Thoughts on Tolkien?
Many and varied. Don't have an overarching argument to make about him, but a selection of points that sometimes rattle around in my head.
I think his actual work is really interesting and compelling, but I dislike the flattening effect his influence has had on the fantasy genre. His stuff is way weirder than what it inspired.
I think nerd culture needs to stop canonising saints (of which Tolkein is a prime example) as it means everything has to be either arse-kissing or arguing against kissing the arse, and actual interesting discussions get lost.
I think Lord of the Rings is credited with inspiring a lot of fantasy TTRPG shit, when most of that stuff was actually in The Hobbit.
When we're feeling really bleak, we do an eat-a-long watch of the extended movies called There and Snack Again. It's fantastic and I get to feed the people I love a spoonful of Vile Fish Stew
I think his experiences in WW1 are an interesting lens through which to look at some of his work, but are often overstated and incorrectly treated like some skeleton key that "explains" his stories.
Man, when he was on his game the dude could write a fucking Sentence.
He would have fucking hated a lot of the dipshits that try to lay political claim to him, but it's tricky because that stuff is there in the books.
I'm not interested in apologism for the way race and ethnicity are talked about in his books, but I think the stories are powerful enough and there is enough really good stuff in them that we shouldn't surrender them to reactionary dickheads without a fight.
