Back in the mid 90s an amazing professor at my university offered a Tolkien/CS Lewis course. I signed up and went to the class and there was an enormous line to get in. Every seat was taken, and people were lining the classroom walls and standing in the hallway outside. The professor happily signed everyone up, and moved the course to a lecture hall to accommodate what became a huge class, which had originally been capped at 25 or so students. It was a memorable, amazing course, and she was such a wonderful, humane and supportive person. She even made time to have lunch with small groups of us after every class session, to get to know us better and see how we were doing. I wish every professor I had was like that. None of us had seen a Tolkien film, unless it was the old Rankin Bass or Bakshi movies, since this was before Jackson. We were all just avid Tolkien and fantasy readers, and I suspect most of us had been from an early age.
I kind of miss those pre Jackson days. I have nothing against Jackson’s films, or the new show, and if they brought you to read Tolkien, then I’m glad for you. I liked Jackson’s movies pretty well, and I’m not a Tolkien scold or purist. Those movies did some things well, and some I liked less well. I’m not so certain these movies created millions more readers, though. I’ve met plenty of folks who have told me they love the movies, but have never read and don’t want to read Tolkien. I think he does just fine in terms of readers without any adaptations, but to each his own.
Regarding rings of power, I’ve already written how it’s not to my taste. I’m not interested in debating why or being told I am wrong or telling anyone enjoying it not to enjoy it. As I say, to each their own. I watched the first two episodes and that was enough. I don’t have time for shows I’m not really enthusiastic about, so when I didn’t care for those episodes I had no problem missing the rest.
Ian Anderson is one of my favorite songwriters and in an interview I read once, he remarked how much he liked hearing covers of his songs. He said he found it flattering. But he added that some covers of his songs felt to him more like a cat marking its territory. I felt kind of like this when watching the Amazon show. I’m sure the show runners are nice guys and the cast are too, but I’ll stick to the books. Literary works don’t need to be trillion dollar affairs to be appreciated.
Christopher Tuthill 