A LOVELY J.R.R. TOLKIEN DOCUMENTARY FROM 1968

December 26, 2014 9:52 AM

An entertaining half hour spent with a man who initiated many of us into realms of magic, shifting our consciousness away from the mundane into the mystic.
posted by Brandon Blatcher (10 comments total)

/packs pipe with "sweet leaf".
posted by Artw at 10:34 AM on December 26, 2014 [4 favorites]

I liked this quote from one of the students:

I think it's a very basic appeal, because everybody likes a fantasy - they like to escape from life when it becomes dull and boring. And, you can get this kind of escape through detective thrillers, and science fiction stories, and spy stories. But, you always come back to the real world, thinking that it's even duller and more boring than it was before, and you think -- I wish I was the first man on the moon or I wish I was a spy instead of living the kind of life I'm leading. Whereas, when you finish reading Lord of the Rings, not only have you had a marvelous adventure story and a marvelous fantasy, but some of the magic has rubbed off on the very ordinary, very homely things in life, like a good meal.

posted by michaelh at 10:34 AM on December 26, 2014 [23 favorites]

To hear those famous lines spoken by The Professor himself is a revelation. Then it gets really interesting.
posted by ob1quixote at 10:39 AM on December 26, 2014

thank you. this is exactly the right speed for me this morn ...
posted by philip-random at 10:48 AM on December 26, 2014

Anyone have a direct link? The DM site does not work on iPad.
posted by jeffamaphone at 10:53 AM on December 26, 2014

Part-1
Part-2
posted by philip-random at 10:59 AM on December 26, 2014 [1 favorite]

YES PLEASE
posted by grubi at 11:00 AM on December 26, 2014

Interesting to hear Tolkien quote Simone de Beauvoir to explain Lord of the Rings. He was an interesting frood. The quote is from Une mort très douce (A Very Easy Death): "There is no such thing as a natural death: nothing that happens to a man is ever natural, since his presence calls the world into question. All men must die: but for every man his death is an accident and, even if he knows it and consents to it, an unjustifiable violation."
posted by Kattullus at 1:54 PM on December 26, 2014 [2 favorites]

My Christmas evening this year was spent with 3D glasses on watching The Hobbit. They do a good job when they make Tolkien movies and I always enjoy them, primarily because I'm happy with the casting, which was excellent in this one.

So I went to sleep with hobbits and Gandalf and orcs on my mind and woke to this link to the great man himself revealing a few personal tidbits - what a happy coincidence. He describes himself as a "puny, over-mothered, timid" scholar and I wish all those who think of themselves in that light could connect with this self-description and then fast-forward to see where it took Tolkien.

I've only listened to the first half - I'm actually saving the second half like I'd save the last piece of chocolate in the box.

Thank you for an exquisitely delightful post!
posted by aryma at 9:59 PM on December 26, 2014

That was weird.
posted by newdaddy at 3:32 PM on December 28, 2014