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libs move on from harry potter to LOTR
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this post was submitted on 22 Apr 2024
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While I do like the LotR movies, the worst thing about them is one very specific directorial choice made by Jackson that isn't in the books: to show the "good guys" as being reluctant to fight and downplaying the threats faced.
Theoden is portrayed as unwilling to fight at first. I can't count the number of times I've seen reactionaries on Twitter reference Aragorn's line about "open war is upon you, whether you would have it or not" when talking about tRaNsGeNdEr iDeOLoGy or something. Theoden has to be convinced to fight. Likewise, Treebeard and the Ents initially refuse to fight until Merry delivers his Sorkin-esque speech about how they're a part of the world, so they have to fight for it.
But none of that is actually in the books!
Theoden and Treebeard are not indecisive. They immediately join the fight without hesitation. Everyone recognizes the threat posed by Sauron and they join in. The Hobbits, while they are Little Englanders, are more in an isolated bubble far away from trouble, so it's more that their courage is never tested until the Scouring. They are unaware of what's happening in the world, not that they know about it but don't want to fight.
This seemingly small change has been latched onto by liberals and chuds alike for 20 years now. Because no one reads books anymore, we just assume the movies are the books. I doubt Ferguson has read the books any time recently.
And for as long as LotR has been published, everyone wants to interpret their own allegories into the story. It was very popular to read Mordor as Nazi Germany, which Tolkien had to always push back against. While Tolkien was the first to say things like his experiences in war and his religious faith influenced the books, he absolutely and in no uncertain terms was NOT writing anything to be allegorical to the real world. And to any fan of the books, it's offensive to try and read allegory into it when you understand that act of story telling and world building - and not allegory making - was central to the writing process for Tolkien.