I read this one the other day and couldn't make heads or tails of it. I must not be the target audience.
> The Lord of the Rings seems immersed in racism (the superiority of the fair and noble elves, the inferiority of the brutish, mongrel orcs), colonialism and imperialism (the return of the king means the restoration of empire), and deeply retrograde sexism (with a core cast of characters that is overwhelmingly male).
That's just one half of Tolkien's dialectical examination, though. An apolitical reading reveals all sorts of nuance in these themes, especially in LOTR. Racism cuts both ways - humans are portrayed as being baser than Hobbits in many cases, but aren't discriminated against despite their weakness and short lives. Imperialist virtue is mocked by the government of the elves, who almost completely lack individual agency owing to their trust in governance and religion. Sexism... I don't even know how DEI-obsessed you have to be to care about this. Women are portrayed with depth, depicted in positions of power and recorded in combat. It's exemplary, for 20th century literature.
People always talk about the influence of WWII on Tolkien's writing, but I'm fascinated by the increased politicization of the novels as we drift away from a postwar unity. Part of me even wonders if the Peter Jackson films could be made nowadays without being accused of wokewashing the whole thing.
bigyabai•9mo ago
> The Lord of the Rings seems immersed in racism (the superiority of the fair and noble elves, the inferiority of the brutish, mongrel orcs), colonialism and imperialism (the return of the king means the restoration of empire), and deeply retrograde sexism (with a core cast of characters that is overwhelmingly male).
That's just one half of Tolkien's dialectical examination, though. An apolitical reading reveals all sorts of nuance in these themes, especially in LOTR. Racism cuts both ways - humans are portrayed as being baser than Hobbits in many cases, but aren't discriminated against despite their weakness and short lives. Imperialist virtue is mocked by the government of the elves, who almost completely lack individual agency owing to their trust in governance and religion. Sexism... I don't even know how DEI-obsessed you have to be to care about this. Women are portrayed with depth, depicted in positions of power and recorded in combat. It's exemplary, for 20th century literature.
People always talk about the influence of WWII on Tolkien's writing, but I'm fascinated by the increased politicization of the novels as we drift away from a postwar unity. Part of me even wonders if the Peter Jackson films could be made nowadays without being accused of wokewashing the whole thing.