JRR Tolkien reads from The Hobbit for 30 Minutes (1952)

(openculture.com)

64 points | by bookofjoe 4 days ago

2 comments

  • krupan 1 hour ago
    This is so good. You can tell that Andy Serkis based his gollum voice off of this.
  • ParentiSoundSys 54 minutes ago
    I wonder what Tolkien would say of so much of the symbolism from his novels being used to bootstrap a horrible dystopian control grid? Would he approve or disapprove? The way that orcs are dehumanized you have to wonder.
    • usrnm 47 minutes ago
      > The way that orcs are dehumanized

      Orcs aren't human, though. If anything, they were deelfized

    • bananaflag 16 minutes ago
      • ParentiSoundSys 11 minutes ago
        Fascinating thank you. I was only aware of the surface level concern around the orcs.
    • gambiting 37 minutes ago
      >>The way that orcs are dehumanized you have to wonder.

      If anything, it's their portrayal in the Rings of Power that is idiotic(trying to humanize them) - they aren't human, they don't have families or friends or internal lives and psychological doubts going through their heads - they are meant to be a force("force" like in "force of nature") of evil, not a misunderstood and exploited race of intelligent beings.

      For an actually interesting take on "hey what if the orcs are actually intelligent people" there is The Last Ringbearer by a Russian author, presenting LOTR from the perspective of Mordor(it's not a good book, but was an amusing read)

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Ringbearer

      I will however agree with you that it's truly insane how we have a global survailence company that is used to spy on citizens and destroy democracies worldwide that is literally called Palantir. Like, no one working there is seeing it?