I’ve really enjoyed these last two conversations. Magic being grace in Tolkien really got me daydreaming. Beautiful! It helped me to understand why I’ve always disliked magic in stories, but I can enjoy a Jedi calling on the force. Ok, it might just be the Force Theme, however, magic is often performed like pagan prayer “in the name of Odin/Jesus… alakazam” etc, and The Force feels more like being in touch with the logos all around us. I’m probably way off, but one warms my heart and the other puts me off.
You two have provided the only - vaguely - optimistic takes on the show I've seen that have any integrity whatsoever. You're clearly both trying your best to enjoy what you can, while not blinding yourselves to avoid disappointment. It's funny how quick people are to label anyone critical "toxic"; it's actually one of the more toxic things I can imagine. Just because cash isn't (always) exchanging hands doesn't mean people aren't selling themselves out for the show. I don't think any of the orcs got paid money, and they clearly didn't get even basic dental benefits, but they were getting something from the deal.
I agree with what is said here, but I think you guys fail to notice that in the original material, Tolkien messed up. The elven issue for why they will fade (which is an echo of the silmarils), is a theological issue both in the West and in the work itself. Tolkien tried to recover pagan elements which ended up devouring the Christian elements because it misunderstood how grace works. So naturally subsecuent works which try to explore what being an elf is like will fail. Because elves are not angels, and why are they tied to the world? They have contradictory characteristics that represent a purely Western phenomenon: that faeries disappear as do angels. You cannot stretch that relationship further, least of all metaphysically. TLOTR's metaphysics are just bad on the whole. The problem of the ring being made is in itself a denial of the incarnation which tries to fight the very idea it ends up proposing, and which Westerners embody all the time: mistaking themselves for God.
I’ve really enjoyed these last two conversations. Magic being grace in Tolkien really got me daydreaming. Beautiful! It helped me to understand why I’ve always disliked magic in stories, but I can enjoy a Jedi calling on the force. Ok, it might just be the Force Theme, however, magic is often performed like pagan prayer “in the name of Odin/Jesus… alakazam” etc, and The Force feels more like being in touch with the logos all around us. I’m probably way off, but one warms my heart and the other puts me off.
It’s so helpful to have you fellas look into the depths underneath the surface level critique. Looking for to the next analysis vid 🙏
You two have provided the only - vaguely - optimistic takes on the show I've seen that have any integrity whatsoever. You're clearly both trying your best to enjoy what you can, while not blinding yourselves to avoid disappointment.
It's funny how quick people are to label anyone critical "toxic"; it's actually one of the more toxic things I can imagine. Just because cash isn't (always) exchanging hands doesn't mean people aren't selling themselves out for the show. I don't think any of the orcs got paid money, and they clearly didn't get even basic dental benefits, but they were getting something from the deal.
I agree with what is said here, but I think you guys fail to notice that in the original material, Tolkien messed up. The elven issue for why they will fade (which is an echo of the silmarils), is a theological issue both in the West and in the work itself. Tolkien tried to recover pagan elements which ended up devouring the Christian elements because it misunderstood how grace works. So naturally subsecuent works which try to explore what being an elf is like will fail. Because elves are not angels, and why are they tied to the world? They have contradictory characteristics that represent a purely Western phenomenon: that faeries disappear as do angels. You cannot stretch that relationship further, least of all metaphysically. TLOTR's metaphysics are just bad on the whole. The problem of the ring being made is in itself a denial of the incarnation which tries to fight the very idea it ends up proposing, and which Westerners embody all the time: mistaking themselves for God.