There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
Well yeah, cause the only other way that story could’ve gone was “the OG Black Panthers were right, obviously the good guys and revolution is key” which isn’t a story that you’re allowed to tell.
To be fair, that series pushed that line much more than pretty much anything else I’ve seen on TV, but they did Ekko so dirty.
99 got extra woke in the last season. I thought they handled it well.
They address the George Floyd murder head-on. Rosa quits the force because of it. Jake is forced to address how he’s internalized some of those problematic attitudes. If you stopped before the last season, it’s worth giving it another look.
Pining for the well-defined good and evil; the inherent goodness even in some misguided heroes, the honor, bonding, and integrity of the protagonists, despite trial and tragedy. Our characters all striving for a better world despite any personal cost. Something missing these days.
It’s easy to wish for that. But also easy to forget that it was terrible war, both the fantasy one and the one Tolkien himself participated in, that brought about such a grand story. It is real, to an extent.
But also easy to forget that it was terrible war, both the fantasy one and the one Tolkien himself participated in, that brought about such a grand story. It is real, to an extent.
It doesn’t seem easy to forget for me - I mean, if someone’s brain just decides to ignore what “smell of death” means, or what “hewn dead bodies” look like, or the moments where besiegers of Minas Tirith use Osgiliath defenders’ heads as projectiles, or how small the events there are compared to the way idiots think of wars, and still how hard for their participants, - then maybe.
And about honor and integrity - people put in a hard place behave this way more often than it would seem. Being in such a situation is a filter itself.
It’s not all that unrealistic, there are good and evil in real life too. Sometimes with a contrast bigger than usual even for Tolkien.
But that would be everything written, and also when put in situations very moderately reminiscing such, I had associations with LOTR from my childhood where I didn’t have any such experience. Tolkien says literally many thoughts people have when encountering horrors.
Aragon led Gollum on a forced march without food or drink; Gandalf threatened him with torture. Even the most “good” of the good guys have moral failings in LotR.
Yes, they did. But they weren’t world-ending failings. They didn’t to enrich themselves. They didn’t seek advantage. And objectively they should’ve either killed Gollum or jailed him rather than this back-and-forth frenemy/enemy he became. Gollum certainly tried to do plenty of damage himself, but today we’d have to view him as having a mental illness so that’s different faming than just the story written in the last century.
But, this is fiction, and how the story and characters were written.
I like “The Rookie”.
But all these cops obsessing over the letter of the law, keeping each other in line, caring about perp’s life choices and victim’s problems…
This is fantasy. Might as well be Lord of the Rings.
There are two novels that can change a bookish fourteen-year old’s life: The Lord of the Rings and Atlas Shrugged. One is a childish fantasy that often engenders a lifelong obsession with its unbelievable heroes, leading to an emotionally stunted, socially crippled adulthood, unable to deal with the real world. The other, of course, involves orcs.
-John Rogers
I used to like The Rookie, but honestly after George Floyd I just couldn’t stomach any propaganda cop shows anymore.
Those motherfucker CHOCKED the man to death while smiling.
The show tried to pay lip service to it but honestly nothing they could do could possibly be enough.
This happened to me with Brooklyn 99, than even for a cop show is kinda woke.
Or the Dota show, that V, who has been oppressed by the police all her life became a cop officer on the first episode of the second season.
Well yeah, cause the only other way that story could’ve gone was “the OG Black Panthers were right, obviously the good guys and revolution is key” which isn’t a story that you’re allowed to tell.
To be fair, that series pushed that line much more than pretty much anything else I’ve seen on TV, but they did Ekko so dirty.
99 got extra woke in the last season. I thought they handled it well.
They address the George Floyd murder head-on. Rosa quits the force because of it. Jake is forced to address how he’s internalized some of those problematic attitudes. If you stopped before the last season, it’s worth giving it another look.
The longer I live, the more real LOTR seems.
Pining for the well-defined good and evil; the inherent goodness even in some misguided heroes, the honor, bonding, and integrity of the protagonists, despite trial and tragedy. Our characters all striving for a better world despite any personal cost. Something missing these days.
It’s easy to wish for that. But also easy to forget that it was terrible war, both the fantasy one and the one Tolkien himself participated in, that brought about such a grand story. It is real, to an extent.
It doesn’t seem easy to forget for me - I mean, if someone’s brain just decides to ignore what “smell of death” means, or what “hewn dead bodies” look like, or the moments where besiegers of Minas Tirith use Osgiliath defenders’ heads as projectiles, or how small the events there are compared to the way idiots think of wars, and still how hard for their participants, - then maybe.
And about honor and integrity - people put in a hard place behave this way more often than it would seem. Being in such a situation is a filter itself.
It’s not all that unrealistic, there are good and evil in real life too. Sometimes with a contrast bigger than usual even for Tolkien.
It was real for them (as in Tolkien’s experience, which was translated into the fictional story).
Not us.
We read the stories and forget how horrible war can be, and unless we have actually experienced those horrors, our understanding is only intellectual.
I agree.
But that would be everything written, and also when put in situations very moderately reminiscing such, I had associations with LOTR from my childhood where I didn’t have any such experience. Tolkien says literally many thoughts people have when encountering horrors.
That’s what makes a good writer and story.
I cannot argue one way or the other if you’re going to simply take the faintest references and call everything the same.
Aragon led Gollum on a forced march without food or drink; Gandalf threatened him with torture. Even the most “good” of the good guys have moral failings in LotR.
Yes, they did. But they weren’t world-ending failings. They didn’t to enrich themselves. They didn’t seek advantage. And objectively they should’ve either killed Gollum or jailed him rather than this back-and-forth frenemy/enemy he became. Gollum certainly tried to do plenty of damage himself, but today we’d have to view him as having a mental illness so that’s different faming than just the story written in the last century.
But, this is fiction, and how the story and characters were written.