some kind of mystical experience, the battle of good versus evil...
HEY -- it's a kid's story about monsters and magic, people! Get real! Look out the window! There are no monsters in real life. There is no magic in real life.
In real life, the battle of good and evil is fought within each of us. In our heart. And in real life the battle of good versus evil isn't fought on some quest for a magic ring. In real life the battle of good versus evil is fought on the quest to make it through the day.
Sheesh!
Look: It would be crazy to market, say, the movie Full Metal Jacket as a kid's film. Because that film was an artisitic comment on reality. It was serious. It dealt with serious issues.
It's equally crazy to market LoTR as an adult movie because it's TRIVIAL CHILDISH NONSENSE about fantasy creatures in a fantasy realm engaging in fantasy activities. THAT'S FOR KIDS, PEOPLE, NOT ADULTS!!!
Joker & Harman & Animal Mother are characters engaged on a quest, too. Do yourselves a favor: Instead of wasting ten dollars or more on LoTR, just rent FULL METAL JACKET -- the "magic" that Pyle discovers the "full metal jacket" can do inside his head compared to the "magic" that Joker discovers the "full metal jacket" can do around his heart is INFINITELY more real than the LoTR stuff...
Of course, this is all IMHO...
Mark W.
I think the more dangerous personifications of evil are those where the evil is more hidden behind gleaming smiles, perhaps dressed in smart wool pantsuits.
Yeah, that may be true about the younger kids, but there's a HUGE audience of teens, young adults, and baby boomers who grew up with this material, and are JAZZED that Peter Jackson seems to have made a successful transition to the screen of things they've only imagined for years. They were not interested in Harry Potter unless they had children who were into the books. LOTR followers are a big crowd, and remember, unless they go to the matinees, the prices for adult tickets will be higher, thus increasing the revenues. And far from not having the merchandising, there are action figures at many stores and Burger King has LOTR goblets or something like that you can buy with their meals.
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