December 10, 2003

LEAVE LOTR ALONE

Sophie Masson defends LOTR and fairytales in general:

Such stories have always had a bum rap from those too stupid, moralistic or literalistic to understand what the rest of humanity love about them. In the late 17th and early 18th centuries, for example, the objection to them was that they were fanciful, unscientific, indicative of superstitious minds; in the 19th, they were seen as immoral and irreligious; in the 20th, they were seen as sexist, classist, racist, you name it.

Fairytale - often anonymous, tough, funny, frightening, deep and magical - is Story with a capital S, one of the greatest products of peasant folk culture. Its elliptical, concise form, archetypal characters and helter-skelter events express and metaphorise human nature and life in the most extraordinary way, as well as being - and this is no accident - a whole lot of fun.

Mark Latham is obviously trying to tap into this magical realm. He’s become the Lord of the Rungs.

Posted by Tim Blair at December 10, 2003 11:53 PM
Comments

Its elliptical, concise form...and helter-skelter events express and metaphorise human nature...

I hate to nitpick (that's a lie), but---can you be simultaneously elliptical and concise, especially while describing helter-skelter events? Is metaphorise a verb?

Posted by: Angie Schultz at December 11, 2003 at 02:00 AM

Angie. Yes. No. Maybe. Sometimes. What was your question again?

Posted by: JorgXMcKie at December 11, 2003 at 03:55 AM

The bottom of the last bloody page!!!!!!

http://www.google.com.au/search?q=%22mark+latham%22+rungs&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&start=60&sa=N

Posted by: Tony.T at December 11, 2003 at 08:35 AM

Given Mark Latham's obsession with arses, more like Lord of the Ring.

Posted by: freddyboy at December 11, 2003 at 01:20 PM