This is the garbage you spew when you have a Masters in Literature and too much time on your hands...

God forbid people look more into something than what's on the surface. I'm not saying that this guy isn't a complete loon, but I DO like how you summarily dismiss higher education and the study of literature so quickly Hoochie.

But I guess that's par for the course...the ignorant pretty much trash what they don't understand.

Try to ignore my bias and the fact that I'm wearing Gandalf underwear right now, and really think about it.

Hehe

This guy IS a nut and so are you if you support him; LOTR is meant to be a fantasy book they always have the classic good vs evil which has historically been seen as light vs dark, white vs black *note* black does not always have to be a "black" person. To say that this book is racist is to use ones aquired knowledge as a tool to fit in an ideolofy, i.e. thinking that the book is racist and then using a masters degree to make that assumption fit; if that were the case then almost all hollywood films would be guilty of being racist for only having token black people on films.

Technically 'black' people aren't black; they are dark brown, and white people aren't white; they come in shades or cream to tan etc (you get my point right?). This guy himself was being racist by arguing that Jackson didn't give the orcs a "natural sense of rhythm"; how racist is that - stereotyping all african americans as having an innate sense of rhythm - the truth is - some people have it - others don't. Also he suggests that since ALL the orcs had "dredlocks" that they represented black people because he thinks that all black people have dredlocks. What he is, cool2darkness, is a hypocritic, accusing LOTR as being racist when he himself is somewhat of a racist (stereotyping IS a form of racism as he explains in his article)

Technically, the orcs aren't black, they are dark green, sharp teeth; more amphibian like and about their hair; I'm sure being down underground would not help the texture of their hair and give it a dredlock-look.

Yeah sure you can look deeply into something but when you come up with the wrong conclusions which are based not on the literature but on his own stereotypes, then there will be critisism for that. Just because he has (I assume) some sort of higher education does NOT automatically mean whatever he says is right.

Don't put words in my mouth shiny, I am all for higher education at any cost, even if you have to beg,borrow or steal to pay for it. I myself am working towards a concert degree in piano even before I am even in university (never to early to start:P). As for literature; its good for people who like it (duh) but this guy just hasn't gotten his head straight on if he thinks that the book projects racism when rather it shows mutual racism within the book; the orcs dont like the humans and elves etc while the humans, elves, etc don't like the orcs - as I can recall, Toliken wrote parts of this book when he was serving in WWI and sent it to his son; I do not think he was concentrating on a medium for his racial views but rather trying to make an interesting, imaginitve good vs. evil scenario for his son. (I might be mistaken somewhere on my recollection but you get the point right?).

If you could study literature globally you could come up with a million different views and arguments but is that what the author of a novel would want? People fighting on interpretations of it when the author just wanted to make people happy, smarter or just see the text for what it is!!? For example: The Cat Is Black; I could interpret that as being a feline with black fur OR I could say that this is a racist nuance saying that mangy cats are african american and I could go on forever but I think studying literature is a boring task because when you read something (other than poems that is) you should let your mind run free and imagination transform you into the books scenario, not sit down and analyse every word to see where it all links up.

This is off topic, but DAMN! I can't wait til Two Towers comes out. whooooooweeeee!

I WATCHED THE FIRST ONE 5 TIMES AT THE CINEMA AND UNTOLD NUMBERS ON PIRATED DVD!! WOW

*ahem* ok lord of the ring high is over...

Read my first sentence: "I'm not saying that this guy isn't a complete loon". Perhaps you misunderstood me but I felt it was pretty clear that I thought this guy was off his rocker and digging waaayyyyy too deep for a meaning that is very hard to justify. But that's not to say that some of the stuff you wrote shouldn't be refuted...

This guy himself was being racist by arguing that Jackson didn't give the orcs a "natural sense of rhythm"

That was sarcasm. He was implying that Jackson went so far with everything else, he might as well have done the "natural sense of rhythm" thing.

cool2darkness

Haha, I will give you credit for getting creative with my name. But wouldn't it be chill-2dull (Get it? Chilled instead of burn, -2 instead of 2 and dull instead of shiny?) :)

Yeah sure you can look deeply into something but when you come up with the wrong conclusions which are based not on the literature but on his own stereotypes, then there will be critisism for that. Just because he has (I assume) some sort of higher education does NOT automatically mean whatever he says is right.

What I was attempting to show was not the credentials of this author, but of how you quickly jumped to and attacked those with literary pursuits as the source of ignorance like this guy, rather than just attacking his points and what he said.

If you could study literature globally you could come up with a million different views and arguments but is that what the author of a novel would want? People fighting on interpretations of it when the author just wanted to make people happy, smarter or just see the text for what it is!!?

This is very very sad. I won't belabor the point because it's clear that you are pretty set in your ways but as an English major and a writer let me just say this: you are wrong. Very good authors, such as Tolkien and others, DO want people to analyze and dissect their work. They DO want a million different interpretations. Literature is art. Art is subjective. There is no right or wrong answer to how you interpret it, but to say that the entire medium just produces things for entertainment and consumption is to disgrace all art forms.

You say you study music...where would modern music be without improvisation or playing with the format? We would not have many - if any - of the musical genres we have today had people not listened to a piece of music, analyzed it for what they liked and then built on it from there. The same can be said about literature: writers get their inspiration from other writers, from life, from comments and feedback...essentially, art is a perpetual thing and to simply just digest it without any further is to do injustice to yourself and the artist.

Analyzing every word is a stretch, I'll admit but literature does deserve to be analyzed in general.


"Those who do not want to imitate anything, produce nothing."
- Salvador Dali

Damn cookies....

Nope

However I find analysing music so much more fun than reading some books which can become soooooooooooo boring but I guess its cause we are different people.

you're a writer huh? what and where are some of your works?

I'm only 20, so I'm not a novelist (yet) or anything, all the stuff I have had published has been when I was on the high school newspaper staff - ranked as one of the 10 best in the US - for four years.

Other than that, I have written a lot of opinion articles, over 200, for my own site - [link]

Go read if you are curious :P

This particular author did NOT want his work dissected and analyzed. Tolkien found it very offensive when people would attribute his themes and characters to real life. He said he wanted to avoid symbolism in his books and it seemed like he got pretty upset when people did so. He wanted people to read a story and nothing more.

Not trying to contridict you Burnn, no need for a 1,000 response please. ;)

SHAME YOURSELF YOU LITERARY MAJOR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :P

dude you are so right. i hate it how people make everything about color and such shallow things as that!!! I hate people after i get to know them and that is how it is for most people now a days, but look fuckin' liberal yahoos like this guy and jesse jackson are reviving thoughts from the 1800's and early 1900's to either make themselves feel big or earn money. this dumb fuck should just be taken out back and shot. fuckin' dumbass! God Damn It!!! jjz

Okay, Let's turn the tables and say that what if the bad guys were white and the good guys were black. You would shit your various shades of pink and tan asses. What do white people call themselves? They call themselves White. Very good. Now, what do black people call themselves? Black. There's really bad joke about the bus driver who got irritated when the folks on the bus started to quarrel about who should sit in the back of the bus and who should sit in the front. He finally stood up and said,"Okay! we're gonna settle this thing once and for all! No one is Black or White on this bus! We're all gonna be Green." Everyone seemed to agree on this. Just before he turned to go back to his driver's seat, he said.."Now!all the lighter shade of green in the front and and all the darker shade of green in the back!

Lord of the Racist Rings!!!
I saw this movie and it stunk!! pew pew pew..Buncha idiots dressed up like cartoon characters. I'm a white trash living in a trailer house and you can take that movie and stuff it up yer butts!!

Burn2Shine? is dat u?

Your awesome. That other guy is stupid. Lord of the Rings is the best.

Whoever posted the one above this is awesome. frickin genius.....

G'day.
sorry to chop in guys, but i have a point relevent 2 the racism in LOTR comment.
As a student who has been studying the fantasy genre and its realated Psycology for 6 months now i would like to add that the reason for the white/black motifs in LOTR, as in all fantasy literature, or any other type of imagery, is as simple as this.
IT IS AN ARCHETYPE.
this is a Psycological 'button' that can be pressed and will evoke certain reactions, such as fear etc. or simply the recognition that the orcs are the bad guys.
i think that the issue of race is irrelevent in the light of a masterpeice such as LOTR, just enjoy it for what it is.

This is an email i sent him because im getting tired of these fucking paint chip eating lead bar chewing penny licking asshole and their fucking crusade to start some racist shit----------------

It's fucking people like you that start this racist shit, So what now noone is ever to refer to Black in a negative way (black as in the color dont get your panties in a bunch) and white in a positive way? Dude for real just shut the hell up and enjoy the movie. Get a life and a better job because you have WAY too much time on your hands to rev people up with this racist shit. ITS A FUCKING MOVIE! Stop analyzing shit because your not good at it and stop trying to cause problems with your propaganda.


P.S. I dont give a shit if i spelt anything wrong and you are on my blocked list so dont try to reply there will be no retailiation to your reply because i wont get it.

P.P.S- Grow up and get a fucking life! Loser.

Wow good for you, nice educated logic always wins over swearing at a guy, don't ya think?