The Dude
Ossiriand
Oct 28 2020, 4:15am
Views: 2765
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For the times they are a-changin'
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"(...) but why not just take Tolkien's name off it and write the good TV series as a dramatic fantasy-theme (...)"
Because they (most modern mainstream filmmakers) are incapable of doing so.
Tolkien might be a more challenging template to ape, to begin with, but this does not merely apply to his works.
In 2019, all of the Top 10 selling movies at the N.A. box office were adaptations of prominent pop-cultural IPs (6 were direct sequels).
in 2009, that number was 6 (4 direct sequels).
In 1999: 5/3
In 1989: 5/4
In 1979: 4/2
The simple fact of the matter is that, over the last 10-30 years (minimum estimate), Hollywood mainstream film (and by extension television) has adopted a commercially successful modus operandi of appropriating and exploiting any IP it can find which has some form of a fan base and/or pop-cultural legacy and turning it into a safe, decontextualized mix of nostalgic kitsch and audience-appeasing "updates" to the source material; thereby hoping to simultaneously fulfill the audience's wish to be trapped in an eternal adolescence/childhood and to banish anything that goes beyond the narrow confines of the consumer mind.
Through this process, past art becomes robbed of almost anything that made it worthy to engage with in the first place. Art, then, become something not to wrestle with as an individual, regardless of sex, age, or race, but something that must first and foremost be aligned with the hegemonic ideology of consumerism - in the interest of the economic interests of the producer, the feeble self-image of the viewer, and the status quo.
In all likelihood, the same will happen to Tolkien's legendarium with the upcoming series. And does this really stand in contradiction with what many fans want? Something that loosely evokes the visuals of Jackson's films, and provides a minimum quota of "nerdy lore facts" (character/place names, battles). Themes and motifs be damned. Yet what is the true purpose of art if not to "turn a person for death, to plough and harrow his soul, rendering it capable of turning to good".
(This post was edited by The Dude on Oct 28 2020, 4:18am)
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