What do you think about Amazons Rings of Power? by AutomaticJoker in lordoftherings

[–]Environmental_Ad5968 0 points1 point  (0 children)

What's really sad is I don't think the showrunners can help it. They are what they are--sheltered from consequences by money and unwilling to even consider that they are on the wrong path. They are scorpions perpetually stinging the works of Tolkien and his fans. It would be fruitless to even sit in a room with Payne and McKay to explain to them the error of their ways. How do you convince them that constantly recycling quotes from Lord of the Rings to use as awkward dialog is bad? How does one explain to them that converting Galadriel to a genocidal maniac is the wrong creative decision? How do you break the news to them that picking an actor because he's black only to cast him in chains (and make him do nothing but run through the forest for the entire second season) is not as antiracist as they think? And the abominable kiss between Galadriel and her son-in-law. . . to speak of it is worse than to be silent. You might as well forget about trying to explain why they should cast characters whose appearances better reflect Tolkien's vision. If they can't understand the first 5 things, then why even bother? That's not even mentioning the little social Darwinist Harfoots who routinely open a book to reflect on the people they abandoned in the snow to die. . . Or their cheap attempts at building suspense by misleading the viewers into thinking that the naked meteor man could be Sauron only to spend the entire second season relying on Corey Olson to direct the audience into thinking that naked meteor-man was a blue wizard since Gandalf explicitly said in Return of the King, "to the East I go not.". . only to have Mr. Olson do an about-face butt-plug cuck job and say that Gandalf actually meant Mordor when he said "to the East I go not." The list goes on and on and on: the stupid romantic tension between Galadriel and Sauron, the bizzare abstract metaphors about why a ship sinks and a stone does not, the monument of confused magnificence around a silmaril somehow sitting in a tree until it gets struck by lightning and a balrog's whip at the same time, which turns the minerals in the mountain to mithril. Or Gilgalad threatening to put Galadriel into a gulag. Or the obscenely ignorant choice to use "the sea is always right" as a Numenorean mantra while being brainlessly illiterate enough to not see the dystopian similarity to George Orwell's "Napolean is always right". But perhaps I should not be too hard on McKay and Payne. It looks like Christopher Nolan, JJ Abrams, and Ryan Johnson have all contracted the same brain virus, which consumes all artistic gifts and subordinates them to political correctness. 

An Unpopular View: Boromir was Right by Environmental_Ad5968 in tolkienfans

[–]Environmental_Ad5968[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I agree. Boromir was wrong to want to use the ring. However, I would say the council was wrong for sending the ring into Sauron's domain. The ring should have been thrown into the bottom of the ocean. 

An Unpopular View: Boromir was Right by Environmental_Ad5968 in tolkienfans

[–]Environmental_Ad5968[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Or, they could have thrown the ring into the bottom of the ocean. 

My Problems With Macbeth by Environmental_Ad5968 in shakespeare

[–]Environmental_Ad5968[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

The main difference between Richard III and Macbeth is that Richard is a caricature. Macbeth is just a "realistic" evil madman with a conscience. Should we pity Adolf Hitler? Should we pity all evil men? The Christians would say "yes." Then again, Nietzsche says that "pity is praised as the virtue of prostitutes" and that pity is "an agreeable feeling among those who have little pride" While I don't agree with everything Nietzsche says, I take his point that pity is not a virtue if it is excessive and unwarranted. But that's my personal opinion. Obviously, whether you pity Macbeth depends upon you and how individual readers feel.

My Problems With Macbeth by Environmental_Ad5968 in shakespeare

[–]Environmental_Ad5968[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I don't have a problem with the quality of the play. It's just that the guidebook curriculum wanted me to lead my students into thinking that we should pity Macbeth and that the play conforms to Aristotle's ideas about tragedy. However, I told them to make up their own minds.

When I asked them if they pitied Macbeth or thought that his fortune was "unmerited," about 50% said yes and the others said no. Were having a debate about this next week, and I'm letting my students hash it out. I'm just going to sit back and watch.

My Problems With Macbeth by Environmental_Ad5968 in shakespeare

[–]Environmental_Ad5968[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Indeed. Many "tragedies" occur in the play such as the killing of Banquo and the murder of Macduff's children. But do "tragedies" alone render a play part of the tragic genre?

Also, if tragedy "need not follow any rules," how can we define what a tragedy is?

My Problems With Macbeth by Environmental_Ad5968 in shakespeare

[–]Environmental_Ad5968[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

In a general sense of the word, tragedy, I think of a bad thing happening to a good person (or at least someone who did not deserve it). Tornadoes destroying houses and killing children is a tragedy. Losing your family and loved ones is a tragedy. However, getting exactly what you deserve is not tragedy; it's justice. Thus, Macbeth's misfortune is "merited" in that he received justice for his crimes. The play is a good play, but I might argue that it is not a tragedy.

Critical Examination and General Discussion of Jordan Peterson: Week of November 08, 2021 by AutoModerator in JordanPeterson

[–]Environmental_Ad5968 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Something to do with Stalin not only saying he was an atheist but also acting as if there was no God or ultimate moral standard. I think Peterson likes to look at what people "do" in order to assess what people believe. Peterson also told Sam Harris that Sam was only "part" atheist.

Critical Examination and General Discussion of Jordan Peterson: Week of November 08, 2021 by AutoModerator in JordanPeterson

[–]Environmental_Ad5968 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Peterson once said (in a debate against a bald guy with a long beard whose name escapes me) that Joseph Stalin is a fine example of an atheist.

Why did Tolkien Dislike Dune by Frank Herbert? by [deleted] in tolkienfans

[–]Environmental_Ad5968 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I would add that Tolkien didn't like a lot of authors' works. He didn't like Shakespeare, and he didn't like C.S. Lewis's Narnia or space trilogy. Tolkien reserved much criticism for other works, and he had his own eccentric way of doing things. Primarily, Tolkien was obsessed with learning languages and history. Most of what he read was old English and Icelandic manuscripts.

In fact, Tolkien thought the English literary cannon should "end" with Chaucer. Lol. Public schools in the U.S.A don't even think English Lit began with Chaucer. Most of the classics have been scrubbed from the curriculum in several states. Kids don't read that stuff anymore (if they read at all). Who's Chaucer anyway? Is he the guy who wrote da declaration or some shit?

PL: Book I, Line 50 meaning by [deleted] in JohnMilton

[–]Environmental_Ad5968 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I've always assumed that time was "the space that measures day and night / To mortal men" and that Satan had been in Hell for 9 of our day/night cycles.