Rings of Power : the corporate forgery of JRR Tolkien's Lord of the Rings
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- Опубліковано 23 вер 2024
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Well, it's mediocre fantasy with names replaced by names from Tolkien.
Basically, it's merch, not story.
I am honestly delighted that Sharkey blew a bunch of money, cranked out garbage, and hasn't profitted off of it myself.
Yup
So glad the Iain M Banks estate turned Amazon down.
Have the options/ rights to the Culture been on the market before, even if they later reverted back to Banks and his estate?
1/4-way through Player of Games myself.
@@MRCKify I’m not sure. All I know is Amazon approached and his widow declined.
❤
Did he? I didn't know they made him an offer. Good for him - and us! Love the Iain Banks novels.
@@Tubesmaney This was after he passed away. So likely his wife. But I think she truly understood what his outlook would be. Jeff Bezos resembles half his villains.
"Nazgûl bureaucrats"
god that was perfect.
Not all of us jumped on the atheist ship (which also has it's own myths). Tolkien said that he wanted to create a mythology of England, because there wasn't any existing mythology that was specific and autochthonous to England. The Arthurian stuff doesn't count because it is Celtic, and the old Germanic stuff doesn't count because it grew up in Scandanavia. He said he wanted something specific to the English soil. Sadly, most people don't understand his purpose, goal, or intent. As for me, I think mythology is valuable because it creates culture, community, and a shared zeitgeist. Take that away, and people have less in common with eachother, and less to talk about. I think this is the reason why the corporate entertainment (which are all globalists) deliberately deface all these works.
Hollywood's attitude to franchises like Harry Potter and LOTR is like the curator of the Louvre walking down the halls, looking at the priceless paintings and wondering out loud: "People love the Mona Lisa. We should have someone paint a few more and put them up. Then more people will come to our museum."
The Hobbit was an utter failure too, they turned Smaug into a wyvern and tacked on the whole elf / dwarf love story .
Eowyn is LOTRs strrongest female character.
Arwen gives up immortality for that man-beast Aragorn. That's toughness.
In the books you are right, Arwen is a just a side note. In the movies, she gets her rightful place as the strongest female character.
I assume that you are talking about the books here where Eowyn is a much more subtle character. She is regularly derided as an example of Tolkien demanding that a woman's existance is one of servitude but her path is more subtle: she initially rebels against the gender defined role and through trickery, fights at the Pelennor fields, killing the Witch King, but this proves to be a hollow victory (and not the feminist triumph of the Jackson adaptation) - Eowyn sees the cost of war first hand, the despair of battle, and through this experience seeks a life of peace as a healer. This is a core theme of LotR and Tolkien's wider writings: the search for peace, mercy, spiritual healing after the most traumatic of experiences... and the fact that he gives this story arc to a female character isn't anti-feminist to me at all. It shows great depth of spirit, that war affects us all in its way.
@@DamienWalter Eowyn wasn't immortal, thats REAL toughness.
@@EerieV23😂😢😅 rightfully??
Wtf are you pro woman right shit!!!😅😅😂
I hope Galadriel fights another volcano in season two. She got out of that with barely a scratch. I fully expect her to slay enemies with lightning bolts from her arise while telling the warriors of Numenor they can't fight and she don't need no man.
On the plus side, if we wrap some copper wire around the corpse of Tolkien and hook him up to an electrical grid, we will have energy for a thousand years because he will be spinning in his grave from what these hack writers have done with his world.
"The sea is always right!" Just. Epic.
''Angry nerd bro's'' Thats some next level gaslighting.👏
Colonel Kurtz: the Horror, the horror...
Not even The Hobbit triology, and that was PJ, is REAL Tolkien.
Making it a trilogy was the first clue. Obvious money grab.
The real shame is it could have been good. There are fan edits out there that are.
@@cogs2937 Thanks.Can you point to fan edits?
Yep...one of the biggest problems of those films was that...they diluted the story of The Hobbit book bloating it beyond reason! Then the first signs of disease of modern world were seen, from focusing on adding female characters for no reason and making sure the crowd shots of extras are 'diverse' :).
@@fantasywind3923 it was so cynical. I saw the first one and thought ok I know a cash grab when I see one.
Video admonishing the commercialisation of Tolkien by Amazon.... Then unironically says: "one ring to rule them all and on their birthday, gentle band them"
It certainly was not unironic.
I've said for a while that Rings of Power felt like a high budget fan film ...
honestly a fan film would probably respect Tolkien more lol
@@scoliosis9478 Aye, we had the fan video made "The hunt for Gollum", a title that have been snatched by WB :) ua-cam.com/video/9H09xnhlCQU/v-deo.html
I mean....Tolkien himself understood that Lotr sequel wouldn't be the same.....that's why he abandoned The New Shadow story :)...you just can't overdo it....but regarding the 'forced diversity' it's pushed by these exact corporates who think they are earning some points with that or seeking that mythical 'global audience' and in the end they commit worse crimes of cultural appropriation...because as much as they don't want to believe...some works are rooted in real world cultures....The Lord of the Rings owes much to European cutlural sphere...it is based on it...that's why you will never have Lotr be 'global' because it's not....Lotr doesn't care for Asian or African cultural spheres...it explores the European one! That's where the interests of the author were. And he crafted unique world drawing from those inspirations.
A friend of mine is VERY upset that Glorfindel was left out. For that is the best ... "character" in LotR. So there is always somebody with a strong opinion on certain elements of the story.
This is a very well formulated critique, sir! But from what I can tell, those "angry nerd-bros of UA-cam" would agree with almost everything you said in this video. Sometimes we know something is wrong but we can't really describe it because not everyone has the academic language to express or to analyze the "true root of the problem" as you clearly do. Instead, they provide their critique in whatever way they can. The reason those UA-camrs are popular is because they are quite obviously sincere in their dismay at being forced to watch every single worthwhile work of fiction being turned into McDonald's.
I think we need people of all types to voice their concerns about these things and I see no reason for you and those UA-camrs to bicker over details when you are so clearly speaking with the same voice.
Reactionaries often agree on the general critique. The difference is they BLAME A MINORITY. That's why reasonable people MAKE IT CLEAR THEY ARE NOT REACTIONARY. Good-day sir.
@@DamienWalter Thank you kindly for the reply. To my knowledge, neither Disparu nor Nerdrotic (shown in this video) have ever blamed "a minority" for the failures of the Rings of Power show. Though they specifically used the lady presenting herself as "the first black female dwarf" as an example of how requirements of "Diversity" and "Inclusion" have contributed in skewing the focus of the production away from good storytelling, which is hard to deny. They also mention the greed and incompetence you bring up here, but rarely as eloquently as you. I think you share more common ground with them than you may realize and that's a good thing.
@@Bonko78 "They've never blamed a minority" procedes to explain how they blame minorities
@@DamienWalter Well, that would be a less than generous way to interpret what I said. Let me rephrase: Based on what you say in this video (and you do have a lovely way with words), you at least tacitly agree that the casting in Rings of Power --- as well as writing and pretty much every aspect of film making --- has quite evidently been affected by a corporate McDonaldization and commoditization of Tolkien's books.
While evidently agreeing on that, the other UA-camrs also argue that a corporate politization via D.E.I. requirements have affected the final result as well. Apparently, the showrunners make a habit of talking about it in several interviews where they brag about how many black people they have in their cast, for example.
Now, for those UA-camrs to simply point out that these things happen and use images of that lady when she is explicitly saying she is there for political reasons, is hardly the same as blaming that lady for the overall state of that show, is it?
@@Bonko78 I'm going to explain this one more time, then I'm going to mute you from the channel if you comment again. Reactionaries often have an accurate analysis, but they then blame a MINORITY instead of blaming those with power. I'm not interested in further discussion with you.
What's wrong with yoga? :)
Nothing as a sport, but in the western world it becomes a mythical or even a religion substitute. Although Buddhism is very wrong perceived as a peaceful religion rather than a ideology and myth that justified feudalism and suppression. It‘s quite interesting how ideas and meanings can be reshaped in a completely different way
To be fair, Jackson’s LOTR is the original fake Tolkien. Not because of swapping out a tertiary character or cutting Bombadil…. But because Jackson/New Line capitulated to the lowest common denominator audience with primary themes of courage against great odds and fellowship/loyalty…. and completely avoided the harder, primary Tolkien themes of death, the pursuit of deathlessness, the absolute beauty in the initial creation of the world while it continually diminishes and fades, and the ongoing battle against evil/corruption- its inherited legacy starting with the epic struggles between the Valar/Maiar , and progression and diminishing in glory over time: first age battles bigger than second age battles and so on…. all culminating in the far smaller, more personal battle in the scouring of the Shire…. These are themes too hard for most contemporary audiences to stomach… so Jackson and his team removed them either willfully or out of ignorance, choosing for the more broad appeal of generic, shallow platitudes…. Leaving Christopher Tolkien THOROUGHLY unhappy with what Jackson did.
Most of that is only hinted at in LotR.
@@isomeme No, it is the very fabric of the story. Think of how much of the written LOTR is spent on songs, poems, recounting histories, waking-visions of the past, descriptions of cultures or regions in terms of history, dreams, as well as talks of mortality…. All pointing to a reality that is deeply rooted in “myths” that are not fables, but a grand story laid out by Eru for us to discover in wonder, to find strength and courage in those who endured much worse before us, and understand that even today a ‘small’ act of overthrowing a few dozen ruffians in the shire is a bigger deal than one might assume, even in the long line of battles against evil going back to the beginning of time. You don’t have to read the Silmarillion to get that. It’s all in the book of LOTR. It’s not in Jackson’s watered-down adaptation.
@@andygrams6344 , a novel has a lot more room for rich world-building than a movie. They are different art forms, with different strengths and weaknesses. The recent Dune movies were similarly "watered down", but I consider them to be an excellent adaptation of the novel. "Adaptation" is the important word here. Villeneuve didn't show us the intricate political machinations of Count Fenring. Herbert didn't show us Giedi Prime as a visually disorienting monochrome nightmare rich with symbolism that required visual expression for its emotional punch. As with LotR, I see no problem with loving an adaptation despite its inevitable, necessary divergence from the source.
@@andygrams6344Good luck putting all that into 3 movies without leaving out the rest of the story.
'Gollum and his shitty e-commerce site'
Perfect
This is brilliant. Existentialism is the only way to transcend nihilism, and the core of existentialism is taking responsibility for building your own meaning in a meaningless universe. I don't "believe in" Tolkien's world in the ordinary sense of religion or myth. I choose to make it part of my perrsonal narrative because doing so makes me better, stronger, and happier.
Are you familiar with the religious existentialists? They’re rather a different breed than the atheist existentialists. Check out Martin Buber, Paul Tillich, Soren Kierkegaard, Nicolai Berdyaev, Miguel de Unamuno, Gabriel Marcel, among others.
@@Keffinated , yes, and they have interesting ideas. But their approach always strikes me as an attempt to deflect confrontation of essential absurdity, which I find unhelpful. I align closest to Camus and de Beauvoir.
Dismissing all the, what you called, "nerd bros" critics to just getting angry at the black actress is pretty disingenuous and condescending imo. No wonder you could destroy that strawman in 30 seconds.
Sorry bro, Eowyn was the LotR’s strongest female character. This movie version of Arwen overshadowed Eowyn.
*my therapist* "Bezosauron isn't real. He can't hurt you."
*this video - BEZOSAURON*
Great video as usual. love the new "out and about" Damo. We get a view of Bali as a bonus!
Great video. The fly that keeps bothering you, also a great touch. A symbol for the decay of corporate media franchise.
It turns out rock lava formations have a lot of flies
"Wheels of Tedium" is so on the nose. I remember being 3 or 4 books in still waiting for this stuff to pick up and finally realizing that it's never going to.
Thanks for mentioning, but not wasting much time on, the “nerd bros.” I’ve watched a bunch of those videos and I find it’s a weird thing to agree with a lot of what is being said, while at the same time realizing that the people saying it seem to be just full of vile, hateful spite for basically everything. Seems like constantly hating on stuff is their formula.
Corporate power is depicted artistically in the LOTR
Even fakes can tell a good yarn. Blade Runner 2049. However Amazon Basics LoTRs does not really satisfy that criteria.
BR 2049 is the real deal, in every way.
It's not that all sequels or prequels are inherently bad. It's that Amazon just paid for the brandname and assigned it to some corporate drone writers.
Even the Hobbit films *could* have worked if business stuff didn't result in Del Toro leaving and Jackson unethusiastically rushing 3 films.
I think the common view of myth/fiction, as being a tool or a means to generate this intangible and ephemeral "meaning" we speak of... is missing the point. It also becomes the most common dismissal of the power of the mind and the existentially challenging nature of it's potential. I've heard many a time "myth/stories/religions/philosophy is all just a coping mechanism to provide meaning. A true realist doesn't use any of these, because he doesn't seek meaning". Again I think this entirely misses the point.
What fiction/myth allow us to do is to take a step back and allow our intuition to run rampant, from an objective distance. They are not simply to give us meaning, which may be a by-product. They are to go further than reason can go alone, both in understanding and in bodily potential. Reason isn't what got Wim Hof to push the human body to levels we called "miraculous" and "super-human" before realizing he was normal upon scientific testing. Intuition is a super power and it's what we have slowly but steadily removed ourselves from - both willfully and as an unavoidable consequence of progression - as humankind has become more and more intellectual.
I believe religion/myth/faith has always been a crude attempt to access that lost potential which we have yet to replace with reason. It sure seems like hubris to create stories and to "believe" them... or to truly "believe" anything at all for that matter. But it also seems like hubris (and faith based mysticism) to imagine that our monkeybrain's intellectual capacity has infinite potential, while seeing the "limited/subjective/inaccurate" potential of intuition as a given.
You could say living "without myth/belief" is a level of freedom that is too scary for weak people, or you could say, that having to make a real choice on what to believe outside of the training wheels of 1+1=2, is a level of freedom that is too scary for weak people.
The answer to how we as a society, have fallen so low is easy. We chose wealth over substance.
Thing is Amazon doesnt have the rights to Silmarilion - nobody does and nobody will have until 2043. They can only use the names and the setting, NOT the story as it was written. This is what most people shitting on the show dont understand. Now casting is IMO horrible, and they made some really bad choices telling the story, but its not like they can follow a book to the letter like they could with LOTR movies.
This is true.
Personally I did not like the actors in my first watch. After watching LOTR scores of times over the prior 2 decades, it was a hard to adjust.
However ive watched the series 4 times now, and the actors very much grew on me. Especially Robert Aramayo, who I think is the best Elrond we've seen on screen so far.
@@Tar-MírielI was saying the same thing. I like Elrond in it. Of course it is fake Tolkien because they don't have the rights, but some stuff fits well to the lore and is enjoyable.
I see harsh critics as trying to take away all the fun. No one should be allowed to enjoy the show because it hasn't gotten thier golden seal of legitimacy.
Thank you for pointing this out, the Rings of Power is truly nothing more than 'Fake Tolkien'...also known as 'fan fiction'.
Aragorn did not symbolize anything. Tolkien hated allegory.
But loved myth. All myth is symbolic.
@@DamienWalter He did love mythology, but he also complained that far too many people confuse applicability for allegory. It is true, I see it today. It's worse in the US where they waste all sorts of time talking about how everything is a symbol or allegory for something other than the plain reading. As a result if anyone ever gets famous, people think his story is all code for something else or something personal. Applicability means you can find meaning in it, whereas allegory means the meaning is already set by the author.
@@Procopius464 Tolkien disliked allegory because he wanted his work read as myth. He did not reject symbolism.
After listening many episodes on Spotify, this is the first to see your face!
Glad to meet you at last.
The whole thing is a grotesque farce, but it's Finrod screaming and crying like a little girl that makes me want to track them down and make them pay.
My first experience of Damien Walter. What a marvellous introduction. EXCELLENT video essay.
Amazing video. The only thing that could've improved it would've been a background score of Chad Kroger Enya cover songs.
I worked in a mall once that played those
the most sincere for of flattery is imitation and seemingly quite lucrative
I had totally forgotten The Rings of Power show (having never seen it). I found what Peter Jackson did to LOTR bad enough (though I thought the movies were good overall) with the changes he made on the story. To this day, I find it hard watching The Two Towers (2nd movie); Elves in Helms Deep, Aragon's doubt journey after falling in the water and Faramir's fall from grace. The thought of watching Rings of Power is vomit inducing.
I know they don't understand it, but they are Saruman.
One of these days, their staff will be broken.
Not believing in god doesn't equal nihilism. Nietzsche was wrong. You can be an atheist (godless) and spiritual being at the same time.
You can not believe one BS, but believe some other BS instead...
@@DamienWalter Yes, but it's not nihilism. Also, I wouldn't call secular spiritualism (for example love for nature) BS.
Its hard to believe Gladriel is 3000 years old. Only Moorcock could save this show !
The point on world building seems very relevant to gaming, where the map becomes the basis for the player's exploration of the world on various quests, etc.
Has the popularity of gaming played a role in developing a culture that overvalues world building?
Are there any games that express and explore themes and myths as richly as LotR?
My favorite thing about the lord of the rings is that every part of the journeys that would have otherwise been mundane were beautified with a deep reverence towards the environment, the trees in particular. There's a life and a seeming consciousness even to the trees that aren't ents.
Bottom line, if the idiot showrunners had hired great writers & had had an actual love or respect for Tolkien, RoP could have been enjoyable. Sadly that didn’t happen 🥺
There aren't a lot of Tolkien's out there for hire.
@@DamienWalter LOL but there are so many writers better than the ones doing RoP... Although the showrunners are the worst :(
Basically Sauron has become an antihero and Gladriel is smitten with him. ❤❤❤. The Abrhams mystery box...😱😱😱😱😱😱😱
Ich schätze deine Analysen immer sehr und finde, dass du einen Nerv triffst mit der Kritik am Franchise und Medienkonzernen. Auch dass du philosophische und politische Denker:innen mit hineinbringst, ist eine Bereicherung, auch wenn es seine Grenzen hatte bei der marxistischen Analyse von Endor (z.B. die Idee des Lumpenproletariats, was jedoch auch eine komplexe und kontroverse Diskussion innerhalb marxistischer Theorien ist).
Gerne mehr in die Richtung wie bisher!
Love your videos, dude! Really enjoyed seeing you out of the same old space and in front of a freaking volcano!
"arwen is lord of the rings strongest female character." um, no
Fact. Deal with it.
@@DamienWalter she barely appears in the books
@@elderofzion And that is why she deserves. More. Screen. Time.
The Rings of Power are hatred of Tolkien’s work. Guyadriel is a joke and the show runners are talentless hacks who had wokeify Tolkien. This is what happens when a billionaire who resembles Doctor Evil from Austin Powers creates a studio to impress 20 something girl friend. You get great writing going in and absolute rubbish coming out. Tolkien’s heirs after Christopher who acted as gate keeper for his father’s work certainly appear greedy and well whatever…
Great video. An interesting thing about the "reactionary feudalist" claims, is that they miss the point a little bit. Yes, Tolkien wanted a return to the natural heirarchy of things, but in the same way that Robin Hood did and (sometimes) does. LoTR is a post apocalyptic story where the feudal leaders have abandoned their obligatuions to the people in favour of blind tradition or personal glory. The return of the king is not just an event, it is a symbol. Aragorn represents the return to a KIng worthy of the name, who rules justly, and without concern for personal glory and power. He is glorious because he is good, not the other way round. He is willing to die for the common folk (hobbits) to succeed in their mission, over and over again he risks himself. The Return of The KING (capitalised for intention) is teh return to a system where the ruler rules on behalf of the ruled, not on behalf of themself. As I said, like Robin Hood, especially the earliest stories, where there is a deep longing for the deposition of the villain king (John nowadays, but not always), but not to replace it with a republic or commune or anything, but for a return to a king who is just, noble, and a protector of the people and the peace (nowadays usually Richard, but in earlier stories Edward or Henry 1 and 2).
Very good comment!
I dont think the people making the "reactionary feudalist" claims about LOTR are missing the point. What Tolkien is doing with Aragorn is what's known as the great man theory of history, a widely criticized theory that posits that history is made when a few great men come and bring about change while the masses follow. People also have a justifiable disdain for the unjustified heirarchy in the concept of monarchy and feudalism and thus regard Aragorn as monarchist propaganda. Aragorn being a good king because he's a good man is reductive and just plainly not true to real life or logic. What are the policies, the actions as the monarch that Aragorn does that makes him a good king? We have no idea.
As they say, the road to hell is paved with good intentions. And there's a reason why Tolkien hated Frank Herbert's Dune which criticized the tendency of people to put their blund faith in messiah like figures of authority and aristocracy.
It's been awhile since I read Two Towers, but I don't recall Theoden's passivity as blind tradition or personal glory.
Denethor definitely was into blind tradition. Even all these years later, I can recall *"I would leave my chair to a son after me, who would be his own master and no wizard's pupil. But if doom denies this to me, then I will have naught!"*
But even then, he'd had his own sense of paranoia stoked, which insulated him from his troops and pushed him to despair.
Last I tried, links aren't working in the comments, but Kitchensinkmuses, could you suggest some sources that link Robin Hood to early restorationist/ "purge the evil advisor" narratives?
My understanding, probably most recently reinforced by the Race for the Iron Throne blog by the too early departed Steven Attewell, was that Robin Hood narratives are for more likely to have been peasant pride stories long before the outlaw figure was blended with a nobly-exiled Robin of Locksley.
I’ve watched this video 3 times(it’s only been up 15 hrs) because he makes talking about SF so dramatic and interesting asf.
As much as I like Glorfindel, you could swap any Elf Lord in and arrive at the same result. My issue with Arwen's role in the Fellowship movie is that they didn't just give her Glorfindel's role, they gave her one of _Frodo's_ most epic moments.
Very appropriate setting!
I have not even given this series a chance, becaus I Know that it is Not Tolkein. There is so much more True Tolkein to be explored, which I have read alot of.
I have never heard a better explanation for the exploitation of J.R.R. Tolkien than what this video expresses. Damien has said exactly what I have been thinking. It makes me so sad to see what is being done with this beloved man’s work.
Why were the youtubers wrong for calling out Dwarves and Elves of color? They were postulating that it was done "because diversity" and cited the letter where Tolkien states that this was a myth for England, that elves are "fair skinned" and on and on. They were not saying that there were not elves and dwarves and men of dark skin in the mythos - just that they could not have been there and then.
I never really heard an argument that that wasn't so, only that anyone that called it out was a r'cist. So that Damien can debunk all that in less than 30 seconds to destroy it, I was genuinely intrigued.
While a lot of the adaptation decisions in the films were good decisions, the ford was a huge downgrade from the book. No problems with Arwen swaping for Glorfindel, but taking away the moment when Frodo confronted all 9 Nazgul and told them off was an even bigger blow than taking away his nearly stabbing the Witch King on Weathertop before getting the counter stab.
Sure, I'm a lady of logic and science. I have a horseshoe upside down over my apartment door to keep the luck in and the fairies out, but I am .... very uhhh logical. mumblemumblepeopleneedstories Rings of Power is an empty sheel. Thank you.
Love your work! You’ve opened my mind to modern myth and I’m rereading all my old favorites with a new framework. Thank you.
Wow, this is such a deep video. Like the books, it will require more than read to digest. Also, thank you for your trip Mordor to bring us this excellent content. Hopefully, the orcs were not too troublesome.
If you’re a real Tolkien fan you feel violated by Amazons Rings of Power. I mean personally violated. As if they swindled you out of your retirement money you worked hard all your life to build. Or as if someone stole and erased your memory of when there was actually some things that were good and right in the world. As if Amazon was attempting to rewrite the history of things that gave you fond memories and erase them and try to gaslight everyone into believing they were either wrong or never existed. As if Amazon was announcing the end of the world you once knew and loved and telling you that you don’t belong in their new and twisted abomination of reality. That you and everything you once knew and loved is cancelled. Not unlike when Frodo, Sam, Pippin, and Merry returned to the Shire to the realization of how Saruman violated it. That’s how Tolkien fans feel about what Amazon did with their Rings of Power. Like what the witch king did to Minas Ithil.
Me: I wish the Rings of Power had never happened.
Gandalf: So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to watch and read with the time that is given to us.
During the '70s, in Italy Tolkien was considered "fascist".
Why so?
@@DamienWalter Society was highly polarized, everything was seen in a political light. The extreme right found in Tolkien's work those "traditional values" to cling to and made him a reference author. But I believe they succeeded also because the left initially disdained Tolkien as an author and, once he became a "symbol" of their adversaries, branded him as "fascist".
"dark satanic CGI mills" literally now AIs
I don't really care about Lord of the Rings, but I am offended by your dismissal of Nickelback.
How is yoga a myth? I know people who go to these "stretching classes," and it gave us one of science's greatest gifts: yoga pants.
(please realize this is a joke)
I remember hearing this adaption was coming out and read one of the writers in an interview saying "in the first series we will see a young Aragorn..." and I immediately got angry at the idea that they'd be trying to milk the films and in order to do so skip past everything from The Silmarillion which is full to the brim with fantasy epics just waiting to be brought to life with room for expansion etc. Nope..young Aragon.... I haven't seen The Rings Of Power as I know it would just annoy me. I'll watch this review though..
Maybe watch the show?
Aragorn is not in. Rings of Power takes place thousands of years in the past.
@@Tar-Míriel Maybe read my comment?
As it happens I couldn't even watch this review. It's not _literally_ the idea that young Aragorn is in it, it' the use of known characters because, if you weren't aware, the industry is terrified of risk/new things - they only green light seqels and prequels
and having Galadriel (was in _all_ 6 of the films and the holiday special) is the same thing.
"We will see a young Galadriel". I have no doubt at one point she (or possibly her mum) says "go back to from whence you once came from!!"
@@billlowe70 I just say maybe watch it because you said you have not seen it, yet you're making assumptions about it...
It's actually a really good show. All these haters are just clambering on the bandwagon cause it's trendy right now.
@@Tar-Míriel 7/10 IMDB, made by a greedy corporation that doesn't care about the source material, bad reviews from people I trust. I _really_ did try to explain to you how and why these expensive properties are exploited and why ultimately they fall short 9/10 times. There are real reasons you could look at and think about, do look into it.
"Haters" is a term of confusion, when people don't understand why others don't like something eg "why all the haters for the star wars prequels?????????? They must be fans of the orginal or something. They're actually _really_ good, you should pay money that took time to earn to sit and watch them for 6 hours to prove me wrong!!"
My answer is........"no"
Instead I'm going to watch the new series "Casablanca 2: Frankly My Dear Let's Get Hitched" it's made by Disney!!!! in 3D!!!
👍👍👍👍👍👍
@@billlowe70 you do you
When discussing the myths that replaced God, you forgot about the latest myth - the postmodern myth of deconstructing everything, like gender, for example. The myth of saviour of humanity, trying to find more and more oppressed groups that need a saviour. Probably because you strongly believe in those myths and think of them as noble endeavors.
Myths are attached to realities. The problem isn't that I can't see the postmodern mythos - I helped write parts of it - it's that you are completely blind to its reality.
Hello Damien, I have a question regarding the Gentlebands. Do they do them for women? And which band would you recommend for a fearless warrior woman?
Men only. Get yourself some flowers wench.
@@DamienWalter :) Okay, Damien! Thank you for putting this wench in her place. The world needs more real men like you!
😕Boy, I hope I'm missing some context when I read this thread.
"You don't know anyone who thinks switching out Lord Glorfindel for Lady Arwen was a bad idea." Well you do now. Me. I think that. Glorfindel is brilliant. Anyone who'd read the books, ALL the books, would've been looking forward to a bit of Glorf. Okay, he doesn't do that much in FotR but no reason to replace him, especially if you are keeping his scene in the film.
Tom Bombadil, Farmer Maggot, Fatty Bolger, I get them being cut (though sad),
I still don't.
@@DamienWalter 😆
Right to dismiss imitators like Shannara and The Wheel of Tedium - I would put Game of Thrones in the same bin. But I take JRRT's theories about his writing with a big pinch of salt. It's not "mythopaeia" that makes LOTR better, it's just basic storytelling - Tolkien does it, his imitators don't.
A simple example: he wrote a long book because he thought the story demanded it; they wrote long books, and multiple sequels, because the market required it - and they used soap opera plot arcs and characters to fill up the word count. It's no wonder Rings of Power is boring to watch, the only reason most of it is there is to keep the end far enough away from the beginning.
Your wrong about Nedrotic and the others, you obviously have not watched them as their takes on Rings of Power and the bastardization of beloved franchises like Doctor Who are on the money. They are not just moaning about forced diversity, they are moaning about the wanton destruction of said franchises but talentless writers and show runners who don't care.
Maybe they should spend less time wanking off about Wokeness then.
Will Sauron write Gladriel a letter recanting his misbehavior at the end of last season. ? 😮😮😮😮😮😮😮😮
Wow! Just, wow! That's the most insightful rant I've heard in quite a while.
I don’t even like the second and third Peter Jackson adaptations. After remaining very true to the mythos in Fellowship, with changes that were all measured and in harmony with overarching personality and narrative of Tolkien’s world and narrative, in Towers and Return, Jackson made a bunch of jarring changes for cheap emotional punch. There is suddenly a “Last Alliance of Elves and Men” at Helm’s Deep. Whaaat? The Last Alliance is the incredibly symbolic and meaningful climax that ends the Second Age, and ushers in decline of the Elves of Middle Earth and the ascendency of humankind, crushes Sauron for an age, but sets up the war for the ring in the current age. But no, we have a ten minute sequence just chucked in to the middle of the second movie so people can go “oooohhh, that’s cool.” Turning Faramir from being the true representation of the ancient honour of the Men of the West, that still runs in the Men of Gondor, to being a villain that chases Frodo and Sam around to try and get the ring for a few minutes of cheap excitement. Only then to have us supposed to care about him when Denethor wants to burn him, and when he then starts a relationship with Eowyn. And having the Men of Gondor appear thoroughly inferior to the Rohirrim in every way. Having started off well, Jackson went on to sacrifice the true heart of Tolkien’s new mythos at the altar of the Dark Lord Hollywood. It might not be as egregious as the new Amazon rip off. But I’m not surprised Jackson is going on to do this Gollum fanfic (look at all the crap added into The Hobbit).
Fellowship omits Tom Bombadil...go read the many commentaries on that.
@@crhu319 True. I actually didn’t mind that though, because it was clear that there would have to be cuts in order to fit the whole of Fellowship into a 2.5hr movie. In terms of selecting what to cut, I thought that made sense. Though there is a lot of interesting lore around Bombadil - chiefly the question of what IS he? - his section of the story doesn’t really link to anything else or have any major impact or meaning for the wider story. I am sure I am open to criticism for that interpretation. But that is my interpretation. It is very different to the changes that were made to fundamental lore and plot points for NO reason in the 2nd and 3rd movies.
Ideology and religiosity share space in human consciousness, or "mind". I'd say Tolkien was more reactionary as opposed to conservative. He wasn't a citizen so much as a loyal subject of the Crown rendering his duty. A conservative is a liberal and believes in the Enlightenment and its teachings.
That black dwarf actress shot her big mouth off about utter nonsense and that's why she drew so much fire.
i'm probably off topic here, but aren't super heroes about maximum super heroism but without the myth? minus those instances when the myth is theme.
There are many people who would argue that superheroes are very much modern myths. They function similarly to tales of Hercules or Achilles but there's no need to take them literally. What is "super heroism without myth"?
@@hjones4922 good question. i've said this while having strict line between super hero comic books and super hero movies in mind. don't you think that something from 1 media transferred into another media inevitably loses something in the process?
@@VM-hl8ms Yes, comics have many clear advantages: cheaper to produce so more freedom for experimentation; few creators so more room for a singular vision; long running stories, runs and titles, so mythic aspects and continuity grow organically (instead of 3-act hero's journey).
Lol, your thumbnail.. I'm dying 😂
Really enjoyed this video, so many interesting ideas well articulated. Thank you .
There's a lot of things to respond to in this video. Starting with - has nobody outside of philosophy tube The Society of the Spectacle?
The delicious irony of believing the myth that Stalin engaged in class war
Or the huge oversimplification of Nietzsche's Ubermensch being what amounts to Nilhilists. I think Max Stirner might have had something to say about that.
Or the myriad of anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist points made.
I'm not ragging on the video. I think it's well designed and delivered.
But I do wonder if your criticisms have more to do with your personal political ethics than the quality of the various works you mention
"The habit of the religious way of thinking has biased our mind so grievously that we are terrified at ourselves in our nakedness and naturalness"
There's a whole video on Guy on this channel. Avatar.
Please do respond to any of the myriad of anti-authoritarian and anti-capitalist points!
Myth sustains us, always have, always will! Thank you!👍👍👍
Guys its fine. Rings of Power isn't actually part of the lore. It isnt canon. It doesn't matter what amazon says. It is irrelevant whether or not Amazon got liscencing rights from the Tolkein estate. Amazon doesn't decide what is officially canon, the Tolkein estate doesn't either. We do. And Rings of Power is fanfiction if we say it is. So just ignore it. It doesn't matter. The next time someone gets liscencing rights to Tolkeins work they will retcon every single plot point of Rings of Power. RoP will have no lasting impact on Tolkeins lore if we just choose to forget about it. Same goes for the Star Wars sequels. Those weren't canon. I don't care what Disney says. We, the fans get to choose what is part of our fandom and what isnt. It doesn't matter what a corporation says, what copyright says or what the law says. We are the fans and the we get the final say. Spread the word.
Maybe fix your spelling of Tolkien. It's not helping your argument's credibility.
Masterfully well said.
Fictionalized fiction creating fiction. Meaning that generations reinterpret the source material. Star wars? Etc.... Fantasy and fiction everyone should just chill out. If you love the books like I do, movies dont bother me or shows.
Wow, that was great, Damian! Thank you.
What's ridiculous about the angry youtuber dudes is that they are all still just simple consumerists, and their critiques never penetrate beyond superficial outrage. They never seem to contemplate the deeper implications of the corporate system, and they would happily eat from the corporate trough so long as the slop was flavored to their liking.
Yes. They're the people who protested when McDonalds added a salad option.
I'm curious how many different adaptations or sequels of books to film get extra strong criticism because of their branding and their title. Many of these disappointments would be passable as standalone films with generic titles and copywrite safe proper nouns, but people hold extra scorn for them because by their title they are placed as equal to the great properties of the past which are elevated by nostalgia and the allure of the elite hipsters mindset.
They would go completely unnoticed.
Evil can’t create. It can only destroy.
Amazon just has to lean in to Galadriel as a Nazi personally responsible for the whole disaster of the Second Age. Then Tolkien's whole arc from first to Fourth Age is her character arc personally. And she had all the extremes.
Thank you Damien! Love this video - keep up the great work!
That ad placement was perfect.
I despised the switch out of Glorfindel! He was considered the most powerful elf in all of Middle-Earth and was my favorite character. I hated the movies.... But probably because I loved the books so much and read them an embarrassing number of times. I even had a blown up laminated map of middle-earth on the wall of my bedroom.
I liked the first movie of the LOTR trilogy. It wasn't accurate to the book and it did some characters dirty ( like farmer Maggot and Glorfindel) but it was obvious that a great deal of effort was put into it and i could exceuse the inaccuracies. But after that each movie was worse than the previous and Hobbit ( my favourite ) was atrocious
@@volfi123 yep, buddy, they just got more and more ridiculous. While I didn't see it, just hearing about dwarf/elf romance made me laugh and want to puke in turn
Incredible video, so glad I found this!
The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real things of its own.
I think switching Glorfindel for Arwen was a bad idea and also I can't watch the LOTR trilogy because of the Moria action sequences and skateboarding and also weapon and armour choices.
I so wanted to like The Rings of Power but the pacing just left me in shambles. I found myself trying to stay interested, but in the end I found myself watching it out of spite. I've discovered fakes that were at the very least full of well-intentioned crap, but that show itself was _fasler than vows made in wine_ , and empty of talent. I expected it to be at worst a *hot mess* but littered with some notable flourishes worth mentioning, though that was not the case. It ended up being such a slog to sit through, as I truly felt like I was wasting valuable time I could have spent elsewhere. Great video though! I really liked the visual style and storytelling aspect of it.
Well, a selfie of Nikki Minaj wouldn’t be bad like Rings of Power is. A more apt comparison would be an NFT or the Mona Lisa
More apt perhaps, less funny certainly.