Regarding LOTR, you're right, and I'm being unfair to Tolkien-- deliberately. There are themes in LOTR that are absolutely applicable to this or any other crisis period, whether in a person's life or in history. Above all, the famous exchange between Frodo and Gandalf which concludes with Gandalf telling Frodo, "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." I just want to try to shake people out of the habit of seeing "the Enemy" as an orc or a Nazgul. Insofar as things like orcs exist, they are immaterial powers. See them as a metaphor for human vice and they're useful enough, but projecting them onto your actual enemy is a great way to gin yourself up for genocide.
As for Troy... I never bothered watching it, and now I'm sure that was the right decision! What a waste.
And I think you're right re. American exceptionalism. In my lifetime, the Civil War was treated very differently and honestly far more like an American Iliad. We used to honor Lee as well as Grant, and to understand why people fought for the South, even if we didn't agree with them. Now we've recast the Confederates as the Nazis they never were. It says nothing about them, but a great deal about us.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2023-10-13 09:13 pm (UTC)As for Troy... I never bothered watching it, and now I'm sure that was the right decision! What a waste.
And I think you're right re. American exceptionalism. In my lifetime, the Civil War was treated very differently and honestly far more like an American Iliad. We used to honor Lee as well as Grant, and to understand why people fought for the South, even if we didn't agree with them. Now we've recast the Confederates as the Nazis they never were. It says nothing about them, but a great deal about us.