| Wednesday, June 26, 2002 |
17:14 - Nasssty Elveses!
http://gtexts.blogspot.com/2002_06_16_gtexts_archive.html#77950793
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I've seen this link kicking around various special-interest regions lately: it's an analysis of why the Elves in Middle-Earth aren't all they're cracked up to be.
Pretty silly and fun. But it also makes one think about the "mythological racism" inherent in stories like Tolkien's. All the merit that various characters have is in their bloodline and the purity of their ancestry, not in their deeds-- or at least, their deeds come to fulfill the high expectations that people have because of their blood. Star Wars has the same kind of thing going.
I've often thought about how the reason why we like stories like LotR and Star Wars is that it gives us a license to indulge in a kind of social outlook that's not politically-correct to espouse in real life; it's escapist fantasy, where racism not only has no negative connotations (anybody who is oppressed because of his or her race, effectively, deserves it), but it is the height of honorable aspiration.
I spent a lot of time being troubled by this, before eventually just deciding "Y'know, screw it"-- it's a story, and I think I (and most people) are capable of handling it as such, and separating it from real life. Just as it's folly to imagine that Quake causes kids to shoot up schoolyards, a study that sets out to prove that Tolkien's writings have inspired generations of white supremacists would probably turn up some pretty sparse results.
UPDATE: Aha-- I knew I remembered reading something high-profile about this before. David Hilvert sends me these two links to thoughts by David Brin on this very subject, both definitely worth reading if the above paragraphs haven't already made you reach for your mouse:
ttp://www.salon.com/ent/movies/feature/1999/06/15/brin_main/
http://www.kithrup.com/brin/starwarsarticle2.html
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