Slashdot Mirror
David Brin On LOTR
hprotagonist0 writes "Salon has posted an article by sci-fi author, scientist, and essayist David Brin (The two Uplift trilogies, The Transparent Society) with his thoughts about LotR. A technophillic optimist, he warns against waxing too Romantic about feudal, good vs. evil fantasy. Instead, he says, we should look ahead to the future. Thought-provoking."
That's easy...
The Slashdot Troll would win. But only because he threw the other trolls into the Chasm of Sar.
I'm a computer science nerd and fully admit it to anyone who asks, but I must say that I don't quite feel the same way about LOTR as I did about SW:ESB or SW:ROTJ.
1) They switched Darrens
Look closely and you'll notice the human member of their party is played by two different actors at different points of the movie (it takes a sharp eye to notice, but one of them has red hair, one black).
2) Violence
Give me one reason that story couldn't have been told without all the fighting.
3) I'll have to rent that one
The rushed-through story the screenwriter threw in as the first ten minutes of Fellowship of the Ring looked a lot more interesting than the movie we were forced to watch. Why didn't somebody make a movie off that instead?
4) Magic Mechanics
Experts on the occult say in order for a wizard to floorspin a fully-grown man like Gandalf, he'd need three magical staffs, not two.
5) Racism
Percentage of protagonists in Fellowship who are white: 100. Meanwhile the black antagonists and their black crow spies and their black glass seeing ball inhabit their black towers and perform black magic. Gosh, I wonder if there's some symbolism there?
That's all I can think of off the top of my head. I certainly didn't have as many beefs with the Star Wars epics or even with the most recent Star Trek: Nemesis movie (the one where Data dies -- it's in most theaters now I believe).
I never got into those Magic: The Gathering cards either, so perhaps I just don't like the whole wizard genre of films and books.
...is it just me, or is it a bit funny that a Sci-Fi author is convincing you to stop paying attention to Fantasy and instead think of Science? Can't help but think there's a bit of self-promotion there. =)
WWJD? JWRTFM!!!
Tell me it's not true! WTF is the world coming to when there are Star Trek spoilers in a review of LOTR?
ta-ra-ra-boom-deeyay
Is that (hasty) Entish?
-peter
"the absolute worst tyrant on the throne was still better for the common people than a war of succession. If you put the King's son on the throne, there's at least a reasonable chance of stability"
It sounds nice in theory but objective, scientific and impartial real-world observation show that the last two years of US rule by the "Smirking Chimp-King" have been a disaster for the commoners while the feudal/corporate lords have prospered mightily!
I've never read any of David Brin's books, but I don't imagine I'd be all that interesting.
No, neither do I.
From the article:
While appearing on the web, not on Usenet, clearly this is a violation of Godwin's Law.
Sorry, Dave.
Mahnamahna!
one main character points out that humans need the little stories and lies in childhood as practice. Practice for believing in the big, important things. Things like Honor and Justice.
Don't forget Faith. It's really important that people still belive all the big lies throughout their whole lives.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
No, no, no. The best form of government in medieval society is the anarcho-syndicalist commune. You see, you take it in turns to act as a sort of executive officer for the week, but all the decisions of that officer have to be ratified at a special bi-weekly meeting by a simple majority in the case of purely internal affairs, but by a two-thirds majority in the case of more major ones.
Why should I have to? Its exactly as the original poster said, it isn't a social commentary its a fairy tale
Yeah, god forbid we should ever think about anything. Talking about a book couldn't possibly be enjoyable for its own sake
Later when Frodo is shown the future by the Lady of the Wood, the Dark Lord burns down people's houses and enslaves them.
Or, maybe she just showed him what she though would happen... or lied to him to get him to carry the ring to mt doom she was to scared and lazy to trasport herself.
Besides, if you buy consider Brin's hypothis that the book is a work of propaganda after the war was won, then of course it is going to portray him as a "bad" person.
autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
Brin seems to be missing the point about History vs Future.
We follow history in order to learn from our mistakes,
and we examine future scenarios to avoid repeating those mistakes.
Most history looks rosy? We viewed life thru rose-colored glasses.
Most future essays are bleak? We still think it will be easy.
Anyway...
f = fopen("Lord_of_the_Rings");
while (<f>)
{
s/Sauron/Microsoft/g;
s/Saruman/Intel/g;
s/Wormtongue/DMCA/g;
s/Gollum/Palladium/g;
s/Gandalf/Stallman/g;
s/Aragorn/Tux/g;
s/Frodo/You/g;
s/the One ring/your preciousss Linux b0x/g;
print;
};
fclose(f);
That was from a quote by JRRT. And it's a real word, listed in the Oxford English Dictionary as a variant of "pleasance". He did, recall, have a day job as a professor of mediaeval languages, and was an expert in old English and Norse languages. Be very sure before you try to correct him.
Well, I would think a century of popular mass media would have settled that question. The answer of course is "Yes".
The Mongrel Dogs Who Teach
OK, so Sauron may really have been a misrepresented progressive, and the Empire was an (albeit ruthless) meritocracy replacing an overbearing and incompetent theocracy. But these are only sideshows to the greatest story of injustice and legerdemaine in any form of media: the repression of the thriving mutant population by the aristocratic Thundercats.
In the very first episode the Thundercats admit that mutant technology is superior to their own, indicating a higher degree of development and effective organisation in mutant society. What's the Thundercats' response? Trade? Cultural exchanges? Nope, genocidal war. Which the Thundercats are dumb enough to lose, and are forced to flee. It's only when Lion-o and his inbred chums manage to strand themselves on a technologically backward rock, isolating the mutants from their technology, that they begin to stand a chance of avoiding the extinction that they deserve (although 7 males and one female don't exactly constitute a breeding population).
And how exactly did the mutants get to be mutants in the first place? Where did the mutagenic chemicals that warped their bodies come from? Working in the Thundercat uranium mines no doubt, or in the Thundercats' poppy field getting sprayed by toxic pesticides. If the Thundercats have a culture old enough to recognise that the mutants are mutants then it's pretty clear that they are the ones whose industrialisation and explotation created the environment for the mutations to develop.
And what about that Sword of Omens that Lion-o wields to effect his oppression? How can that blatant penis metaphor be allowed near our childrens' delicate developing minds? It basically conditions our children to believe that an erection is the correct response to interpersonal conflict!
I respectfully submit that there are much bigger fish to fry in the arts than Sauron's democratic revolt against the anti-progressive elven gerontocracy or the Emperor's motivational techniques in a galaxy so vast that only grand gestures are visible. The injustice of the Thundercats must end!
One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors - Plato
Would you ask your wife if she'll marry me?
Just kidding. Awesome reply though.