Tolkien’s Clash of Civilizations

National Review Online ^ | December 18, 2002 | Rod Dreher

[HighRoadToChina]

"What are we holding onto?" Frodo asks.
"That there is some good in this world, and that's worth fighting for," Sam replies.


Never Again Speech
Boycott Made in China

[HighRoadToChina]

A Ping for Freedom!

Please FReemail me if you want off my general ping list.

[Sparta]

Interesting tie in to Lord of the Rings and our current war against Islam ping.

If you want on or off the Western Civilization Military History ping list, let me know.

[The Iguana]

Great column. Thanks for posting it.

It would be good to get this over in the hobbit Hole.

[First Amendment]

Thank you for posting this - it's the best thing I've read about LOTR. (I've been a LOTR fan since I first read them in the early 60's!)

[don-o]

Rod Dreher, once again nails it.

This is an essay that deserves a one thousand Freeper thread.

The Solzhetnitsyn quote about the line between good and evil....

[sweetliberty]

Another excellent review and time appropriate essay.

[sweetliberty]

"What are we holding onto?" Frodo asks.

"That there is some good in this world, and that's worth fighting for," Sam replies.

That was one of my favorite parts. It just seemed to cut through all the evil and action and right to the heart.

[Ladysmith]

Ok, let's see if I can ping y'all on this properly...

[Defiant]

I want to be careful when I say this, but it seems clear to me that Tolkien would have looked upon the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center as symbols of a form of tyranny to which prosperous and free Western man is susceptible.

What a load of crap this is. They were office space, nothing more, built tall so that they could fit more square footage in a place where real estate is precious, and, like any building designed by any architect, made with an eye to appearance. If Tolkien would have looked on them as symbols of tyranny, then Tolkien's would have read too much into them. I think the authore is the one making a few leaps of logic.

Otherwise, an excellent article.

[Mrs. P]

I'm going right now to dig out my 30 year old copies of the Lord of the Rings and read them all over again. I wonder what I did with my old 'Frodo Lives' button?

[sweetliberty]

Hehehe...good gift to yourself. I remember the first time I read them I was really sorry to see the story end.

[Defiant]

I, like most of the reviews I read, enjoyed the Helms Deep battle the most. What a rush! It reminded me of the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans.

[Maedhros]

Two problems:

1. I was always under the impression that the "two towers" were Minas Tirith and Minas Morgul (Ithil), not Isengard and Barad-dûr. The movie, of course, presents the latter view. Incidently, the titles of the "books," which Tolkien thought of as one book, were created by his publisher.

2. The movie presents Sauruman as a minion of Sauron, carrying out the will of his master. My interpretation of their relationship is that while Sauruman has clearly been corrupted by Sauron, especially after using the palantír, he is not completely under his control and is actually trying to acquire the Ring for himself, thus creating a third power opposed both to Sauron and the forces of the Wise.

[Maedhros]

the fall of Constantinople to the Ottomans

My thoughts exactly.

[ecurbh]

Ring Ping!!

[aristeides]

Tyrannical or not, the Twin Towers were certainly making a statement, like the earlier skyscrapers that preceded them. You must not be a New Yorker if you don't see that.

[A Citizen Reporter]

"Put more plainly, LOTR screenwriter Phillippa Boyans tells NRO, it's about goodness — an idea that leaves many moderns skeptical and confused.

"We come from a generation that has never had that question put to us," she said in an interview. "It was put to the generation of World War I. It was put to the generation of World War II. 'What are you prepared to do?' 'Are you going to hold on?' 'Are you going to keep going?' 'Do you have to live?' 'Is this a world worth fighting for?' All of this is in there."

Very interesting remarks from the screenwriter.

[Miss Marple]

Have you see this yet? Even more so than the first movie, this one strikingly parallels the War on Terror. It is especially eerie given that the movie was filmed and completed long before September 11, 2001.

Anyone who doesn't see parallels in this film is simply not paying attention.