Beautiful article my feelings are akin to those of Christopher, but with the betrayal of Simon towards the legacy of Tolkien I think that the Anglo-Saxon publique could do a better job of protecting Middle-Earth than that wretched creature who makes Gollum seem heroic. I detest Rings of Power, and believe that other creatives ought to be given access to make of it what they will as they have Conan.
The spirit of the current age is "consume product, then get excited for new product." Making Tolkien's work public will feed that frenzy on a mass scale, to the point where the mythology and the books get washed away, and all that is left is the product. One could argue that there will be gems written in the mess of works written that will rise to the top, but the corporate, expensive products like Rings of Power is what will be digested in the public consciousness.
What has fallen more into myth in the popular mind, Calvin and Hobbes or the Star Wars Universe. Calvin and Hobbes' last comic was decades ago and Watterson was fanatical in his refusal to turn it into a brand, yet it still inspires countless people even today, who may not write their works in the Calvin and Hobbes universe but it absolutely affects their art and way they see the world. The Star Wars Universe is an empty corporate product that is actually losing its mythology with countless meaningless content. Even if Star Wars was public domain, the exact same thing would have happened.
We live in an age that can't create myth, and ruthlessly stamps out past myths. It's part of the mass balkanization of peoples with nothing transcendental in common. Maybe some day Tolkien's work can be made public, but in the current age I realize more and more Christopher was 100% right.
Great writing brother, Truly the best time to be alive is now. I am torn. On one hand I am a purest. I do not want to see propaganda spawn through lord of the rings. Though shows like Amazon's rendition. I believe it could be expanded on but Tolkien is not alive so I find it hard to believe that we would have the exact intention he did and or direction. It could be done of course but it would and should be looked upon with harsh scrutiny of its Fandom. If it passes through this then it is worthy and should go to film.
Agreed. Before Tolkien, England lacked a comprehensive mythology. Now it has Middle-Earth. Setting new stories there is like setting them in Asgard or on Mount Olympus: not to be done lightly, but certainly to be done. Thanks, Saxon Cross.
There are notebooks and notebooks of drafts that Tolkien never got around to writing. Once you get past the first two books after the Silmarillion, they only got as far as the lay of Beleriand and the lay of Luthien. The rest are written like dry history instead of narrative fiction.
If the works could be public, then we could tell those stories, and make up our own based on Middle Earth.
But as long as they could fall into Marxist hands and be perverted, maybe its better to protect them.
Interesting thoughts; Professor Tolkien is already deeply ingrained into our culture like a myth. But I admit I shudder at the idea of Hollywood touching his work nowadays
Beautiful article my feelings are akin to those of Christopher, but with the betrayal of Simon towards the legacy of Tolkien I think that the Anglo-Saxon publique could do a better job of protecting Middle-Earth than that wretched creature who makes Gollum seem heroic. I detest Rings of Power, and believe that other creatives ought to be given access to make of it what they will as they have Conan.
The spirit of the current age is "consume product, then get excited for new product." Making Tolkien's work public will feed that frenzy on a mass scale, to the point where the mythology and the books get washed away, and all that is left is the product. One could argue that there will be gems written in the mess of works written that will rise to the top, but the corporate, expensive products like Rings of Power is what will be digested in the public consciousness.
What has fallen more into myth in the popular mind, Calvin and Hobbes or the Star Wars Universe. Calvin and Hobbes' last comic was decades ago and Watterson was fanatical in his refusal to turn it into a brand, yet it still inspires countless people even today, who may not write their works in the Calvin and Hobbes universe but it absolutely affects their art and way they see the world. The Star Wars Universe is an empty corporate product that is actually losing its mythology with countless meaningless content. Even if Star Wars was public domain, the exact same thing would have happened.
We live in an age that can't create myth, and ruthlessly stamps out past myths. It's part of the mass balkanization of peoples with nothing transcendental in common. Maybe some day Tolkien's work can be made public, but in the current age I realize more and more Christopher was 100% right.
Great writing brother, Truly the best time to be alive is now. I am torn. On one hand I am a purest. I do not want to see propaganda spawn through lord of the rings. Though shows like Amazon's rendition. I believe it could be expanded on but Tolkien is not alive so I find it hard to believe that we would have the exact intention he did and or direction. It could be done of course but it would and should be looked upon with harsh scrutiny of its Fandom. If it passes through this then it is worthy and should go to film.
Agreed. Before Tolkien, England lacked a comprehensive mythology. Now it has Middle-Earth. Setting new stories there is like setting them in Asgard or on Mount Olympus: not to be done lightly, but certainly to be done. Thanks, Saxon Cross.
I often joke that I want to retire in Peter Jackson's version of Rivendell.
Thanks for writing this, agree with you 💯 %.
Excellent written article. Very interesting, I can see where you're coming from.
Excellently stated. But I’m a complete LOTR nerd.
Excellent post, well done. 👍🏻
There are notebooks and notebooks of drafts that Tolkien never got around to writing. Once you get past the first two books after the Silmarillion, they only got as far as the lay of Beleriand and the lay of Luthien. The rest are written like dry history instead of narrative fiction.
If the works could be public, then we could tell those stories, and make up our own based on Middle Earth.
But as long as they could fall into Marxist hands and be perverted, maybe its better to protect them.
After all, they ruined the rangs of power.
Interesting thoughts; Professor Tolkien is already deeply ingrained into our culture like a myth. But I admit I shudder at the idea of Hollywood touching his work nowadays
It seems like people have been doing this for a while, copyright or no. Perhaps the Tolkien Estate has been permissively enforcing their copyrights.
https://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Category:Fan_films