what are you reading now?

[version]

A nice touch in the Fellowship of the Ring film was when they were all in the snow on the mountain, Legolas was able to walk on the surface of it whilst the rest were slogging through due to how light he was. I imagine it's in the books, but it's cool they added little details like that in.

 

[luka]

it is in the books. i read it for the first time over christmas.

 

[entertainment]

Hmm, well Sauroman chops down the woods to make that industrial war camp so he's obviously the capitalist. And then he digs up those urukhais.

 

[version]

I thought he bred them? They're some fusion of orcs and goblins.

 

[entertainment]

That ties in with my thing, the elves are living disembodied lives. They have no carnal feeling, no flesh. They weigh nothing because they are empty.

 

[entertainment]

Oh yeah that's right.

 

[luka]

theyre on the verge of exiting the world for good and sailing off for the western lands or whatever so thats definitely true

 

[version]

The orcs were elves themselves, elves corrupted by the dark powers.

 

[entertainment]

I remember in the second movie, the orcs sound like dickensian villains or something. they're very stupid.

 

[version]

I like the bit where the Uruk leader goes LOOKS LIKE MEAT'S BACK ON THE MENU, BOYS! after he beheads the orc then they all dive on the body and intestines go flying everywhere.

 

[entertainment]

I think Tolkien had to come out and say that it's not allegorical at one point

 

[version]

URUK-THE OLD TONGUE

For many years I have been speaking a language I cannot understand,a language i have come to know as uruk, the old tongue. in the last few months my friend River Wolf has started speking Uruk too, although to him, the tongue is Turuk.Imagine my surpise when I was watching a transmission fromthe...

dissensus.com

 

[luka]

underated thread

 

[Mr. Tea]

I've also no idea, but a lot of people on Twitter the other night took issue with it.

I remember seeing people going nuts about it a few years ago. Some views go very far in the direction of "stay in your lane", i.e. only write about what you, personally, know (if you're white, straight etc.) but if you follow that to its logical conclusion then white authors would only ever write books with 100% white characters in them, which is surely racist too if they're meant to be set in the modern world.

 

[Mr. Tea]

the elves use tricky effeminate magic not the strength of their arm

I can see why the films might give this impression, what with all the white robes, cut-glass vowels and Enya, but in the books they're totally fucking hard. Much tougher than humans.

 

[version]

I remember seeing people going nuts about it a few years ago. Some views go very far in the direction of "stay in your lane", i.e. only write about what you, personally, know (if you're white, straight etc.) but if you follow that to its logical conclusion then white authors would only ever write books with 100% white characters in them, which is surely racist too if they're meant to be set in the modern world.

I guess the argument is that people should write about what they know, but more people who aren't white should be published in the first place so we read more of what those people know.

 

[luka]

i suppose im talking aboiut the popular conception of elves and how they are understood now. mincing. david bowie looking.

 

[Mr. Tea]

I guess the argument is that people should write about what they know, but more people who aren't white should be published in the first place so we read more of what those people know.

Totally, but that's not JKR's own fault, as such, and a lot of this anger is being directed not at the publishing industry, or at racism-at-large, but at her, personally.

 

[version]

i suppose im talking aboiut the popular conception of elves and how they are understood now. mincing. david bowie looking.

70s Eno.

 

[version]

I think the broader point about "stay in your lane" is self-defeating as some people feel novels by straight, white men only deal with straight, white men and that that's a bad thing, but telling them to stay in their lane would be telling them to keep writing exactly those novels.