Diamond18--
Quote:
|
Fantasy fantasy fantasy! Doesn't anyone agree with me that the only reason their lifestyle wasn't detrimental is because Tolkien didn't want it to be?
|
Sorry, I don't. You're too grounded in the year 2002. Way back when Tolkien wrote these tales, there was little recognition of the health risks of tobacco or cholesterol or even obesity. Believe me, I grew up in the 1950s. You would faint if you saw the breakfasts we ate then. Loaded with every terrible, greasy substance known to man!
These health considerations were nowhere in Tolkien's mind when he wrote his tales. He wasn't doing a "fantasy cover-up." Tolkien couldn't "wish away" negative health consequences beause he didn't even know such health consequences existed.
Remember that Tolkien's pipesmoking scenes stand for something beyond mere physical activity. They are scenes of camaraderie and male bonding. The reason they feel so real is that they were drawn directly from the academic and literary gatherings which were so important to him. This is what male academics did in the 1940s and l950s (even the 60s) so Tolkien's hobbits do it too.
The same is true for the hobbit use of food. The hobbits weren't gluttons, but food played an important part in their society. It was part of the give and take of families in a close knit rural community. The fact that many of the hobbit families, at least the working class ones, actually raised and produced that food made it all the more meaningful. Ever taste a vegetable or fruit you raised yourself? It just tastes better.
Sometimes today, we focus so much on the calories and fat grams that we take away all that elemental delight. Tolkien's hobbits were still childlike enough, in the very best sense of that word, that they could still see the joy of simple things.
In a similar vein to this thread, Michael Martinez had an essay in his Suite 101 website complaining that PJ should not have included the pipesmoking scenes in the movie. He said it was a bad example for the young people who saw the movie, and mentioned the fact that he had personally lost a number of relatives to cancer.
Again, I don't agree with Martinez. I lost my own dad to lung cancer, but that isn't a reason to "censor" the smoking out of the movie. I don't believe people take up serious pipesmoking merely because they see the film. What do we do next? Also, censor these scenes from the books? Rubbish!
In modern terms, I imagine that it might also be considered potentially dangerous to your health to have half the male population running around with real swords and axes strapped to their sides. After all, people get a bit heated up and, presto, you have some nasty wounds. Does that mean we should edit those scenes out too?
We are talking about Middle-earth, a world of imagination. In that context, I refuse to be bound by the social conventions of our own day. I'm not talking basic morals here, but those things that ebb and flow from generation to generation. Believe me! Forty years from now our grandchildren will delight in pointing out to us all the "bad habits" we exhibit which we don't yet even know exist. Let's not judge literature by standards like this that shift in the sands.
sharon, the 7th age hobbit
[ October 15, 2002: Message edited by: Child of the 7th Age ]