The new Lord of the Rings show to be released by Amazon has faced unrelenting criticism and it hasn’t even been released yet.
But the criticism isn’t undeserved. This isn’t a bunch of Tolkien fanatics gatekeeping the classic work with unreasonable expectations and setting unfair standards. People involved with the project have made it clear that social justice was a focus within the show and that Amazon was taking liberties with characters, races, and more in order for the show to be more modern.
(READ: Lord of the Virtue Signal)
It didn’t help that Vanity Fair released a piece with an interview from one of the show’s creators that effectively highlighted the backlash from many fans, labeling them many things, but “racist trolls” was the chief suggestion among them.
It’s this kind of interview that precedes a work that ruins itself with social justice politics and acts as a pre-loaded defense against its failure. It’s the “the show didn’t succeed because viewers are -ists and -phobes” defense. Further interviews afterward from creators and talking heads will confirm this and use it as a way to say that important works like the Lord of the Rings being remade for modern times are needed now more than ever.
It’s the same song and dance we’ve seen with other co-opted properties.
But as pointed out by Bounding Into Comics, fans aren’t backing down, and when they saw the spot for the new show during the Super Bowl, users from many different countries posted the same phrase to describe the trailer, and it’s nothing short of brilliant.
The phrase they posted is attributed to the Lord of the Rings author, J.R.R. Tolkien, and focuses on the simple fact that evil cannot actually create anything new, it can only pervert, and corrupt was already exists.
“’Evil cannot create anything new, it can only distort and destroy what was invented or created by the forces of good,’ J.R.R. Tolkien,” said commenters.
A quote from Frodo can be found in the “Return of the King” where he’s describing the creation of the orcs to Sam.
“The Shadow that bred them can only mock, it cannot make: not real new things of its own. I don’t think it gave life to the orcs, it only ruined them and twisted them; and if they are to live at all, they have to live like other living creatures,” said Frodo.
The phrase was posted and reposted again and again under the Lord of the Rings: The Rings for Power teaser trailer by Amazon, oftentimes in many different languages from users around the world. As of this writing, the repeated comment is still there for all to see. These languages include French, German, Hebrew, Turkish, Russian, as well as English.
This phrase applies very handily to today’s age where properties are being ripped out from the past in order to be revamped and remade for modern times, and this always includes an injection of woke culture and social justice values.
This is intentional, not accidental. The brands and franchises that our culture holds up in high regard are being repurposed in order to create pre-made delivery systems for their message. It’s an attempt to normalize their politics by embedding them in things we love. In reaction, many people have abandoned these properties and denounced them.
The same is likely going to happen to Lord of the Rings, as it’s the latest victim of reimagining from a group of people who have lost touch with the people.
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