Tolkien's Influence Galactic?

[alatar]

Originally Posted by Lalwendë

I can hear Tolkien turning in his grave right now! I bet he'd be horrified if people mistook his work for real history.

Spinning heavenly bodies perhaps?

However the irony is that loads of our so-called history books are not exactly true anyway. I'm old enough to remember history books stuffed full of the glories of the British Empire and tales of how missionaries brought 'civilisation' to 'savages', with not even a passing mention of the millions of people exploued in the name of the Empire or the native peoples who lost their entire cultures due to Western influences.

It's not only that history is written by the victors, but also by a set of persons with a certain and limited point of view. 100 years from now we may realize that it was the Peter Jackson movies that radically changed the world; today they're just another set of fantasy movies based on some books. No one pays much attention to what happened during those 18 months in New Zealand, and even those that did may have missed the forest for the trees, or the mallorn for the maples. The persons documenting the feat, and those editing the miles of footage may have thought that they were capturing the essence of the event, but what they missed, seemingly unimportant, may be that proverbial mustard seed.

So I may as well have been taught that Hobbits really existed.

I see that people are more interested in Atlantis than Rome or Ur. Mayan carvings thousands of years old are thought to be of spaceships. When they are proved to be terrestrial, interest wanes. So, this being the trend, to encourage education and maintain rolls in government schools, we may see a shift to "edutainment," where you might learn that your great-great-greats had wooly toes.

Elvis? Elvis?! What do you leave him on Christmas Eve? Your whole Christmas Dinner? And I bet he'd even eat your selection box too!

What's a selection box? Any, it's customary to leave the King a chocolate-covered fried turkey stuffed with an entire ham, served with a pound or two of fries (chips) with bacon, cheese and Texas ranch dressing and a Diet Coke.

[Bêthberry]

Originally Posted by alatar

It's not only that history is written by the victors, but also by a set of persons with a certain and limited point of view. 100 years from now we may realize that it was the Peter Jackson movies that radically changed the world; today they're just another set of fantasy movies based on some books. No one pays much attention to what happened during those 18 months in New Zealand, and even those that did may have missed the forest for the trees, or the mallorn for the maples. The persons documenting the feat, and those editing the miles of footage may have thought that they were capturing the essence of the event, but what they missed, seemingly unimportant, may be that proverbial mustard seed.

. . .

I see that people are more interested in Atlantis than Rome or Ur. Mayan carvings thousands of years old are thought to be of spaceships. When they are proved to be terrestrial, interest wanes. So, this being the trend, to encourage education and maintain rolls in government schools, we may see a shift to "edutainment," where you might learn that your great-great-greats had wooly toes.

Yeah, throw away history and cultural artifacts and what are we left with but Celeb Couples Of the Moment. Andy Warhol where are you now--or is he one of those dead white male artists we are supposed to forget?

Then again, it's good to remember that Tolkien was part of an historical reconstruction of the Anglo Saxon era. We may see more stars these days, but there's lost texts that even he couldn't find.