The Tolkien Society Goes Woke

[Renegade]

In An Affront To Its Namesake, The Tolkien Society Goes Woke



June 18, 2021 By John Daniel Davidson

The Tolkien Society, a literary organization founded in 1969 and dedicated to promoting the works of J.R.R Tolkien, has held an annual academic conference for decades. This year’s conference, to be held virtually via Zoom on July 3 and 4, is on the theme of “Tolkien and Diversity.”
Before we go on, understand that the Tolkien Society’s president was, and formally remains, the great J.R.R. Tolkien himself. His daughter, Priscilla, currently serves as the vice president. At its annual seminar, scholars present academic papers, archival materials are sometimes displayed and discussed, and a serious effort is generally made to understand and appreciate Tolkien’s unique genius. In other words, it’s not some ramshackle fan club for Middle Earth LARPers.

But this year, seminar attendees will be subjected to something different. Papers to be presented include,

“Gondor in Transition: A Brief Introduction to Transgender Realities in The Lord of the Rings,”
“The Lossoth: Indigeneity, Identity, and Antiracism,” and
“‘Something Mighty Queer’: Destabilizing Cishetero Amatonormativity in the Works of Tolkien.”

Pretty much the entire program is like this.
The best thing we can say about a Tolkien conference that presents papers on, say,
“Pardoning Saruman?: The Queer in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings,” or
“The Invisible Other: Tolkien’s Dwarf-Women and the ‘Feminine Lack,’”
is that the scholars in question do not know the first thing about Tolkien or the meaning of his work.

 

[VigCizMember]

In An Affront To Its Namesake, The Tolkien Society Goes Woke



June 18, 2021 By John Daniel Davidson

The Tolkien Society, a literary organization founded in 1969 and dedicated to promoting the works of J.R.R Tolkien, has held an annual academic conference for decades. This year’s conference, to be held virtually via Zoom on July 3 and 4, is on the theme of “Tolkien and Diversity.”
Before we go on, understand that the Tolkien Society’s president was, and formally remains, the great J.R.R. Tolkien himself. His daughter, Priscilla, currently serves as the vice president. At its annual seminar, scholars present academic papers, archival materials are sometimes displayed and discussed, and a serious effort is generally made to understand and appreciate Tolkien’s unique genius. In other words, it’s not some ramshackle fan club for Middle Earth LARPers.

But this year, seminar attendees will be subjected to something different. Papers to be presented include,

“Gondor in Transition: A Brief Introduction to Transgender Realities in The Lord of the Rings,”
“The Lossoth: Indigeneity, Identity, and Antiracism,” and
“‘Something Mighty Queer’: Destabilizing Cishetero Amatonormativity in the Works of Tolkien.”

Pretty much the entire program is like this.
The best thing we can say about a Tolkien conference that presents papers on, say,
“Pardoning Saruman?: The Queer in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings,” or
“The Invisible Other: Tolkien’s Dwarf-Women and the ‘Feminine Lack,’”
is that the scholars in question do not know the first thing about Tolkien or the meaning of his work.

Tolkien is rolling in his grave

 

[Corvus Metus]

I mean, it's not like Tolkien didn't have a decent amount of "progressive" ideals in his work.

The elves did not have cultural gender roles. No one would have thought it strange in an elven woman wanted to be what Men would consider a traditionally masculine profession or an elven man in something that would be considered a traditionally feminine one. They simply followed whatever they had the most aptitude towards.

Female dwarves were also indistinguishable from male dwarves, at least to non-dwarves. Which suggests they hard broad builds, full beards, and few if any traditionally feminine characteristics.

The most of the evil Men (as in humans) in Tolkien's setting, were "culturally evil". As in, they grew up in part of the world that was literally ruled by what is effectively a fallen angel, so they weren't entirely culpable to their wickedness. He even expressed some disappointment in making orcs an all-evil race.

Tolkien, the man himself, was pretty strongly antiracist. He opposed apartheid, before it became popular to do so, when famously told his German publish that he wished he was of Jewish heritage. Frankly, if the good professor is rolling in his grave, he started when neo-nazis tried to hijack his work for a long time now.

 

[amaranthine]

In An Affront To Its Namesake, The Tolkien Society Goes Woke



June 18, 2021 By John Daniel Davidson

The Tolkien Society, a literary organization founded in 1969 and dedicated to promoting the works of J.R.R Tolkien, has held an annual academic conference for decades. This year’s conference, to be held virtually via Zoom on July 3 and 4, is on the theme of “Tolkien and Diversity.”
Before we go on, understand that the Tolkien Society’s president was, and formally remains, the great J.R.R. Tolkien himself. His daughter, Priscilla, currently serves as the vice president. At its annual seminar, scholars present academic papers, archival materials are sometimes displayed and discussed, and a serious effort is generally made to understand and appreciate Tolkien’s unique genius. In other words, it’s not some ramshackle fan club for Middle Earth LARPers.

But this year, seminar attendees will be subjected to something different. Papers to be presented include,

“Gondor in Transition: A Brief Introduction to Transgender Realities in The Lord of the Rings,”
“The Lossoth: Indigeneity, Identity, and Antiracism,” and
“‘Something Mighty Queer’: Destabilizing Cishetero Amatonormativity in the Works of Tolkien.”

Pretty much the entire program is like this.
The best thing we can say about a Tolkien conference that presents papers on, say,
“Pardoning Saruman?: The Queer in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings,” or
“The Invisible Other: Tolkien’s Dwarf-Women and the ‘Feminine Lack,’”
is that the scholars in question do not know the first thing about Tolkien or the meaning of his work.

Lol I kinda saw that coming, though the sheer absurdity of the titles surprised me. "Gondor in Transition", "Pardoning Saruman?!?!". Good for a laugh. The academic disciplines are in a severe crisis. They could be so much more yet this is the level that they aspire to... Sad. Tolkien is my favorite author so it saddens me to a degree, but then I remember that to give in to sadness in such cases is stupid, you should after all laugh at the devil, for in the end he is irrelevant. Now I have zero hopes for the coming Amazon show, this seems to be preparing the ground for Tolkien fans to be more receptive for whatever bastardization they do on the show. Think of the Witcher

 

[amaranthine]

I mean, it's not like Tolkien didn't have a decent amount of "progressive" ideals in his work.

The elves did not have cultural gender roles. No one would have thought it strange in an elven woman wanted to be what Men would consider a traditionally masculine profession or an elven man in something that would be considered a traditionally feminine one. They simply followed whatever they had the most aptitude towards.

Female dwarves were also indistinguishable from male dwarves, at least to non-dwarves. Which suggests they hard broad builds, full beards, and few if any traditionally feminine characteristics.

The most of the evil Men (as in humans) in Tolkien's setting, were "culturally evil". As in, they grew up in part of the world that was literally ruled by what is effectively a fallen angel, so they weren't entirely culpable to their wickedness. He even expressed some disappointment in making orcs an all-evil race.

Tolkien, the man himself, was pretty strongly antiracist. He opposed apartheid, before it became popular to do so, when famously told his German publish that he wished he was of Jewish heritage. Frankly, if the good professor is rolling in his grave, he started when neo-nazis tried to hijack his work for a long time now.

Emm, I never saw any neo-nazis hijacking Tolkien's work. They must be really really fringe. The Neo-Nazi Tolkien fans.

 

[Corvus Metus]

Emm, I never saw any neo-nazis hijacking Tolkien's work. They must be really really fringe. The Neo-Nazi Tolkien fans.

It's fairly common in neo-nazi groups, or at least was until more people became aware of Tolkien's actual views on race became more known. They paint the story as some sort of racial allegory, with the fair-skinned men of the West and the fair-skinned elves fighting the dark-skinned men of the South and the East and the dark-skinned orcs. Neo-nazis tend to hijack anything they think they can win over disenfranchised youths though... Musical scenes, counter-culture, more recently "Internet culture" and the like. It's a major part of their MO.

Now I have zero hopes for the coming Amazon show, this seems to be preparing the ground for Tolkien fans to be more receptive for whatever bastardization they do on the show. Think of the Witcher

for all it's flaws, I felt the Netflix show was truer to the books than the games were and I actually think making the cast more multiracial given the role of humans in the Witcher universe; they are all basically refugees from a dying world, that ended up taking over with armies and conquering the world once they got settled. Mind you, I don't think the TV is terribly great but I feel fantasy is a genre in general that doesn't work well in live-action.

 

[Apheirox]

 

[Corvus Metus]

The Two Towers in Tolkien's stories refer to two towers in different places. Trying to make a 9/11 connection is a reach that would impress Mister Fantastic.

 

[amaranthine]

It's fairly common in neo-nazi groups, or at least was until more people became aware of Tolkien's actual views on race became more known. They paint the story as some sort of racial allegory, with the fair-skinned men of the West and the fair-skinned elves fighting the dark-skinned men of the South and the East and the dark-skinned orcs. Neo-nazis tend to hijack anything they think they can win over disenfranchised youths though... Musical scenes, counter-culture, more recently "Internet culture" and the like. It's a major part of their MO.




for all it's flaws, I felt the Netflix show was truer to the books than the games were and I actually think making the cast more multiracial given the role of humans in the Witcher universe; they are all basically refugees from a dying world, that ended up taking over with armies and conquering the world once they got settled. Mind you, I don't think the TV is terribly great but I feel fantasy is a genre in general that doesn't work well in live-action.

From what I remember the literary comparativists liked to paint The Lord of the Rings as being racist using precisely the same misreadings as you say. I guess the neo-nazis are similarly shallow. In both readings what becomes obvious is that neither cares for the thing itself, what is present in front of them, but like you say, they abuse good things in order to further their ideas and agendas.

I had a different reaction to the netflix Witcher. While I did enjoy the games and was very hyped for the show (the casting for instance did not bother me much before I actually watched the show, I even tried to defend Yennefer's casting on certain reddit forums), I found the final product to completely miss the mark of being a good Witcher adaptation. The later games did not even adapt the books - they were a sort of spin-off set in the future, fan-fiction in a way. But what they did was nail most of the spirit and the atmosphere of the books, with some stories (say Hearts of Stone, the Crones and the Baron storyline) that would not be out of place in the books. Most characterisations were also very decent - Geralt who comes of as witty, intelligent and good-hearted, world-weary but only when it comes to intrigue and animosity between men, Yennefer who actually has an air of someone who has lived for a century, wise if quickly annoyed, cuts through the bullshit... The Netflix show had none of that. It was shallow in its worldbuilding ( the multiracial dryads for example - why why why? Even if you do add races different to the original to the adaptation, why don't you make it seem organic? These quota additions are arbitrary and as ludicrous as say when the BBC changed Ged in Tales of Earthsea from a black boy to a white dude.),completely ludicrous in its characterisations (Yennefer was the worst offender here, also Dandelion and Geralt's relationship - no respect, etc etc). The music was lazy, or rather it seems to me that the composers were given very little time and resources to achieve a good soundtrack, plus there was no imagination in it, nor was it coherent. The visuals all over the place. Direction was rushed...
You know why most fantasy adaptations don't work in live action. The same way that most movies made after succesful video games don't - the producers do not respect the source material and think that it should be changed for the general audience. How about using the formula that made the darn thing succesful in the first place. That or make your own fan fiction stories that keep the spirit of the original.

Rant off

 

[Cintra]

I quite liked the orcs.
They wanted to go somewhere nice, with good loot and no bosses.
I can identify with that.

They were victims of birth and circumstance.

 

[Drifter]

I mean, it's not like Tolkien didn't have a decent amount of "progressive" ideals in his work.

The elves did not have cultural gender roles. No one would have thought it strange in an elven woman wanted to be what Men would consider a traditionally masculine profession or an elven man in something that would be considered a traditionally feminine one. They simply followed whatever they had the most aptitude towards.

Female dwarves were also indistinguishable from male dwarves, at least to non-dwarves. Which suggests they hard broad builds, full beards, and few if any traditionally feminine characteristics.

The most of the evil Men (as in humans) in Tolkien's setting, were "culturally evil". As in, they grew up in part of the world that was literally ruled by what is effectively a fallen angel, so they weren't entirely culpable to their wickedness. He even expressed some disappointment in making orcs an all-evil race.

Tolkien, the man himself, was pretty strongly antiracist. He opposed apartheid, before it became popular to do so, when famously told his German publish that he wished he was of Jewish heritage. Frankly, if the good professor is rolling in his grave, he started when neo-nazis tried to hijack his work for a long time now.

I'll preface this by saying that I've only read The Hobbit and watched the movies so I'm by no means an authority on Tolkien whatsoever, even though I adored the book and the movie adaption. But I think the issue is more along the lines of trying to deconstruct something that for most people, is escapist fiction. Not everything needs to be politically glossed, especially with regards to identity politics, as polarizing as it is right now. It just feels like nothing's sacred anymore. And some of those titles just seem . . . Rather inane.

 

[amaranthine]

I'll preface this by saying that I've only read The Hobbit and watched the movies so I'm by no means an authority on Tolkien whatsoever, even though I adored the book and the movie adaption. But I think the issue is more along the lines of trying to deconstruct something that for most people, is escapist fiction. Not everything needs to be politically glossed, especially with regards to identity politics, as polarizing as it is right now. It just feels like nothing's sacred anymore. And some of those titles just seem . . . Rather inane.

Exactly!

 

[amaranthine]

While I do see the cover could be connected with the left and the right pillar on the Tree of Life, I don't see how that relates to the twin towers. Also, was this cover done by Tolkien's specifications. If it was then he was probably opposed to some occult groups or even had a deeper philosophical reasoning for the tower symbology. That would actually make for an interesting academic research paper.

 

[Cintra]

While I do see the cover could be connected with the left and the right pillar on the Tree of Life, I don't see how that relates to the twin towers. Also, was this cover done by Tolkien's specifications. If it was then he was probably opposed to some occult groups or even had a deeper philosophical reasoning for the tower symbology. That would actually make for an interesting academic research paper.

I think that is Tolkien's own art.
He was a catholic, btw.

I think the two towers are Isenguard and Minas Mogul.

 

[amaranthine]

I quite liked the orcs.
They wanted to go somewhere nice, with good loot and no bosses.
I can identify with that.

They were victims of birth and circumstance.

Good one

 

[Maldarker]

I think that is Tolkien's own art.
He was a catholic, btw.

I think the two towers are Isenguard and Minas Mogul.

Barad-dûr and Orthanc ( Sauron's stronghold in Mordor and Saruman's citadel in Isengard)

 

[Cintra]

Barad-dûr and Orthanc ( Sauron's stronghold in Mordor and Saruman's citadel in Isengard)

Not baradur, minas mogul

But yes, Orthanc specifically, rather than isenguard



The original cover, from tolkiens own art.

See the moon above the white tower?
Refers to the original name of minas mogul, minas ithil, the tower of the moon.

 

[amaranthine]

Barad-dûr and Orthanc ( Sauron's stronghold in Mordor and Saruman's citadel in Isengard)

It is interesting that Minas Morgul used to be Minas Ithil during Numenorean reign, something that could connect it to the illustration, as it means "Tower of the Moon". It was renamed to Minas Morgul "Tower of Sorcery" after it was lost to the dark forces. Could be an allusion to the moon reflecting clearly the light of the sun before becoming a mockery of its former self, something that distorts rather than reflects. The moon usually also represents the processes of consciousness that lie below the threshold of clear conscious awareness. And it just happens that Minas Ithil lay at the threshold of Mordor, as a guardian fortress, preventing corruption from spreading. I really need to read the books again. Even the names give so much to ponder. Plus the nine riders were stationed in Minas Ithil (if my memory serves me well). Again a clear allusion to the Tree of Life and the corruption of it (the riders were kings before). One of the White Trees was also in Minas Ithil.

 

[amaranthine]

Not baradur, minas mogul

But yes, Orthanc specifically, rather than isenguard

View attachment 59307

The original cover, from tolkiens own art.

See the moon above the white tower?
Refers to the original name of minas mogul, minas ithil, the tower of the moon.

Yes even Tolkien hadn't quite made his mind about which two towers they were, Barad-dur was a contender, but finally he did settle for Minas Ithil.

 

[VigCizMember]

I mean, it's not like Tolkien didn't have a decent amount of "progressive" ideals in his work.

The elves did not have cultural gender roles. No one would have thought it strange in an elven woman wanted to be what Men would consider a traditionally masculine profession or an elven man in something that would be considered a traditionally feminine one. They simply followed whatever they had the most aptitude towards.

Female dwarves were also indistinguishable from male dwarves, at least to non-dwarves. Which suggests they hard broad builds, full beards, and few if any traditionally feminine characteristics.

The most of the evil Men (as in humans) in Tolkien's setting, were "culturally evil". As in, they grew up in part of the world that was literally ruled by what is effectively a fallen angel, so they weren't entirely culpable to their wickedness. He even expressed some disappointment in making orcs an all-evil race.

Tolkien, the man himself, was pretty strongly antiracist. He opposed apartheid, before it became popular to do so, when famously told his German publish that he wished he was of Jewish heritage. Frankly, if the good professor is rolling in his grave, he started when neo-nazis tried to hijack his work for a long time now.

He was Catholic and his faith dictated his worldview. I’m unfamiliar with Neo Nazis “hijacking” his work - I’m sure however he’d be rolling in his grave with the knowledge of the woke agenda doing so