Tolkien: In Fashion or Indispensable?
It is interesting to me, though of no real surprise, the rise in popularity of J.R.R. Tolkien's classic The Lord of the Rings. Great novels often go through cyclic periods in which they are alternately reviled as antiquated and unfashionable, or glorified as masterpieces of extraordinary talent and vision. My own feelings on the content of LOTR and Tolkien himself aside, there is no doubt the resurgence in popularity of Tolkien's work has been a direct result of the recent motion picture versions created by Peter Jackson and company.
Or is there?
I remember reading LOTR for the first time. It was around 1981, I believe- the beginning of the Reagan era. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience (the book, that is), though for myself it was quite a long project -if memory serves, it took me more than a year to finish- for I was not an accomplished reader of fiction at the time. Most of my reading interests as a youngster were related to non-fiction. But after reading it that first time, I remember having a deep sense of satisfaction that I'd managed to read such a weighty tome, and I was glad it "ended right" as my father would say. He didn' t like stories that didn't "end right." That is, the hero wins, the boy gets the girl, the bad guy goes to jail or dies or something similar. While there is a certain satisfaction from such endings, they are almost a purely fictional invention, after all, life does have a 100% mortality rate. So at the time, I thought this was enough: it had a bunch of interesting characters, weird creatures, lots of battles, and mostly, that it "ended right." That was where the keel of my of literary criticism bottomed out, at about 3 centimeters below water line.
There was little general interest in Tolkien in the 80's, save for the requisite university literary eggheads- droning on as usual, as public interest in LOTR had peaked in the mid to late 60's (obviously, a time of drastic shifts in socio-political values) and had been on a downward slope since. It seems the west lost interest in hobbits and the like, as we became exhausted and disillusioned from the dragging on of the Vietnam war, Watergate, the Iran hostage crisis, wars in the Middle East, etc, and by the time the 80's rolled in, the west had begun to look for fulfillment in simple self-indulgent and hedonistic pleasures. For it was during this time the term 'yuppie' came into being, as the stock market boomed, Americans went on a credit binge they still haven't paid off, and the porn industry was booming due to the advent and growing affordability of the VCR.
Fast forward. In the summer of 2000, I read in some entertainment mag that a full-blown movie version of LOTR was being made, I set my mind to read the novel again. But as I was soon to discover, there was a big difference in how I, along with millions of others, was to respond to the experience. Not only had I aged nearly two decades, but the world had changed around me, as it always does, and that, not always for the better. This time around, as I plowed through the text in little more than a month, I found myself swallowed whole by Tolkien's vision, alternately becoming Frodo or Sam, and sometimes even Gollum/Smeagol. Not surprising really, as I had become by then a seasoned reader of fiction, including many of the great American and English classics. I had even taken up the hobby of penning a few short stories myself by that time. And in this reading, everything about LOTR took on a deeper, more intense meaning for me.
Then, three months before The Fellowship of the Ring opened at theaters, something happened that changed our world. I refer, of course, to the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001.
Many have said that that day changed the world. I would it agree that it changed many, if not all, Americans. Certainly it altered the geo-political landscape, and in turn has, in one form or another, affected us all. But it was the emotional impact of that day that really spun me around. Watching on live TV as hundreds and eventually thousands perished before my eyes. How can someone watch such a thing and not be changed?
The questions flooding my mind, as I watched the two towers fall, were not about how this massacre of human beings would affect governments, wars, citizens of "third-world" countries, gas prices, the Middle-East, or any other such worldly, and therefore suddenly pale and mundane, issue.
No, to be perfectly honest, deep in my heart, the questions were: What kind of human being could do such a thing? Were they human? Or were they some kind of incarnate evil, some kind of black-hearted monster?
Or were they what they believed themselves to be: holy warriors, striking an unlikely shot to the very heart of The Great Satan; a tiny, overmatched force moving secretly in the land of the enemy until the lethal blow was struck?
As I walked out of the theatre on a crisp, December day in 2001, I knew I had witnessed a spectacularly well-crafted film and I quickly realized it would be a smash hit. Perhaps there were enough Tolkien fans around the world to boost it to that level, but I knew that the quality of the film, along with the ones that followed, would win ever more fans. So it is really no surprise that Tolkien's work has gone through such a resurgence, such a re-focusing in the collective culture. On the surface, it would seem the heirs of Tolkien have only to thank Peter Jackson & company for the renewed interest and reversal of fortune.
Or do they?
I think there is something deeper in all of this than action heroes, special effects, superb acting and heart-throb stars (not to mention a darn good tale). There are the fundamental, timeless questions Tolkien intentionally wove into his work. Questions of power and its abuse; of overcoming hopeless odds; of carrying on toward what must be certain death; the nature of good and of evil; the rape of the natural world; the blind, unquestioning obedience to our supposedly wise (see: Saruman) leaders; and scores of other equally important questions. But despite how Tolkien ended the story, the only way he could, with victory for the good and destruction for the evil, (after all, it's only a "faerie story"), we are left here, in the 21st century, to simmer in the briny, harsh realities of our own making, like rabbit carcasses in a stew seasoned with wild and bitter herbs.
Unfortunately, these bitter realities seem to be that there are no Orcs, no Saurons, and no Wizards or shining elves to point the way for us. No easy way to define who is good and who is bad. Maybe that is a part of the genius of Tolkien, that he should paint such a clear picture, bringing into stark relief the fact that in life, we cannot so easily look into the hearts of others.
No, we are but human.
The events of 9/11 reverberated through my mind in many different moments while viewing LOTR: FOTR, but never as loudly as when Frodo stood alone on the shores of the lake, the fellowship fractured, ring in hand, feeling utterly alone in a world of evil, and feeling sorry for himself while musing on his plight of having to bear the ring, and Gandalf's words came back to him: "All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given you." And in that moment, I know I, and I believe many people around the world in different countries, across myriad cultures, grasped cognitively, or felt intuitively, an important notion: that while there are no orcs, wizards or elves...anyone...yes, anyone could be Frodo.
We each decide what we are going to do with our lives on one level or another. Sure, there are things that happen to us we cannot control, whether it is inheriting the most evil device in the history of the world from an aging uncle, or dismal health, or the color of our skin, our place of birth, unemployment, poverty, etc. But what we DO in that situation that is handed us...that is what defines us. Our actions in the face of all that opposes us. Our reactions to the hand we are dealt, good or bad.
Tolkien has been accused of being many things: a racist, a sexist, a Mancheistic pagan, self-righteous, an overly-wordy blowhard, an egghead, etc, etc. (none of which I believe to be true, except perhaps the latter). And some have, rather bumblingly, accused Tolkien of simply writing an allegory with Hitler as Sauron, and World War II as the War of the Ring. This was certainly not the case, and Tolkien was so wary of the accusation, he even provided an adamant denial in his foreword. Rather, he spoke of the 'applicability' of his story. He was concerned with the ability of his work to speak to people -no matter the situation. And therein lies the true gift Tolkien gave us; and why LOTR has become, for me, indispensable in these weird days of global war and global warming.
It wasn't the LOTR fans, the SF/fantasy geeks, or the special effects junkies that sustained interest in Tolkien's work. They certainly played their part, no doubt. No, in my humble opinion, it was the situation the world suddenly found itself in, and the messages of LOTR that became so applicable for us, and to us, that gave it a deep, resonating power beyond that of just any old fantasy.
For it is the applicability of LOTR -in this jaded, fractured, post 9/11 world we live in- that is the reason I believe it became so culturally transcendent (remember, this was a world wide phenomenon, not just an Anglo one). It reminded us all that we have serious, deadly, choices to make. We have solemn duties to fulfill. And steadfast friends to cling to.
One thing it does not answer: Who are we?
Frodo? Or Sauron?
RESPECTFULLY,
A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD
Or is there?
I remember reading LOTR for the first time. It was around 1981, I believe- the beginning of the Reagan era. I thoroughly enjoyed the experience (the book, that is), though for myself it was quite a long project -if memory serves, it took me more than a year to finish- for I was not an accomplished reader of fiction at the time. Most of my reading interests as a youngster were related to non-fiction. But after reading it that first time, I remember having a deep sense of satisfaction that I'd managed to read such a weighty tome, and I was glad it "ended right" as my father would say. He didn' t like stories that didn't "end right." That is, the hero wins, the boy gets the girl, the bad guy goes to jail or dies or something similar. While there is a certain satisfaction from such endings, they are almost a purely fictional invention, after all, life does have a 100% mortality rate. So at the time, I thought this was enough: it had a bunch of interesting characters, weird creatures, lots of battles, and mostly, that it "ended right." That was where the keel of my of literary criticism bottomed out, at about 3 centimeters below water line.
There was little general interest in Tolkien in the 80's, save for the requisite university literary eggheads- droning on as usual, as public interest in LOTR had peaked in the mid to late 60's (obviously, a time of drastic shifts in socio-political values) and had been on a downward slope since. It seems the west lost interest in hobbits and the like, as we became exhausted and disillusioned from the dragging on of the Vietnam war, Watergate, the Iran hostage crisis, wars in the Middle East, etc, and by the time the 80's rolled in, the west had begun to look for fulfillment in simple self-indulgent and hedonistic pleasures. For it was during this time the term 'yuppie' came into being, as the stock market boomed, Americans went on a credit binge they still haven't paid off, and the porn industry was booming due to the advent and growing affordability of the VCR.
Fast forward. In the summer of 2000, I read in some entertainment mag that a full-blown movie version of LOTR was being made, I set my mind to read the novel again. But as I was soon to discover, there was a big difference in how I, along with millions of others, was to respond to the experience. Not only had I aged nearly two decades, but the world had changed around me, as it always does, and that, not always for the better. This time around, as I plowed through the text in little more than a month, I found myself swallowed whole by Tolkien's vision, alternately becoming Frodo or Sam, and sometimes even Gollum/Smeagol. Not surprising really, as I had become by then a seasoned reader of fiction, including many of the great American and English classics. I had even taken up the hobby of penning a few short stories myself by that time. And in this reading, everything about LOTR took on a deeper, more intense meaning for me.
Then, three months before The Fellowship of the Ring opened at theaters, something happened that changed our world. I refer, of course, to the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001.
Many have said that that day changed the world. I would it agree that it changed many, if not all, Americans. Certainly it altered the geo-political landscape, and in turn has, in one form or another, affected us all. But it was the emotional impact of that day that really spun me around. Watching on live TV as hundreds and eventually thousands perished before my eyes. How can someone watch such a thing and not be changed?
The questions flooding my mind, as I watched the two towers fall, were not about how this massacre of human beings would affect governments, wars, citizens of "third-world" countries, gas prices, the Middle-East, or any other such worldly, and therefore suddenly pale and mundane, issue.
No, to be perfectly honest, deep in my heart, the questions were: What kind of human being could do such a thing? Were they human? Or were they some kind of incarnate evil, some kind of black-hearted monster?
Or were they what they believed themselves to be: holy warriors, striking an unlikely shot to the very heart of The Great Satan; a tiny, overmatched force moving secretly in the land of the enemy until the lethal blow was struck?
As I walked out of the theatre on a crisp, December day in 2001, I knew I had witnessed a spectacularly well-crafted film and I quickly realized it would be a smash hit. Perhaps there were enough Tolkien fans around the world to boost it to that level, but I knew that the quality of the film, along with the ones that followed, would win ever more fans. So it is really no surprise that Tolkien's work has gone through such a resurgence, such a re-focusing in the collective culture. On the surface, it would seem the heirs of Tolkien have only to thank Peter Jackson & company for the renewed interest and reversal of fortune.
Or do they?
I think there is something deeper in all of this than action heroes, special effects, superb acting and heart-throb stars (not to mention a darn good tale). There are the fundamental, timeless questions Tolkien intentionally wove into his work. Questions of power and its abuse; of overcoming hopeless odds; of carrying on toward what must be certain death; the nature of good and of evil; the rape of the natural world; the blind, unquestioning obedience to our supposedly wise (see: Saruman) leaders; and scores of other equally important questions. But despite how Tolkien ended the story, the only way he could, with victory for the good and destruction for the evil, (after all, it's only a "faerie story"), we are left here, in the 21st century, to simmer in the briny, harsh realities of our own making, like rabbit carcasses in a stew seasoned with wild and bitter herbs.
Unfortunately, these bitter realities seem to be that there are no Orcs, no Saurons, and no Wizards or shining elves to point the way for us. No easy way to define who is good and who is bad. Maybe that is a part of the genius of Tolkien, that he should paint such a clear picture, bringing into stark relief the fact that in life, we cannot so easily look into the hearts of others.
No, we are but human.
The events of 9/11 reverberated through my mind in many different moments while viewing LOTR: FOTR, but never as loudly as when Frodo stood alone on the shores of the lake, the fellowship fractured, ring in hand, feeling utterly alone in a world of evil, and feeling sorry for himself while musing on his plight of having to bear the ring, and Gandalf's words came back to him: "All you have to decide is what to do with the time that is given you." And in that moment, I know I, and I believe many people around the world in different countries, across myriad cultures, grasped cognitively, or felt intuitively, an important notion: that while there are no orcs, wizards or elves...anyone...yes, anyone could be Frodo.
We each decide what we are going to do with our lives on one level or another. Sure, there are things that happen to us we cannot control, whether it is inheriting the most evil device in the history of the world from an aging uncle, or dismal health, or the color of our skin, our place of birth, unemployment, poverty, etc. But what we DO in that situation that is handed us...that is what defines us. Our actions in the face of all that opposes us. Our reactions to the hand we are dealt, good or bad.
Tolkien has been accused of being many things: a racist, a sexist, a Mancheistic pagan, self-righteous, an overly-wordy blowhard, an egghead, etc, etc. (none of which I believe to be true, except perhaps the latter). And some have, rather bumblingly, accused Tolkien of simply writing an allegory with Hitler as Sauron, and World War II as the War of the Ring. This was certainly not the case, and Tolkien was so wary of the accusation, he even provided an adamant denial in his foreword. Rather, he spoke of the 'applicability' of his story. He was concerned with the ability of his work to speak to people -no matter the situation. And therein lies the true gift Tolkien gave us; and why LOTR has become, for me, indispensable in these weird days of global war and global warming.
It wasn't the LOTR fans, the SF/fantasy geeks, or the special effects junkies that sustained interest in Tolkien's work. They certainly played their part, no doubt. No, in my humble opinion, it was the situation the world suddenly found itself in, and the messages of LOTR that became so applicable for us, and to us, that gave it a deep, resonating power beyond that of just any old fantasy.
For it is the applicability of LOTR -in this jaded, fractured, post 9/11 world we live in- that is the reason I believe it became so culturally transcendent (remember, this was a world wide phenomenon, not just an Anglo one). It reminded us all that we have serious, deadly, choices to make. We have solemn duties to fulfill. And steadfast friends to cling to.
One thing it does not answer: Who are we?
Frodo? Or Sauron?
RESPECTFULLY,
A CITIZEN OF THE WORLD
3 Comments:
Great essay.
I think Americans have mostly chosen the path of Boromir. We want to do good, and we want to use powerful tools, like armies and bombs, to accomplish it. But we are mostly blind and unconcerned to the evil that inevitably results.
Thanks.
Something interesting to keep in mind about Boromir. As with all the people we meet in our lives, the interactions we have them, no matter how seemingly insignificant, or apparently important, we cannot see the final outcome of the effect that person will have on the course of events until we look back at "the end".
Would Frodo have had the courage or motivation to leave the Fellowship without Boromir's attempt to take the Ring? How would Frodo's path have been altered if he hadn't? Hard to say. But it certainly would have altered the time and place of Frodo's meeting with Gollum, and perhaps even the outcome of the War of the Ring.
So what I guess I'm trying to say is...each of us has a part to play in God's plan. That kind of idea gives me a measure of comfort I suppose, as it fits neatly into my 'destiny/fate' outlook on life and mostly excludes the 'choice/result' outlook (which I do not reject, but rather believe that destiny ALREADY knows the choices we have/will make).
So if Boromir was doing as he was destined to do, and his intentions were good, do we really have the right to judge him harshly? I think God has the right and there fore He can. But I refuse to, for the sake of my own shortcomings.
The Zen part of me must accept that we each have a part to play in the story, and we must trust that a larger power (God, or in this case, Tolkien) knows it will work itself out in the end.
Good points.
Perhaps the US is Saruman :)
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