April 9, 2002

Misconceptions on Interpretation (for Audre)
Richard P.

Hello there... while I appreciate the feeling you have for Tolkien and the Lord of the Rings I just have to correct you on one point... Tolkien never conciously wrote any of his storys as reflections on the social situations of his life time or ours. In fact, he goes as far as to outrightly deny that he was influenced by the World Wars or the changing English countryside to write the books. The Lord of the Rings IS NOT a political statement, its is part of a much larger story which Tolkien wrote primarily for his own enjoyment. He said that he was motivated to write the books as, "a new mythology for England"; as England has no inherant mythology. His languages were invented for their sounds, hence Quenya, the language of the Elves sounds beautiful, but that is not a reflection of what Elves are like, as they get up to some pretty bad things.

Tolkien had nothing to say about politics, because he disliked all political parties and ideaologies equally; therefore, if you read the Lord of the Rings and view it as a political statement, you are getting the wrong end of the stick, he wrote it simply as a story, to inspire and to stir the emotions, and all Tolkien's work does that brilliantly. I take it that you have not read the whole trilogy yet, you may not even intend to, but if you do, perhaps your view will change a little when you finish. (Possibly as regards Frodo too ;-) )

As regards many of us dwelling on the bad points of the film, well, I am 18 and have read LotR over 20 times, along with the Hobbit and the Silmarillion and the other books Tolkien has written on Middle-earth. When you come to love and to know a story in the way that many people here undoubtedly do, it is hard to stomach any change. We still all love the movie, or we wouldn't come here...... I think very little of how the book was adapted to screenplay but I have still seen it seven times!!!

Oh yes, and The Hobbit is not, "a silly book"!!! Try reading it properly.